It was shortly after one p.m. eastern time on Friday June 8
when cable viewers witnessed a scene that was part paparazzi, part “Cops,” and
part “Entertainment Tonight.”
A handcuffed Paris Hilton was deposited into sheriff’s car
#865 for a trip back to court where Judge Michael Sauer would send her back to
jail after her sudden and early release the day before. The spectacle of
cameras trained on the car winding its way slowly through the Los
Angeles streets was, in a way, strangely reminiscent
of O.J. Simpson’s slow-speed car chase 13 years earlier.
Hilton managed to evade the waiting press hordes on her
return to the courthouse, but that did not chill their ardor. “The media frenzy
is wild,” declared CNN’s entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas.
Paris Hilton’s problems represented only the second
celebrity tabloid tale this year—the first being Anna Nicole Smith’s death—to
make the roster of top five stories, according to PEJ’s News Coverage Index
from June 3-8. The saga of socialite/party girl Hilton’s release and return to
prison after serving a few days of what was to have been a 23-day sentence for
violating drunk driving probation was the fifth biggest story of the week,
filling 4% of the newshole.
The Hilton tale was covered most heavily in cable (third
biggest story at 9%) and on radio (fourth story at 7%). And the bulk of the
attention came late in the week. For the two days of June 7 and 8, Hilton
generated 10% of the overall coverage, filling 18% of the radio and 21% of the
cable airtime.
Cable’s attraction to the story was clearly illustrated by
MSNBC on June 8. Declaring “here’s Paris Hilton now,” anchor Contessa Brewer
abruptly cut away from a discussion of the retirement of Joint Chiefs of Staff
Chairman Peter Pace to the scene at Hilton’s home as she prepared for her ride
back to court.
Hilton’s legal drama occurred on a very crowded news week.
Fueled by coverage of two major debates, the 2008 Presidential race was the top
story (15%) leading in the newspaper (9%), network TV (11%), cable (25%) and
radio (15%) sectors. The legislative setback to the compromise Senate
immigration measure was the second leading story of the week, filling 9% of the
newshole. The prospect of a new Cold War, triggered by U.S.-Russian tensions
over American plans to install a missile defense system in Europe,
was the third biggest story at 7%. (It also accounted for 20% of all the
coverage in the online sector.)
Both parties were tainted by scandal last week. The
sentencing of former Dick Cheney aide “Scooter” Libby to 30 months in jail for
perjury and obstruction of justice in the case involving CIA operative Valerie
Plame was the fourth biggest story (5%). And the indictment of Louisiana Democratic
Congressman William Jefferson on racketeering, bribery and money laundering
charges helped make Congressional corruption scandals the seventh story at 3%.
Two terrorism stories—one that represented a victory for the
Bush administration’s strategy and one that represented a defeat—also made the
top-10 list last week. The successful breakup of a plot to attack JFK
Airport was the tenth biggest story
at 3%. And rulings by military judges
who threw out cases against two U.S. terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay was a
major part the eighth biggest story on domestic terrorism (also at 3%). The
only story about Iraq
to make the top-10 list—events on the ground there—finished sixth at 4%.
PEJ’s News Coverage Index is a study of the news
agenda of 48 different outlets from five sectors of the media. (See a List of Outlets.) It is designed to provide news
consumers, journalists and researchers with hard data about what stories and
topics the media are covering, the trajectories of major stories and
differences among news platforms. (See Our Methodology.)
Aside from the CNN-hosted Republican and
Democratic debates last week, another major story line was the June 4 forum at
which Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards gathered to discuss their
faith. Talking about religion and mixing faith and public policy has
traditionally been a somewhat tricky issue for Democrats. But on ABC’s June 5
edition of “Good Morning America,” correspondent Dan Harris reported that “some
Democrats think they are now in a position to close the so-called ‘God Gap.’”
On the Republican side, the issue of who isn’t
yet in the 2008 race continues to loom large in the coverage. The June 4
edition of MSNBC’s “Scarborough Country” featured a “Fox News Sunday” interview
in which possible candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accused the
government of “not functioning…not getting the job done.”
In a June 5 interview on Fox’s “Hannity &
Colmes” former Senator Fred Thompson—who recently announced the formation of a
preliminary campaign committee—said he had never really been focused on the
White House, but “more and more, I wish that I had the opportunity to do the
things that only a President can do.”
For the fourth straight week, the immigration
debate—driven by the May 17 compromise that inspired attacks from both the left
and the right—was one of the top five stories in the Index. During that time a
number of talk hosts, from CNN’s Lou Dobbs to radio talker Rush Limbaugh,
engaged in an energetic and aggressive campaign against the bill. By week’s
end, they appeared to have been on the victorious side as the bill was pulled
from the floor after supporters were unable to bring it to a vote.
The front-page of the June 8 USA Today carried a headline that declared,
“Immigration bill not dead yet, backers say.” But the tone of the article was a
little more skeptical, noting that the “Senate’s failure to complete the bill
now raises questions about whether Congress can deal with the contentious issue
with a presidential campaign in gear.”
Coverage of the apparently growing tensions
between the U.S. and Russia—and between George Bush and Vladimir Putin—dominated much of the week’s
coverage. But the story took something of a surprise twist when, during a
private meeting at the G-8 Summit, the Russian leader offered to accept the
controversial missile defense system in the ex-Soviet republic, Azerbaijan.
While acknowledging “serious diplomatic and
technical challenges ahead,” the New York Times June 8 page-one story reported
that the Putin offer and Bush’s willingness to consider it reflected a “desire
on both sides to cool the hostile exchanges that in recent months had driven
relations to a low point in the post-cold-war era.”
Yet with all the weighty
events of the week, Paris Hilton still managed to command 8% of the network
coverage on June 7 and 8 as she bounced between a jail cell and her LA home. What
had started as a celebrity story about someone with a penchant for publicity
and legal trouble had suddenly turned into a morality tale about double
standards in the criminal justice system.
On the June 7 CBS nightly newscast, correspondent Bill
Whitaker reported that “a fed-up public is going ballistic” after learning of
Hilton’s medical release after only three days in jail. (The Hilton story made
all three major network newscasts). Noting that Al Sharpton was among those
adding his voice to protest this “celebrity injustice,” Whitaker declared that
“from the blogosphere to the legal sphere, criticism of Paris
is burning.”
One day later, with the media hot on her trail, a weepy and
distraught Hilton was sent back to her cell.
Mark Jurkowitz of PEJ
Note: On both Monday and Friday evenings, CNN aired a special program on presidential candidates and their faith. CNN also aired a 2-hour debate on the evening of Tuesday, June 5. We did not include any of these programs in this week's sample, although we did include some of CNN's coverage before and after the Tuesday night debate.
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