Two very different issues led the conversation on the blogosphere last week: the record U.S. deficit and the post-Mubarak transformation in Egypt. On Twitter, the No. 1 topic was self-referential— a list of influential English people who use Twitter.
The latest outbreak of violent spring storms proved to be the biggest weather story in PEJ’s four years of tracking news coverage. An election in New York State turned into a major economic story and the prospect of a Palin candidacy helped drive coverage of the 2012 presidential campaign last week.
Last week, bloggers tackled the situation in Egypt as both reporter and commentator. More were critical of Obama’s actions but the discussion moved far beyond the current president. And two of the most-viewed videos on YouTube featured scenes of the protests in the streets of Cairo.
The story from Egypt seemed to ebb and then peak last week, leading to a rush of coverage once the demonstrations turned into a successful revolution. No other story came close to generating that level of coverage last week. Now comes the hard part—understanding what will happen after Hosni Mubarak.
For a second week in a row, the media focused on the economy and away from foreign affairs. Last week, driven by a Presidential speech, the government shutdown was replaced with a larger debate about national fiscal priorities. Lurking in the background was the 2012 presidential race, a story that gave tycoon and Obama birth certificate skeptic Donald Trump a platform of his own.
The unveiling of the president’s fiscal blueprint as well as a fight over budget priorities in Wisconsin helped push coverage of economic issues to the top of the news agenda last week for the first time in two months. And the media turned their attention away from Egypt to neighboring nations.
A history-making blizzard, major developments in the health care debate and a new set of unemployment numbers all made news last week. But they were overwhelmed by the situation in the Mideast. The dramatic events in Egypt set a new high water mark for international coverage.
If President Obama expected his State of the Union address to dominate the media narrative last week, those plans went awry when turmoil in a crucial Mideast ally threatened to remake the region and challenge U.S. strategy. And while coverage of the economy picked up last week, attention to the Tucson shooting plunged.
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