The crippling series of snowstorms that caused a whiteout in the East was the consensus top story for the week of 2/8-14/10 among the five news media followed by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. But only two of the five put it atop their own list, and it barely edged out the economic crisis, 11% to 10%, for top overall ranking.
11% is an unusually low number to lead the weekly overall chart, but a lot of news items were competing for journalists’ attention, with none particularly standing out.
Even the cable news outlets, which tend more than any other to focus on one or two stories, spread their attention across a wide variety of topics.
Radio had a particularly idiosyncratic coverage list during the week. It had two topics ranked above the snowstorms – Sarah Palin and global warming – that didn’t even appear on the overall coverage top 10.
| Story | Overall | Newspaper | Online | NetTV | CATV | Radio |
| East Coast snowstorm | 11% | 11% | 8% | 19% | 12% | 5% |
| Economic crisis | 10% | 16% | 12% | 7% | 7% | 5% |
| Health care debate | 7% | 8% | 6% | x | 9% | 13% |
| Winter Olympics | 5% | 8% | 4% | 11% | x | x |
| Iran | 5% | 4% | 9% | x | 6% | x |
| Toyota recall | 5% | 4% | 9% | 3% | x | x |
| Haiti earthquake | 5% | 5% | x | 5% | 8% | x |
| Obama administration | 4% | x | 6% | 5% | x | 8% |
| Afghanistan | 4% | 5% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 3% |
| Bill Clinton hospitalized | 3% | x | x | 6% | 8% | x |
| Education system | x | 2% | x | x | x | x |
| Super Bowl | x | 2% | x | 7% | x | 7% |
| John Murtha dies | x | x | 5% | x | x | x |
| 2010 elections | x | x | 4% | x | 4% | x |
| Buffalo NY plane crash | x | x | x | 3% | x | x |
| Domestic terrorism | x | x | x | x | 7% | x |
| Sarah Palin | x | x | x | x | 5% | 6% |
| Global warming | x | x | x | x | x | 6% |
| Tea Party convention | x | x | x | x | x | 3% |
| Events in Iraq | x | x | x | x | x | 3% |
Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism
