There weren’t that many different news stories on the radar screens of the five media monitored by the Project for Excellence in Journalism during the week of 8/23-29/10. The 2010 elections prevailed as the #1 story out of a mixed bag of competition.
Cable and radio outlets propelled the elections to the top spot. Newspaper picked the economy, while online and network TV outlets focused on the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
There were not that many stories under the radar, showing up on just one or two media top ten lists. A very unusual inclusion there, however, was coverage of the Glenn Beck rally, which got 2% of one medium newshole and 3% of three others, yet still failed to find a slot on the overall top ten list.
Network television had a pair of odd items on its list – it’s not that they alone covered the stories, but that they alone gave double-digit coverage to the egg recall and the tale of trapped Chilean miners.
Story | Overall | Newspaper | Online | NetTV | CATV | Radio |
2010 elections | 14% | 9% | 13% | 8% | 24% | 16% |
Katrina anniversary | 11% | 5% | 15% | 13% | 12% | 8% |
Economy | 9% | 14% | 6% | 9% | 7% | 6% |
NY mosque controversy | 6% | x | 2% | 4% | 14% | 9% |
Egg recall | 4% | 3% | x | 10% | 4% | 4% |
Trapped Chilean miners | 4% | x | 5% | 11% | 2% | x |
Obama administration | 3% | 2% | x | x | 3% | x |
Events in Iraq | 3% | 6% | x | 4% | x | x |
Afghanistan | 3% | 6% | 3% | x | 2% | x |
Tea Party movement | 3% | x | 7% | x | 2% | x |
Education system | x | 5% | x | 4% | x | x |
Stem cells | x | 3% | 3% | x | x | 3% |
Pakistan | x | 2% | x | 6% | x | x |
Oil spill | x | x | 7% | x | x | x |
Glenn Beck rally | x | x | 3% | 2% | 3% | 3% |
Talk show host wars | x | x | x | x | x | 3% |
Same-sex marriage | x | x | x | x | x | 2% |
Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism |