PEJ News Coverage Index
April 1 – June 29, 2007

All Media
Top Stories
(Percent of Newshole)

2nd QTR

Rank

 Story All Media
1st QTR 2nd QTR YTD
1 2008 Campaign 7.4% 8.5% 8.0%
2 Events in Iraq* 6.8 6.7 6.7
3 Iraq Policy Debate* 12.4 6.6 9.5
4 Immigration 1.5 5.7 3.6
5 VA Tech Shootings n/a 4.9 2.5
6 Don Imus n/a 2.4 1.2
7 Iran 3.4 2.1 2.8
8 Fired Attorneys 3.6 1.9 2.8
9 Iraq Homefront* 3.0 1.5 2.3
10 Palestinian Conflict 0.1 1.4 0.8
11 Global Warming 1.4 1.2 1.3
12 TB Traveler n/a 1.1 0.6
13 Domestic Terrorism 1.5 1.1 1.3
14 US Economic Numbers 0.9 1.0 0.9
15 Afghanistan 1.1 0.9 1.0
Iraq War Total (sum of the three starred stories) 22.2% 14.8% 18.5%

Note: All other stories were less than 0.9% for the 2nd quarter.

Newshole is defined as the time or space available in an outlet for news content.

 

All Media
Geographic Focus
(Percent of Newshole)

 

Geographic Focus

 All
1st
QTR		 2nd
QTR		 YTD
US National 63% 65% 64%
US Interests Abroad 27 23 25
Foreign(Non-US) 8 12 10
Local* 1 <1 1
No Specific
Geographic Focus		 <1 <1 <1

Note: For newspapers, we do not include a local newspaper story in our study unless that story also falls into the realm of one of the Top Stories we are tracking at the time.

Newspapers
Top Stories
(Percent of Newshole)

2nd QTR

Rank

 Story All Top Tier Second
Tier		 Third
Tier
QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD
1 2008 Campaign 7.7% 7.4% 7.6% 7.3% 10.1% 10.8% 3.6% 2.7%
2 Events in Iraq* 7.1 6.8 7.2 7.0 7.6 7.4 5.7 5.0
3 Immigration 5.1 3.8 4.7 3.5 6.5 4.8 6.1 4.6
4 Iraq Policy Debate* 4.5 5.9 3.7 5.3 5.0 5.9 10.3 11.6
5 VA Tech Shootings 3.4 1.7 2.6 1.4 5.4 2.7 6.7 3.1
6 Iraq Homefront* 2.5 3.2 1.4 2.3 4.1 5.9 9.7 6.4
7 US Economic Numbers 1.7 1.4 1.4 1.4 2.9 1.6 2.2 1.5
8 Fired Attorneys 1.6 2.1 1.3 1.8 3.8 4.1 0.9 1.8
9 Palestinian Conflict 1.5 0.8 1.3 0.7 2.8 1.5 0.7 0.3
10 Global Warming 1.4 1.4 1.2 1.1 2.4 3.0 1.8 1.9
Iraq War Total (sum of the three starred stories) 14.1% 15.9% 12.3% 14.6% 16.7% 19.2% 25.7% 23.0%

Note: All other stories were less than 1.4% for all newspapers in the 2nd quarter.

 

Newspapers
Geographic Focus
(Percent of Newshole)

 

Geographic Focus

 All Top Tier Second Tier Third Tier
QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD
US National 64% 64% 62% 62% 70% 65% 71% 70%
US Interests Abroad 21 22 21 22 20 22 21 20
Foreign(Non-US) 14 12 17 15 7 5 2 1
Local* 1 3 1 1 3 9 7 8
No Specific Geographic Focus <1 <1 <1 <1 0 0 0 0

Note: For newspapers, we do not include a local newspaper story in our study unless that story also falls into the realm of one of the Top Stories we are tracking at the time.

