Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Fire and fallout at a Japanese nuclear plant made the aftermath of the disastrous earthquake one of the biggest stories recorded by PEJ in the past four years. But by the end of the week, U.S. military action in Libya surpassed every other event, including Japan, in the news agenda.
The fighting in the Mideast, and especially Libya, topped the news last week, narrowly ahead of the U.S. economy. But perhaps the most interesting development was the emergence of the presidential campaign as a major story—thanks in large part to one controversial candidate-in-waiting.
In a week in which the president defended his Libya policy to the American public, the Middle East again topped the news agenda. But coverage of that subject and the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake tailed off a bit last week as both crises defied any quick resolution.
Continued fighting in Libya and the union faceoff in Wisconsin fueled the No. 1 and No. 2 stories overall last week. But the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on Friday March 11 quickly overwhelmed every other story—including a controversial hearing on Islamic terrorism.
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.