As per usual, talkers follow the news

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The top two news items for the week of 6/3-8/07, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, were the 2008 campaign (15%) and immigration (9%). Talkers followed their usual pattern to a tee, taking the same stories and amplifying them to 26% and 19% respectively. In fact, the focus on immigration was so intense and routinely negative that PEJ speculates talkers may have played a role in derailing proposed immigration legislation.


Talkers also followed and amplified two jailhouse stories, upgrading the Scooter Libby saga from 5% to 9%, and the Paris Hilton saga from 4% to 9%. The #3 news story, US/Russia relations (7%), was almost skipped over by the talkers however, who gave it a scant 1% of their attention and barely got it onto the very bottom of the top 10 list. Like news directors, talkers also largely gave Iraq the week off.