Economy dominated news coverage

The economy accounted for 52 percent of the newshole last week, almost all of it driven by the debt debate, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Mark Jurkowitz of the Pew Research Center writes, “This was the second-highest level of economic news recorded since PEJ began regularly monitoring the media with its News Coverage Index in January 2007.  The only week with more economic coverage (and narrowly so, at 53%) was March 16-22, 2009, when the public was outraged to learn that bailed-out insurance giant AIG had paid millions in company bonuses.

“The burst of media attention punctuated a six-week period during which the economy has utterly dominated the news agenda, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all the coverage studied by PEJ through the period. The No. 2 story in during that span, at 6%, was the tabloid hacking scandal that enveloped Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

“The extensive focus on the economy last week also illustrates a trend that has emerged in more than four years of NCI reports. Coverage of economic issues spike dramatically when there is a deadline-driven showdown occurring against a backdrop of partisan warfare.

“The largest week of economic coverage in 2010 (40%) was December 6-12, when Obama and the Republicans finally agreed to a deal on the expiring tax cuts engineered by former President George W. Bush. Another big week (47%) occurred from February 9-15, 2009, when Congress passed President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package after a bitter fight.”

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