The U.S. economy topped the news agenda in a week that included a major summit in Washington D.C. an eruption that wreaked havoc with global travel and a series of Tea Party protests. Meanwhile, coverage of the once raging health care issue has tapered off dramatically since the legislation was signed into law.
Last week, the health care debate remained the lead story as talk hosts argued about whether the confrontations between protestors and politicians were genuine or choreographed. And thanks to a dramatic prisoner release in North Korea, a former president made almost as much news as the current one.
Even by midweek, the media had begun to shift focus from protests in Iran to a political sex scandal in South Carolina. But all that was before the death of the best-selling recording artist whose troubled life and pioneering music made him an icon. By the time the week ended, focus on Michael Jackson’s passing overwhelmed all other media stories.
In the final week of the campaign, both presidential candidates continued to pound away at each other’s economic policies. But as they examined the details of the last polls, the battlegrounds, and the strategy, the media had all but anointed a winner.
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