For the past six weeks, the U.S. mainstream
news media have been consumed by two stories.
From January 24 (when Egyptian protests
erupted) through March 6, Mideast turmoil (34%) and the U.S. economy (18%) have
made up more than half of the coverage in the mainstream media studied by the
Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.
During that time, no other subject has
filled more than 3% of the newshole, according to PEJ’s News Coverage Index.
The last time we saw two stories command
the news agenda for a lengthy period was the eight weeks from September 6, 2010
to October 31, 2010 when the midterm elections filled 28% of the newshole, the
economy accounted for another 12% and no other story registered at more than
3%.
Last week, from February 28-March 6, the
continuing unrest in the Middle East accounted for nearly a third (32%) of the
newshole studied. Almost 90% of that coverage involved the fighting in Libya as
forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi unleashed counterattacks against
anti-government rebels. And Gaddafi’s ability to cling to power in the face of
widespread resistance became a significant storyline as the media began to
address the difficult and potentially divisive issue of whether the U.S. ought
to intervene more directly in the fighting.
This marks the fifth time in the past
six weeks that the situation in the Mideast has been the No. 1 story.
Economy-related coverage filled 20% of
the newshole studied last week. For the third consecutive week, the leading
storyline was the standoff between the governor and unions in Wisconsin,
although the coverage expanded to look at other states engaged in similar budgetary
conflicts. Some good news on the jobs front—the unemployment rate falling under
9%—also generated attention late in the week.
Far behind, the third-biggest story (at
3%) was the matter of a potential federal government shutdown. Last week’s
newsmaker was Congress’ decision to pass a two-week funding extension that at
least temporarily avoided that shutdown.
The fourth-biggest story involved a
celebrity run amok. Attention to actor Charlie Sheen—who last week embarked on
an aggressive media tour that seemed to only further raise further doubts about
his well-being—accounted for 2% of the newshole
Coverage of the No. 5 story, health care
(2%), was driven by President Obama’s offer to allow states to opt out of some
provisions of the controversial new health care reform law if they could
achieve the desired results on their own—a move that in another time might have
been a much bigger story.
The
Shifting Storyline in Libya
Two weeks ago, the U.S. media were busy
profiling the mercurial Gaddafi while raising doubts about America’s ability to
influence the situation inside Libya. Last week, the narrative changed as
Gaddafi violently clung to power and the subject of possible U.S.
intervention—most notably the establishment of a no-fly zone—became more
urgent. 
The week began with one signal of
growing U.S. involvement, as reported in this February 28 Wall Street Journal story: “The Pentagon is
repositioning warships and planes in the waters off Libya to be ready to
enforce a no-fly zone or deliver humanitarian aid, military officials said
Monday. By shifting Naval and air forces in the Mediterranean, the U.S. is
preparing the groundwork for possible intervention in the civil war that has
engulfed Libya.”
A good deal of last week’s
coverage focused on a growing discussion about that no-fly zone, which would
keep Gaddafi from using air power against opposition forces, but could embroil
the U.S. in another military situation. CNN International anchor Michael Holmes
expressed some skepticism on March 1, noting that while a no-fly zone “does put
pressure on [Gaddafi], it’s a complicated thing to set up…The NATO forces
wouldn’t want to do it without a UN resolution, for starters.”
The next day, a story on NPR’s “All
Things Considered” noted that Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton and White House press secretary Jay Carney had all
addressed the issue. The report said Gates warned that “any military action against
Libya must be weighed carefully because it could have broad consequences,” but also
included Carney’s sentiments that “pretty much all options are under review.”
All of this came amid a growing
consensus that there will be no quick and easy conclusion to the fighting in
Libya—which could conceivably exert additional pressure for outside
intervention.
“Gaddafi may prove harder to dislodge
than previously thought,” the New York Times reported on March 1. “The regime of the Libyan leader…has been badly
undermined, but he retains enough support among critical tribes and
institutions, including parts of the army and the air force, to retain power in
the capital, Tripoli, for some time to come, say experts on Libya and its
military.”
One other aspect of the situation that
got media attention last week was the growing humanitarian crisis created by
the fighting.
“The violence in Libya was threatening
to turn into a humanitarian crisis…as thousands of people fleeing into Tunisia
overwhelmed relief efforts, creating a bottleneck of evacuees stranded on the
Libyan side of the border,” reported the Washington Post. “U.N. officials moved
to erect a tent city to shelter the more than 15,000 people arriving each day,
largely Egyptian migrant workers but also Libyans as well as oil workers and
menial laborers from Chad, Sudan and nations as distant as Bangladesh and China.”
And late in the week, there was news
that the U.S. was helping fly refugees who had fled Libya back to their home
countries—perhaps one more signal that a full-blown political and media debate
over America’s role in the crisis is in the offing.
The
Rest of the Week’s News
The economy was the No. 1 story in one
media sector, radio news—at 28% of the airtime studied—thanks in part to the
talk show hosts.
The continuing faceoff between Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker and the unions over his efforts to curtail collective bargaining
rights was once again a major storyline. And radio talkers argued about whether
the governor or the unions were to blame.
On his show, liberal pro-union host Ed
Schultz asserted that, “the public is speaking, through all of the polls out
there, that the governor is on the wrong side.” But turning to the 14
Democratic Wisconsin state senators who fled the state to prevent a vote on the
matter, Schultz also asked: “How long can they hold out?”
Some of the coverage also looked beyond Wisconsin,
including a Washington Post article noting that the tactic used by that state’s
Democratic senators was being replicated elsewhere.
“The strategy was used to great effect
this week, when two Maryland delegates did not show up at a committee meeting
about a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage,” the story stated. “And
Democrats in Indiana who are upset about a [union] issue also have decamped to
Illinois, holing up at a Comfort Suites in Urbana. They work out of the
breakfast nook, subsist on Subway sandwiches and donated chili dinners, and
make frequent visits to the coin-op laundry.”
Another economic newsmaker last week was
some good news on the job front.
“Employers in February hired at the
fastest pace in almost a year and the unemployment rate fell to 8.9% — a nearly
two-year low,” the AP reported. “Private employers added 222,000 jobs last
month…That shows companies are feeling more confident in the economy and about
their own financial prospects. And it bolstered hopes that businesses will
shift into a more aggressive hiring mode and boost the economic recovery.”
Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., the
biggest domestic story involved the skirmishing over whether to shut down the
federal government. Yet that accounted for only about one-seventh the coverage
of the economic news. In a classic case of good news equaling no (or little)
news, the move to extend government funding for two weeks accounted for only 3%
of the week’s coverage. Had a stalemate led to a government shutdown, one can
only imagine how big a story that would have been.
One newsmaker who made himself into a
big story was troubled ex-sitcom star Charlie Sheen, who, among other things,
has lost his job and custody of his children. His eagerness to talk to the
media about his situation—often in quasi-incomprehensible language—accounted
for 2% of last week’s newshole. He thus
becomes only one of a handful of entertainment celebrities—including Paris
Hilton, Anna Nicole Smith and Michael Jackson—to emerge as one of the leading
mainstream media stories since in the News Coverage Index began in 2007.
However, coverage of the deaths of Smith and Jackson, as well as the subsequent
legal battles involved, generated considerably more attention than Sheen’s
travails.
The No. 5 story may have gotten lost in
the rush of news from Libya and Wisconsin. Obama’s move to allow states to opt
out of several provisions on the year-old federal health care law might
normally have triggered a robust ideological debate in the two sectors that
feature the talk shows—cable and radio. Instead, that story accounted for only
2% of the newshole in cable and 3% in radio.
Newsmakers
of the Week
For the second straight week, Muammar
Gaddafi was the most prominent person in the news, registering as a dominant
newsmaker in 6% of the stories from February 28-March 6. In doing so, he barely edged out President
Obama, also at 6%. Two Mideast figures—Gaddafi and former Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak—have been the top newsmakers in three out of the six weeks that
the unrest in the region has been a major story in the U.S. mainstream media.
The ubiquitous Charlie Sheen was next, a
prominent newsmaker in 2% of the week’s stories. He was tied with Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker—who also made the list of top newsmakers the previous
week.
The week’s fifth major newsmaker was
former Republican House Speaker and presumed 2012 presidential candidate Newt
Gingrich (1% of the week’s stories). Last week, Gingrich inched closer to a run by
establishing an exploratory operation.
About the NCI
PEJ’s weekly News Coverage Index
examines the news agenda of 52 different outlets from five sectors of the
media: print, online, network TV, cable and radio. (See List of Outlets.)
The weekly study, which includes some 1,000 stories, is designed to provide
news consumers, journalists and researchers with hard data about what stories
and topics the media are covering, the trajectories of that media narrative and
differences among news platforms. The percentages are based on
"newshole," or the space devoted to each subject in print and online
and time on radio and TV. (See Our
Methodology.) In addition, these reports also
include a rundown of the week’s leading newsmakers, a designation given to
people who account for at least 50% of a given story.
Mark Jurkowitz of PEJ
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