The Ps dominated the top of the Project for Excellence in Journalism during for week of 4/14/08-4/20/08, as in Pennsylvania, Pope and polygamy. And the Qs were all about the questions asked by ABC’s Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous during the Pennsylvania debate between the two remaining Democratic candidates, Barack Obama (D-IL) and Hillary Clinton. The proximity of the PA primary ratcheted campaign coverage back to about a third of available time and space.
Pope Benedict easily commanded the runner-up slot. Meanwhile, despite a growing chorus in the blogosphere for more mideast coverage, that story commanded a mere 3% of the overall coverage — it briefly surfaced when General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker went to Washington, and then just as quickly went back into its hidey-hole and out of the news-hole.
| Story | Overall | Newspr | Online | NetTV | CATV | Radio |
| 2008 campaign | 31% | 21% | 20% | 22% | 51% | 39% |
| Pope visit | 16% | 13% | 22% | 20% | 16% | 13% |
| TX polygamy raid | 8% | x | 8% | 16% | 13% | 2% |
| US economy | 5% | 10% | 6% | 2% | 1% | 3% |
| Iraq events | 3% | 3% | 7% | 2% | x | x |
| Supreme Court | 2% | 4% | x | 2% | 2% | x |
| Delta/NW airlines merge | 2% | 3% | 2% | 3% | x | 1% |
| VA Tech anniversary | 2% | x | 5% | 2% | 1% | 2% |
| Global warming | 1% | x | 2% | x | x | 4% |
| World food shortage | 1% | 2% | x | x | x | 4% |
| Military analysts | x | 4% | x | x | x | x |
| Health care | x | 3% | x | x | x | x |
| Energy debate | x | 2% | x | x | x | x |
| Zimbabwe elections | x | x | 5% | x | x | x |
| CO wildfires | x | x | 2% | x | x | x |
| IL earthquake | x | x | x | 3% | x | x |
| Israel/Palestine | x | x | x | 1% | 2% | 3% |
| Immigration | x | x | x | x | 2% | x |
| Plane safety | x | x | x | x | 1% | x |
| Taxes/tax day | x | x | x | x | 1% | 1% |
Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism
