In a normal week, there is the overall top ten story list based on aggregating coverage decisions from five media. Then there are the stories making only one or a few of the individual top ten lists – that subset often runs 10-15 stories deeper than the overall top ten list.
But not during the week of 7/14/08-7/20/08, according to the latest study from the Project for Excellence in Journalism. There were only seven extra stories this time around, which is just about as low as it gets.
On the overall list, four issues closely tied to the US economy (including, appropriately, the catchall US economy category) combined to take the #2-through-#5 slots, totaling 26% and just missing parity with the virtually unbeatable 2008 campaign category, which accounted for a relatively 27% of total news.
| Story | Overall | Newspaper | Online | Net.TV | CATV | Radio |
| 2008 campaign | 27% | 15% | 18% | 23% | 50% | 30% |
| US economy | 9% | 14% | 7% | 15% | 3% | 5% |
| Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac | 9% | 12% | 7% | 13% | 4% | 10% |
| Gas/oil prices | 5% | 5% | 2% | 7% | 5% | 6% |
| Energy debate | 3% | x | 4% | 3% | 4% | 4% |
| Afghanistan | 3% | 3% | 4% | 2% | 2% | x |
| Israel/Lebanon | 3% | 2% | 8% | x | x | 2% |
| Domestic terrorism | 2% | 2% | 4% | x | 3% | x |
| Iran | 2% | x | x | x | 3% | 3% |
| Events in Iraq | 2% | 3% | 3% | 2% | x | 2% |
| Sudan/Darfur | x | 3% | x | x | x | x |
| Iraq homefront | x | 2% | x | 1% | x | x |
| Iraq policy debate | x | x | 4% | x | 1% | x |
| GM troubles | x | x | x | 1% | x | x |
| Tomotoes/salmonella | x | x | x | 1% | x | x |
| Tony Snow passes | x | x | x | x | 2% | 3% |
| China | x | x | x | x | x | 2% |
Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism
