Indexes

With Congress putting one of Wall Street’s big-name firms on the hot seat, the economy topped the news agenda last week. Increasingly grim news about the Gulf Coast oil spill and the polarizing debate over Arizona’s immigration law also attracted significant coverage. Meanwhile, a prominent GOP defector drove coverage of the mid-term elections.

The travel delays and cancelled flights caused by the eruption of an Icelandic volcano dominated the conversation among bloggers last week. But an Iranian cleric’s claim that immodest women were to blame for earthquakes generated its fair share of attention. On Twitter, stories about Apple’s iPhone and iPad received the most links.

The debate over how to reform Wall Street—and the role one of its most prominent firms played in the economic catastrophe—pushed the economy back to the top of the news agenda last week. Meanwhile, the return of global air travel after the Icelandic volcano and a disaster in the Gulf of Mexico helped fill out the roster of top stories.

A natural disaster, a tragic accident and complaints about Obama’s handling of the media shared attention in a very mixed news week that is somewhat atypical for the blogosphere. On Twitter, stories about Google led a week along with news that the Library of Congress is archiving Tweets.

The U.S. economy topped the news agenda in a week that included a major summit in Washington D.C. an eruption that wreaked havoc with global travel and a series of Tea Party protests. Meanwhile, coverage of the once raging health care issue has tapered off dramatically since the legislation was signed into law.

Groups of bloggers amassed to decry two separate controversies last week: reported rule changes to the board game Scrabble and the declaration that April would be Confederate History Month in Virginia. On YouTube, politics were unusually popular, with three separate congressional videos leading the list. And Twitterers remained fascinated with the iPad.

A tragic mine explosion in West Virginia led the news last week, with about twice the amount of coverage given to the next biggest story: the still-ailing U.S. economy.

For the third time in a row, health care reform was the top subject in the blogosphere last week, followed by another common online topic: global warming. On Twitter, developments with the world's largest energy particle accelerator topped the list. And on YouTube, an awkward moment in Haiti featuring two former presidents attracted more than 3 million views.

Amid good news on jobs, storms in the Northeast and the arrest of a radical Christian militia, the news agenda was more unusually diverse last week with eight different stories gaining substantial attention.

The debate over the passage of health care reform reached unprecedented levels on blogs and Twitter last week, and the debate focused on both the value of the bill and the confrontations that surrounded its passing.