Journalism

A Senate health care bill, new jobless numbers, a recommendation on breast cancer screening, and a presidential visit to China made the roster of top stories in a crowded news week. But perhaps no subject stirred as much media sturm and drang as Sarah Palin’s high-profile book tour.

The new media world divided its attention between two stories last week: the progress of health care reform in Congress and the suspect in the Fort Hood shootings. On Twitter, technology-related issues topped the agenda. And on YouTube, that soccer player just won’t go away.

Coverage of the Army base massacre continued to dominate headlines as some of last week’s coverage examined whether Nidal Malik Hasan should have been stopped before his November 5 attack. And by week’s end, the plan to bring alleged 9/11 conspirators to trial in New York was dominating the headlines.

The online media joined the mainstream press last week in focusing most of their attention on the killing spree at the Fort Hood Army post. Some of that conversation focused on the background and motivation of the suspect, but much also evaluated the pros and cons of real-time newsgathering.

The U.S. unemployment rate jumped, the Afghan runoff election was cancelled and the House of Representatives passed a health care bill last week. But those stories all took a back seat to coverage of the killing spree at Fort Hood Texas, which quickly became a story about Islam and possibly, terrorism.

A diverse mix of stories—from war policy to a scientific breakthrough—topped the news agenda in the blogosphere last week. But the dominant topic was a heinous crime that generated much more attention online than in the traditional press. On Twitter, the top subject was a very different kind of crime story.