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The talk shows were not shy about picking winners and (especially) losers at last week’s Republican face-off in California. And while the sex scandal involving a D.C. escort service managed to divide the talk hosts along ideological lines, a former CIA director’s book tour actually achieved the rare feat of bringing them together.
The now-resolved hostage crisis with Iran attracted the most media coverage last week while the investigation into the fired U.S. attorneys went on temporary hiatus. But even with the voting 19 months away, the 2008 race for the White House continues to fascinate the press, the second story only behind the debate over the war in Iraq.
U.S. tensions with Teheran have been bubbling for some time now, but it took a conflict with another country to put Iran atop the media map. In the same week, the news didn’t get any better for Attorney Gonzales and the Iraq debate was marked by a crucial Senate vote.
The Iranian hostage situation and the argument over Iraq policy were hot topics on the cable and radio talk shows last week. But in some ways, the U.S. Speaker of the House’s decision to talk to the President of Syria shed even more light on how the talk universe really works.
Brian Williams, Katie Couric, and Charlie Gibson all talked about Anna Nicole Smith’s death on their February 8 newscasts. Network Evening News Percent of Newshole Devoted to Major StoriesFeb 8 – March 2, 2007 Story Commercial Networks PBS NewsHour Iraq policy debate 8% 21% Iraq homefront 6 17 Events in Iraq 10 6 Campaign 2008 […]
The war in Iraq eclipsed all other news in the first three months of 2007. The 2008 presidential race was the next biggest story, and most of that was about Democrats. These are among the findings in PEJ’s first quarterly report of its News Coverage Index, which allows us to probe the data more deeply than we can on a weekly basis.
There was a disagreement between the nation’s radio and cable talk hosts over the juiciest talk topic last week. The fired U.S. attorneys topped the cable menu while the 2008 Presidential race was the leading topic on radio. Meanwhile, hosts in both media sectors rattled their sabers at Iran.
Coverage of Three Major News Stories: February 8 – March 2, 2007 Anna Nicole Smith Coverage – Percent of Newshole Outlet Feb. 8* and 9 Feb. 8* to Mar. 2 Network TV Total (includes PBS) 20% 6% ABC Morning 61 10 ABC Evening 7 1 CBS Morning 60 20 CBS Evening 10 2 NBC Morning […]
To say Don Imus’s controversial words were a big topic on the talk shows last week is an understatement. The Imus story ruled the talk airwaves like no other since the Index began, taking up 61% of the talk time. But often Imus was less the subject of the talk than a way to take on other people and issues.
If the signature nightly newscasts were reticent about Smith, their morning show cousins took up the slack, giving over 15% of their first half hour of programming to the story. Network Morning News Percent of Newshole Devoted to Top 5 Stories Feb 9 – March 2, 2007 Story % Anna Nicole Smith 15 Campaign 2008 […]
