For the second week in a row, the actions of President Obama fueled substantial coverage of the state of the U.S. economy. Toyota’s mounting problems and a controversial kidnapping case in Haiti also helped propel those subjects onto the roster of top stories.
The online community focused on two primary subjects last week – the passing of singer Michael Jackson and the continuing unrest in Iran. The reaction to the King of Pop’s death, along with stunning video of an Iranian woman referred to as “Neda,” demonstrated again not only the power of social media but the range of its use.
Bloggers last week focused on reports and predictions involving major changes to some of the country’s prominent institutions. And their verdict was mixed on whether these potentially dramatic developments were heartening or ominous.
Despite a big Hillary Clinton win in the West Virginia primary, John Edwards and George Bush helped make Barack Obama the lead campaign newsmaker last week. And they helped reinforce the idea that the Democratic primary fight was just about over.
The debates over immigration policy and Iraq war strategy were the most popular topics on cable and radio talk shows last week. The 2008 presidential race also attracted lots of attention, again. But two nasty political tiffs got on the talkers’ radar screen as well.
From Capitol Hill to a refugee camp in Lebanon to ABC’s investigative team, the Mideast and the war on terror thoroughly dominated the media last week. Meanwhile, a controversy of sorts erupted over how news outlets treated the results of a new survey of Muslim-American attitudes.
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