---
title: "Cable News Drives Election Coverage"
description: "<p> The Project for Excellence in Journalism did not publish a news index report this week. However, the data is available. </p>"
date: "2012-05-30"
authors:
  - name: "Pew Research Center"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2012/05/30/pej-news-coverage-index-may-2127-2012/"
---

# Cable News Drives Election Coverage

The Project for Excellence in Journalism did not publish a news index report this week; however, the NCI data is available [here](/pej_news_coverage_index_may_2127_2012).

## Top Ten Story Data: May 21-27, 2012

### Overall (All 5 Sectors)

| Rank | Story | Percent of Newshole |
| --- | --- | --- |

| 1 | 2012 Presidential Election | 19% |

| 2 | Economy | 6 |

| 3 | Facebook News | 6 |

| 4 | Middle East Unrest | 5 |

| 5 | Iran | 5 |

| 6 | Etan Patz Cold Case | 3 |

| 7 | SpaceX Rocket Launch | 3 |

| 8 | NATO Summit | 2 |

| 9 | Osama bin Laden Killed | 2 |

### Newspapers

| Rank | Story | Percent of Newshole |
| --- | --- | --- |

| 1 | Economy | 9% |

| 2 | Facebook News | 8 |

| 3 | Education System | 8 |

| 4 | 2012 Presidential Election | 6 |

| 5 | China | 5 |

| 6 | European Economy | 5 |

| 7 | Iran | 5 |

| 8 | NATO Summit | 4 |

| 9 | US Airline Industry | 4 |

### Online

| Rank | Story | Percent of Newshole |
| --- | --- | --- |

| 1 | 2012 Presidential Election | 12% |

| 2 | Iran | 8 |

| 3 | Middle East Unrest | 8 |

| 4 | Facebook News | 8 |

| 5 | Economy | 7 |

| 6 | Energy Debate | 5 |

| 7 | Tyler Clementi Suicide | 4 |

| 8 | Etan Patz Cold Case  | 3 |

| 9 | Osama bin Laden Killed | 2 |

### Network TV

| Rank | Story | Percent of Newshole |
| --- | --- | --- |

| 1 | 2012 Presidential Election | 9 |

| 2 | Etan Patz Cold Case | 8 |

| 3 | SpaceX Rocket Launch | 5 |

| 4 | Facebook News | 5 |

| 5 | Joplin Tornado | 5 |

| 6 | Afghanistan | 4 |

| 7 | Middle East Unrest | 4 |

| 8 | Osama bin Laden Killed | 3 |

| 9 | Tyler Clementi Suicide | 2 |

### Cable TV

| Rank | Story | Percent of Newshole |
| --- | --- | --- |

| 1 | 2012 Presidential Election | 45% |

| 2 | Economy | 4 |

| 3 | Middle East Unrest | 4 |

| 4 | Facebook News | 3 |

| 5 | Etan Patz Cold Case | 3 |

| 6 | Iran  | 3 |

| 7 | Terror Threats/ Homeland Security | 3 |

| 8 | SpaceX Rocket Launch | 2 |

| 9 | Osama bin Laden Killed | 2 |

### Radio

| Rank | Story | Percent of Newshole |
| --- | --- | --- |

| 1 | 2012 Presidential Election | 25% |

| 2 | Economy | 10 |

| 3 | Scott Walker Recall Efforts | 8 |

| 4 | Middle East Unrest | 6 |

| 5 | NATO Summit | 5 |

| 6 | SpaceX Rocket Launch | 5 |

| 7 | Iraq War - Policy Debate | 4 |

| 8 | Health Care Debate | 3 |

| 9 | Iran | 3 |