As Haiti continues its recovery from a major earthquake, the items making tremors in the news media shifted back to other matters – in this case the once-annual focus on the presidential State of the Union address and the ongoing story about the economy. According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism survey for 1/25-31/10, Haiti remained a strong enough draw for third place.
SOTU only barely edged out the economy, by a 19%-18% margin, in part because cable news services reversed the order of the two stories. But all others had SOTU in the number one slot.
Business news claimed two on the overall top ten spots – positive news from Apple and negative news from Toyota.
The Obama administration was good for fourth place on the overall ranking with 7% of all coverage. No other story topped 4%.
| Story | Overall | Newspaper | Online | NetTV | CATV | Radio |
| State of the Union | 19% | 16% | 21% | 22% | 16% | 21% |
| Economic crisis | 18% | 22% | 15% | 15% | 22% | 10% |
| Haiti earthquake | 11% | 12% | 7% | 15% | 11% | 10% |
| Obama administration | 7% | 2% | 3% | 6% | 16% | 10% |
| Toyota recall | 4% | 6% | 4% | 8% | 2% | x |
| Health care debate | 3% | x | 4% | x | 5% | 7% |
| Domestic terrorism | 3% | x | 5% | 4% | 3% | x |
| Apple news | 3% | 3% | 6% | 2% | x | x |
| James O’Keeke arrest | 2% | 2% | 3% | x | 5% | x |
| Afghanistan | 2% | 3% | x | x | x | 4% |
| Cyberspace issues | x | 4% | x | x | x | x |
| Education system | x | 3% | x | x | x | x |
| 2010 elections | x | x | 3% | 1% | 2% | x |
| playoffs/Super Bowl | x | x | x | 2% | x | 5% |
| J.D. Salinger dies | x | x | x | 2% | x | 5% |
| Leadership/future of GOP | x | x | x | x | 3% | x |
| NWA terror plot | x | x | x | x | x | 2% |
| Global warming | x | x | x | x | x | 2% |
Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism
