Two familiar stories—an economy slow to recover and an oil leak slow to be stopped—generated the most press attention last week. But there was plenty of politics as well including two hot button issues—same-sex marriage and illegal immigration—and the mid-term elections. And after one week of big headlines, Afghanistan coverage plunged.
After several weeks of decreasing coverage, the Gulf oil saga spiked upward last week amid news of possible success in stopping the flow. Coverage of a bill to regulate the financial sector, infighting among Democrats, violence and progress in Afghanistan and the death of a baseball mogul rounded out the roster of top stories.
Summary of Findings The disclosure of more than 75,000 classified documents about the war in Afghanistan by the website WikiLeaks garnered significant media coverage last week, and those familiar with the story were split over the effect of the leak: about equal percentages say the release harms the public interest as say it serves the […]
Obama’s replacement of General McChrystal as the head of NATO forces in Afghanistan generated voluminous political analysis last week. Coverage of the war approached a level not seen since late last year. Meanwhile, the Gulf oil spill continued to attract headlines, as did Wall Street reform.
The economy was the top story last week, but it faced stiff competition from U.S. medals in Vancouver, fighting in Afghanistan, a retiring senator in Indiana and an attack on the IRS in Texas. And then there was Tiger.
The economic crisis topped the news agenda last week as Wall Street pay packages triggered anger and action in Washington. Agreement on a runoff election also generated a spike in Afghanistan coverage, and hostilities between the White House and Fox News made the roster of top stories.
It was a war that often had trouble breaking into the headlines. But in recent months, with President Obama facing a crucial decision over whether to escalate U.S. involvement, coverage of Afghanistan increased noticeably. And last week, as the policy debate intensified, the story dominated finally the news.
The fight over health care legislation continued to dominate the news, but with a narrative twist that was tough on Barack Obama. And a crucial election kept the spotlight on Afghanistan, a conflict increasingly showing up in the headlines.
Coverage of health care was up last week, the economy was down and the war in Afghanistan remained about the same. But together, this trio continued their run atop the news agenda, a pattern we began to see settle in earlier this fall.
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