Election is dominant topic of 2008

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RBR.com
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That should come as a surprise to nobody. Neither should the hyper-journalistic election focus at cable and radio come as a surprise to anybody who was paying attention.


Paying attention more than most was the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which just released its newshole totals for the year gone by. Overall, the election commanded 36% of journalist attention, followed by the economy with 15%.

The Iraq war, with 4%, was the only other story to top 1% of total attention.

An expanded chart for the year, with breakouts ABC, NBC and CBS in the TV network category, and a breakout of liberal v. conservative for radio, is below.

Story Overall Nwspr Online NBC ABC CBS CATV LibRad ConRad
Election/politics 36% 23% 25% 33% 33% 31% 59% 60% 60%
US economy 15% 19% 14% 15% 16% 16% 10% 9% 7%
Iraq War 4% 6% 4% 3% 3% 3% 2% 1% 1%
Domestic terrorism 1% 2% 1% x x x 1% 2% x
Olympics 1% 2% 2% 3% 2% 1% x x x
Blagojevich 1% x x 1% 1% 1% 2% 1% 2%
Afghanistan 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% x x x x
Pakistan 1% 1% 2% x x x x x x
Immigration 1% 2% x x x x 1% x x
Georgia/Russia 1% 1% 1% x x 1% x x 1%
Health care x 1% x x x x x x x
Israel/Palestine x x 1% x x x x x 1%
Zimbabwe x x 1% x x x x x x
Jeffs TX raid x x x 1% 1% 1% x x x
Summer weather x x x 1% 1% 1% x x x
China x x x 1% x x x x x
Hurricane Ike x x x 1% x x x x x
Holiday season x x x x 1% x x x x
Chine earthquake x x x x 1% 1% x x x
Mumbai terror x x x x x 1% 1% x x
Caylee Anthony x x x x x x 1% x x
Spitzer scandal x x x x x x 1% 1% 1%
McClellan book x x x x x x 1% 1% x
Energy x x x x x x x 1% 1%
New Congress x x x x x x x 1% x
Iran x x x x x x x 1% x
Global warming x x x x x x x x 2%
Same sex marriage x x x x x x x x 1%

Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism

 

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