Diffusion is the name of the game
No one story broke away from the pack during the week of 6/10-15/07, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, and 23 different stories appeared on at least one individual medium's list, allowing coverage of the immigration debate to rest atop the overall coverage chart. The issue was driven by cable, but cable's coverage was not over the top at 15%. All five gave it at least 8% of the newshole, making it one of only four stories which universally made top ten lists. Palestinian strife knocked out all individual permutations of the ongoing Iraq saga as the lead Mideast story, but Iraq still was dominant if all the threads are added together. The Paris Hilton story was the biggest from the preceding week to fall off the overall top ten list, but if you guessed that it lived a little longer over on the cable channels, then you're getting used to reading this weekly study. Interestingly, a cable story - the end of HBO series "The Sopranos," made the top ten lists for newspaper and radio but not on cable or network TV.
Top ten lists
| Story |
Overall |
Newspr |
Online |
NetTV |
CATV |
Radio |
| Immigration |
10% |
8% |
8% |
9% |
15% |
11% |
| Palestine conflict |
9% |
9% |
19% |
11% |
6% |
5% |
| Iraq events |
7% |
6% |
15% |
8% |
4% |
3% |
| 2008 campaign |
7% |
8% |
x |
2% |
11% |
8% |
| Fired US attorneys |
3% |
x |
5% |
x |
3% |
7% |
| Iraq policy |
3% |
2% |
x |
4% |
6% |
3% |
| Domestic terrorism |
2% |
3% |
x |
2% |
x |
3% |
| Space station |
2% |
x |
5% |
4% |
x |
x |
| Iran |
2% |
2% |
x |
x |
3% |
x |
| CIA leak/Libby |
2% |
x |
x |
3% |
x |
x |
| US economic #'s |
x |
3% |
2% |
x |
x |
x |
| Sopranos |
x |
2% |
x |
x |
x |
4% |
| Same-sex marriage |
x |
2% |
x |
x |
x |
x |
| TB traveler |
x |
x |
4% |
x |
x |
x |
| Afghanistan |
x |
x |
3% |
x |
x |
x |
| US/Russia relations |
x |
x |
2% |
x |
x |
x |
| Beirut bombing |
x |
x |
2% |
x |
x |
x |
| Duke lacrosse |
x |
x |
x |
3% |
3% |
x |
| Energy debate |
x |
x |
x |
2% |
x |
x |
| Paris Hilton |
x |
x |
x |
x |
3% |
x |
| LA hospital death |
x |
x |
x |
x |
2% |
x |
| Global warming |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
7% |
| Hurricane season |
x |
x |
x |
x |
x |
2% |
Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism
