Afghanistan

The economic crisis topped the news agenda last week as Wall Street pay packages triggered anger and action in Washington. Agreement on a runoff election also generated a spike in Afghanistan coverage, and hostilities between the White House and Fox News made the roster of top stories.

Just half of Americans favor keeping troops in Afghanistan, down from 57% in June.

It was a war that often had trouble breaking into the headlines. But in recent months, with President Obama facing a crucial decision over whether to escalate U.S. involvement, coverage of Afghanistan increased noticeably. And last week, as the policy debate intensified, the story dominated finally the news.

Health care and the economy generated coverage last week, but the news agenda highlighted three geopolitical problems facing President Obama—negotiating with Iran, fighting in Afghanistan and trying to convince the IOC to bring the Olympics to the U.S.

Bloggers last week returned to two issues that generated interest in recent weeks. For the second time in a month, Afghanistan led the news in the blogosphere. And musician Dave Matthews sparked a second round of heated online debate with some comments about racism. On Twitter, for this week at least, the focus moved beyond Twitter itself.

Publics in all seven NATO countries polled disapproved of President Obama’s original decision to send more troops to Afghanistan.

America’s ratings have risen north of the border, but differences persist over Afghanistan and U.S. economic influence

A dovish article by a conservative columnist triggered a heated blogger’s debate over Afghanistan last week while the major topics on Twitter were all related to technology. On YouTube, health care protests continue to make for popular viewing, though not quite as popular as a dancing school teacher.

Troop increases may face considerable opposition in many NATO countries, which were opposed to Obama?s original call for more forces

The fight over health care legislation continued to dominate the news, but with a narrative twist that was tough on Barack Obama. And a crucial election kept the spotlight on Afghanistan, a conflict increasingly showing up in the headlines.