Economy accounts for 12% of newshole

Coverage of the economy took up more than 12 percent of the newshole last week, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Its weekly study of coverage found that the coverage of the BP oil spill accounted for 11 percent of coverage.

The study states, “The economy led in newspapers (13% of front-page coverage) and radio (16%). It was also No. 2 online (14%) and on the networks (8%). On cable, it was the No. 4 story at 8%.

“A modest rise in private sector employment was not enough to make up for the loss of the numerous temporary workers who had been employed by the 2010 census; in all, employers cut 131,000 jobs in July. Out of all the economic news last week, fully 35% focused on the job situation and the sobering statistics.

“A Wall Street Journal story published August 6 on its website emphasized the uncertainty. ‘After the worst recession in decades, the recovery that began in July 2009 has recently been losing momentum, but it’s hard to say if it’s just a temporary slowdown or if the economy could start to contract again.'”

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