 

Online
Top Stories
(Percent of Newshole)

2nd QTR

Rank

 Story All AOL News CNN.com Google News MSNBC.com Yahoo News
QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD
1 Events in Iraq* 13.1 12.7 9.8 11.2 13.9 15.1 10.9 7.5 11.4 11.2 19.7 18.9
2 Iraq Policy Debate* 5.3 7.2 5.7 7.6 3.8 6.3 7.4 9.1 4.6 6.2 5.1 7.0
3 2008 Campaign 4.9 4.5 5.6 4.8 5.6 4.6 4.9 5.1 5.7 5.7 2.4 2.0
4 VA Tech Shootings 3.8 1.9 3.5 1.7 6.1 3.1 1.1 0.6 4.5 2.3 3.6 1.8
5 Immigration 3.0 1.7 3.3 1.9 4.5 2.6 3.0 1.6 2.3 1.5 2.3 1.2
6 Iran 3.0 4.2 3.3 4.6 3.3 3.7 3.4 4.6 1.4 3.0 4.0 5.2
7 Fired Attorneys 2.8 3.3 2.9 3.3 2.9 3.4 3.7 4.2 3.4 3.6 0.8 1.8
8 Palestinian Conflict 2.7 1.6 1.3 0.8 1.8 0.9 4.0 2.8 3.0 1.6 3.4 1.9
9 Israeli/Palestinian Conflict 2.1 1.8 1.5 1.0 1.7 1.4 1.1 2.0 2.1 1.2 3.9 3.7
10 Russia/US relations (added 6/1/07) 2.1 1.0 2.0 1.0 1.3 0.6 4.0 2.1 1.4 0.7 1.7 0.9
16 Iraq Homefront* 1.1 1.5 1.0 1.2 0.2 0.7 1.4 2.1 2.7 2.7 0 0.2
Iraq War Total (sum of the three starred stories) 19.5 21.4 16.5 20.0 17.9 22.1 19.7 18.7 18.7 20.1 24.8 26.1

Note: All other stories were less than 2.1% for all online in the 2nd quarter.

Online
Geographic Focus
(Percent of Newshole)

Geographic Focus

All AOL News CNN.com Google News MSNBC.com Yahoo News
QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD
US National 47% 47% 58% 54% 54% 53% 31% 33% 57% 58% 33% 35%
US Interests Abroad 29 31 26 30 26 27 34 32 24 27 38 39
Foreign(Non-US) 23 22 16 15 21 20 34 35 18 15 29 26
No Specific Geographic Focus <1 <1 0 0 0 0 0 0 <1 <1 <1 <1

 

Network TV
Top Stories
(Percent of Newshole)

2nd QTR

Rank

 Story All Morning Evening (ABC, CBS, NBC) ABC Total CBS Total NBC Total PBS Evening
QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD
1 Events in Iraq* 7.1 7.4 4.5 4.6 7.1 8.4 5.4 6.7 6.7 6.7 5.6 6.4 11.4 10.3
2 2008 Campaign 6.6 6.7 11.1 11.5 3.7 4.2 6.8 7.4 5.6 6.1 9.2 9.3 4.4 3.4
3 Iraq Policy Debate* 6.4 10.7 5.3 8.9 5.1 7.7 4.3 7.4 4.6 7.3 6.6 10.0 10.7 19.2
4 VA Tech Shootings 5.4 2.7 5.5 2.8 6.3 3.2 5.7 2.9 6.2 3.1 5.8 2.9 3.7 1.8
5 Immigration 3.7 2.0 2.5 1.2 3.2 1.9 3.2 1.8 2.9 1.6 2.5 1.5 6.6 3.3
6 Iran 2.5 2.6 2.3 2.5 1.7 1.8 2.2 2.3 2.3 2.2 1.7 1.8 4.0 4.1
7 Don Imus 2.1 1.0 3.6 1.8 1.7 0.9 2.2 1.1 2.5 1.3 3.1 1.6 0.1 0.1
8 Iraq Home-front* 2.0 3.3 0.8 1.0 3.0 4.4 2.4 3.3 1.2 2.5 2.3 2.5 2.2 5.0
9 TB Traveler 1.7 0.8 2.0 1.0 1.5 0.8 2.6 1.3 1.4 0.7 1.2 0.6 1.3 0.7
10 Global Warming 1.5 1.3 0.3 0.7 1.8 1.6 1.4 1.3 1.1 1.2 0.9 1.0 2.7 1.9
Iraq War Total (sum of the three starred stories) 15.5 21.4 10.6 14.5 15.2 20.5 12.1 17.4 12.5 16.5 14.5 18.9 24.3 34.5

