Indexes

An incident involving a woman attacking fellow shoppers with pepper spray during a Black Friday sale got the attention of bloggers last week.

Herman Cain was in the campaign spotlight one final time last week, as he ended his presidential run in the wake of new allegations. Some good news on both the domestic and foreign economic fronts fueled coverage of the No. 2 and No. 3 stories.

A pepper-spraying incident at UC Davis set off a viral video on YouTube and critical commentary on blogs. In addition, conservative commentator David Frum received rare kudos from liberal bloggers.

Tensions drove Occupy Wall Street coverage to its biggest week so far and an interview with Jerry Sandusky ushered in a second week of major coverage of Penn State’s sexual abuse scandal.

Bloggers last week took time to salute Andy Rooney, a stalwart of the old media universe. Meanwhile, the Occupy Wall Street protests led on Twitter.

With additional women coming forward with sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain, the 2012 presidential race was the No. 1 story for the second week in a row.

Bloggers focused heavily on harassment allegations against a prominent presidential candidate and the abrupt conclusion of a celebrity marriage last week. On Twitter, pop stars led the agenda.

The Project for Excellence in Journalism did not issue a News Index report this week, but the data is still available.

The GOP presidential hopefuls were a major topic for bloggers and Twitter users last week as two other subjects also generated significant interest in both social media platforms—the Occupy Wall Street protests and the life and legacy of Steve Jobs.

After a brief one-week absence, the U.S. economy re-emerged as the top story last week.