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Related PEJ Research

News Coverage Index

The News Coverage Index is an effort to measure and analyze the American news media on a continuing basis. It examines some four dozen news outlets in real time to determine what is being covered and what is not-to give a broad sense of the American news agenda.

Recent News Coverage Releases

The Mosque Debate Continues to Galvanize the Blogosphere

Elections, Katrina and Economy Split the News Agenda

Data Sets

The Project for Excellence in Journalism is pleased to offer scholars access to raw data sets from PEJ research. All uses of this data should reference the Project for Excellence in Journalism as the source of the data and acknowledge that the PEJ bears no responsibility for interpretations presented or conclusions reached based on analysis of the data.


News Coverage Index Data Sets

PEJ plans to make data sets of its News Coverage Index available yearly. Single compressed archive files (.zip file) may be downloaded and saved on your computer. Software for decompressing zip files is available at download.com and on many freeware/shareware sites on the web.

PEJ is interested in learning about other ways that scholars use our data. If you publish something based on our data, please let us know by sending us an email. Individuals will need to fill out a brief registration before downloading data. Questions concerning the data sets may be directed to the Project for Excellence in Journalism.


July 1, 20102009 Additional Content Studies
PEJ offers topline data for additional content-based reports. The focus of these opportunistic studies ranged from how the media covered the Great Recession to President Obama’s first 100 days in office and more.
July 1, 20102009 News Coverage Index Data Set
The 2009 NCI data set totals 68,717 stories. The Index sample includes 55 outlets, every Monday through Sunday. These outlets come from the five main sectors of mainstream media—print, network TV, cable TV, online and radio.
July 1, 20092008 News Coverage Index Data Set
The 2008 NCI data set totals 69,942 stories. The Index sample includes 48 outlets (34 or 35 each week-day with some rotation), every Monday through Sunday. These outlets come from the five main sectors of mainstream media—print, network TV, cable TV, online and radio.
July 1, 20092008 Campaign Coverage Index Data Set
The CCI is based on a sub-set of PEJ’s 2008 NCI—all the stories from January 1 through November 3, 2008, that were primarily about the 2008 presidential campaign. The 2008 CCI data set totals 18,836 stories.
July 1, 20092008 Additional Content Studies
PEJ offers topline data for additional content-based reports. The focus of these opportunistic studies ranged from how the media covered the 2008 election to health care in the news and much more.
July 29, 20082007 News Coverage Index Data Set
The 2007 NCI data set totals 70,737 stories. The Index sample includes 48 outlets (35 each week-day with some rotation), every Sunday through Friday. The outlets studied come from the five main sectors of mainstream media-print, network TV, cable, online, and radio.