Campaign knocked down a rung

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The Wall Street meltdown figures to fuel political coverage for some time to come, but during the week of 9/15/-21, it WAS the story, according to the latest chart from the Project for Excellence in Journalism. It beat out the campaign by a solid 6% margin, 37% to 31%.


Hurricane Ike was stirring up enough wind to pick up 7% and a train crash earned 2%; after that, it was 1% or less from the full media spectrum. With so much attention focused on just a handful of stories, it leaves room for numerous under the radar items.

This week, all five rated media had stories to themselves, including six for radio and four for CATV. CATV and radio stuck to the 2008 pattern, by the way – both continued a believe that it’s the election stupid, with each giving Wall Street 29% of their attention.

Story Overall Newspaper Online Net.TV CATV Radio
Market upheaval/bailout 37% 48% 33% 41% 29% 29%
2008 campaign 31% 12% 17% 27% 61% 44%
Hurricane Ike 7% 6% 15% 9% 3% 5%
LA train crash 2% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1%
Pakistan 1% 2% 4% x x x
Events in Iraq 1% 1% 2% 2% x x
Embassy/Yemen attacked 1% x 4% 1% <1% x
US economy 1% 2% x 1% x x
China 1% x 3% 1% x x
Energy debate 1% 1% x x 1% x
Domestic terrorism 2% 2% x x x x
Health care debate 1% 1% x x x x
Zimbabwe elections x x 1% x x x
North Korea x x 1% x x x
John Edwards affair x x x 1% x x
Afghanistan x x x 1% x x
Missing girl in FL x x x x 1% x
Immigration x x x x 1% x
US auto industry x x x x <1% x
Iran x x x x <1% x
Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac x x x x x 3%
Gas/oil prices x x x x x 1%
Congressional campaigns x x x x x 1%
OJ Simpson x x x x x <1%
Congressional corruption x x x x x <1%
Russia x x x x x <1%

Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism