For one week at least, the battle over health care reform and the troubled U.S. economy faded in the news. Instead, a series of daunting overseas challenges, highlighted by a surprise announcement about Iranian nukes, drove the press narrative.
Several big events vied for the attention of the media last week. But for the second time in two months, a major overseas presidential foray topped the news agenda when it demonstrated Barack Obama’s dramatically different approach to foreign policy.
Coverage of the financial meltdown dropped to its lowest level in months last week as Somali pirates, a trip to Turkey, a deadly earthquake and a defiant missile launch dominated the news agenda. Is it a trend or an anomaly?
What was the big religion story of the general election? A new study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism in conjunction with the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life examines how the media covered religious matters.
The week began with a controversial magazine cover. By week’s end, an anticipation of an overseas Obama trip dominated campaign coverage and brought Iraq back into frame.
Barack Obama generated more campaign coverage than Hillary Clinton in a week in which Democrats completely dominated the media narrative. But Clinton’s complaints about a journalistic tilt toward her opponent seemed to strike a responsive chord.
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.
It’s probably no surprise that the college campus massacre proved to be the biggest talk show topic of the year. But while there were plenty of subplots to talk about, radio and cable hosts managed to seize on some of “hot button” issues to emerge from the worst shooting spree in the nation’s history.
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