Note: All other stories were less than 1.5% for all Network TV in the 2nd quarter.

Network TV
Geographic Focus
(Percent of Newshole)

Geogra-phic Focus All Morning Evening (ABC, CBS, NBC) ABC Total CBS Total NBC Total PBS Evening
QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD
US National 64% 65% 72% 72% 67% 68% 70% 70% 69% 71% 69% 70% 47% 45%
US Interests Abroad 26 28 20 21 25 25 22 23 23 23 22 24 39 44
Foreign(Non-US) 9 7 8 6 8 7 8 6 8 6 9 7 14 11
No Specific Geographic Focus <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 <1 0 0 <1 <1 0 0

 

Cable TV
Top Stories
(Percent of Newshole)

 

2nd QTRRank

 Story All Daytime Evening CNN Fox News MSNBC
QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD
1 2008 Campaign 12.4 10.8 4.6 6.0 14.4 12.1 8.7 7.6 9.6 9.2 21.3 17.7
2 Iraq Policy Debate* 9.2 12.4 4.6 6.9 10.4 13.8 10.1 12.2 5.0 7.6 13.3 19.4
3 Immigration 7.5 4.9 4.2 2.5 8.3 5.6 9.2 6.5 7.9 5.0 4.6 2.6
4 VA Tech Shootings 7.2 3.6 8.9 4.5 6.7 3.4 8.5 4.3 6.5 3.2 6.1 3.1
5 Don Imus 4.6 2.3 1.5 0.7 5.4 2.7 4.6 2.3 4.0 2.0 5.4 2.7
6 Events in Iraq* 3.8 4.2 2.8 3.2 4.0 4.4 6.4 6.9 2.7 2.9 1.5 2.1
7 Iran 2.7 3.5 1.6 2.5 3.0 3.7 2.5 3.4 4.2 4.1 1.0 2.6
8 Fired Attorneys 2.0 3.1 1.3 1.6 2.2 3.5 2.0 2.8 0.7 1.4 3.7 5.9
9 TB Traveler 1.9 0.9 4.6 2.3 1.2 0.6 2.6 1.3 1.2 0.6 1.7 0.9
10 Ohio Missing Pregnant Woman 1.7 0.8 2.4 1.2 1.5 0.7 1.2 0.6 2.1 1.0 1.7 0.9
19 Iraq Homefront* 0.7 1.5 0.5 1.0 0.7 1.6 1.3 2.2 0.2 0.9 0.3 1.4
Iraq War Total (sum of the three starred stories) 13.7 18.1 7.9 11.1 15.1 19.8 17.8 21.3 7.9 11.4 15.1 22.9

Note: All other stories were less than 1.7% for all Cable TV in the 2nd quarter.

 

Cable TV
Geographic Focus
(Percent of Newshole)

 

Geographic Focus

 All Daytime Evening CNN Fox News MSNBC
QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD QTR YTD
US National 74% 71% 81% 78% 72% 69% 67% 64% 76% 75% 81% 74%
US Interests Abroad 21 25 13 17 24 27 27 30 19 20 17 25
Foreign(Non-US) 5 4 6 5 4 4 6 5 5 5 2 1
No Specific Geographic Focus <1 <1 0 0 <1 <1 <1 <1 0 0 <1 <1