Newspapers
11.1% - Percentage of overall coverage devoted to Michael Jackson from June 25 - August 2 After a brief lull in media attention, the spotlight returned to the Michael Jackson story the week of July 27– August 2. Coverage focused on the search of the Las Vegas home of Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, and speculation that he may be criminally responsible for the entertainer’s death. In all, the Jackson story filled 4.1% of the newshole from July 27–August 2, making it the fourth-biggest story that week. Indeed, media attention to the pop star’s death, the investigation and the legal battles that followed has accounted for 11.1% of the overall newshole in the five-week period between June 25 and August 2. It was the No. 3 story during that interval, following just behind coverage of the nation’s two dominant domestic policy issues, the health care debate (12.6%) and the economic crisis (11.7%). In some ways, the Jackson coverage resembles that surrounding Anna Nicole Smith more than two years ago The former Playmate and model’s death on February 8, 2007 instantly made major news with coverage sustained by allegations of drug abuse and legal battles over the estate and custody of her child. While the Jackson case has generated more coverage, the Smith story did account for 5.5% of the newshole in the first five weeks after her death (February 8–March 18, 2007). It was the fourth-biggest story during that time, behind the 2008 Presidential campaign (8.8%), the Washington-based debate over Iraq policy (8.4%) and events occurring inside Iraq (6.7%). As was also the case with Smith, Jackson’s death has been largely a TV story, with cable and network news leading the way. In both sectors, Jackson has been the No. 1 story from June 25–August 2, registering at 19.5% on cable and 17.8% on network news. (On network news, it has generated far more attention on the morning shows, at 28.7% of the newshole, than on the evening newscasts, at 10.8% of the airtime.) Online news sites are next, but trail far behind TV news at 7.4%. Radio follows at 6.2% and newspapers are last, at 4.1%. Tricia Sartor and Dana Page of PEJ
#4 - Hillary Clinton’s rank among the top newsmakers of 2009 Hillary Clinton’s trip to Asia the week of July 20-26—which included stops in India and Thailand—put the Secretary of State in the news. That was due in part to a rhetorical volley between Clinton—who compared North Korea to “unruly children” demanding attention—and a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson who said Clinton looks like “a primary schoolgirl”. The week of the Asia trip, Clinton was a lead newsmaker (meaning that at least 50% of the story was about her) in 26 stories—enough to make her the fourth-biggest newsmaker that week.
Yet, Clinton has made more news this year than such well-known figures as Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner, (239 stories), former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (214), who has a knack for attracting press, and former Vice President Dick Cheney (195 stories), who since leaving office has become a visible opponent of Obama’s policies Clinton’s biggest week of media attention was during her confirmation hearings, (January 12–18) when she was a lead newsmaker in 51 stories. Her other top weeks as a headline generator were related to her travels as Secretary of State. She was a lead newsmaker in 44 stories from February 26-22, when she first visited Asia, with stops in Japan, Indonesia and South Korea. The next-biggest week was her trip to the Middle East and the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting in Belgium (42 stories from March 2-8). And she also was a lead newsmaker in 22 stories the week of March 23-29, when she visited Mexico to discuss bi-lateral efforts to fight drug trafficking. Tricia Sartor and Dana Page of PEJ
Read the full Health News Coverage in the U.S. Media report.
As the mainstream press struggles with the impact of technology and recession, how many reporters are on Capitol Hill to cover the 111th Congress? 
With no reliable way to reconcile the two different accountings of newspapers, PEJ has instead counted each reporter—a metric which remained consistent year to year. According to this accounting, the number of newspaper reporters on the Hill in 2009 is down 17% since the mid 1980s and 30% since the 1990s. As the original report found generally in Washington, the rapid growth of niche outlets, meanwhile, partly compensated for the loss of newspaper reporters accredited to the galleries. The number of people accredited to these publications is up from about 335 in 1997-98 to roughly 500 currently. Overall, the total number of organizations listed with Hill credentials from the Press galleries declined from 165 in 1998 to 149 in 2008 and then 137 in 2009 – a 17% drop.
A full updated version of the February report is available here. 
92% - Drop in Iraq coverage from the beginning of 2007 to the middle of 2009
June 30 was declared “National Sovereignty Day” in Iraq as U.S. soldiers pulled out from cities there. The date marked a major milestone in the six-year war, and for the week of June 29-July 5, 2009, events inside Iraq filled 5.6% of the newshole, the highest level of media attention to that subject this year. The situation inside Iraq is one aspect of the war that PEJ tracks along with the Iraq policy debate and the impact of the war on the U.S. home front. When all three Iraq threads are combined, the story filled 6.6% of the newshole from June 29-July 5. Tricia Sartor and Dana Page of PEJ Swine Flu Coverage around the WorldThe swine flu story quickly topped the American media agenda when the story broke in late April. How did coverage in other countries compare with the U.S.? Was there any correlation between the number of confirmed cases and quantity or nature of coverage? How did Spanish-language media in the U.S. react? A new report examining press coverage of the outbreak in several countries offers answers. 
Swine Flu Coverage around the World
No. 6 - Hubble’s rank among top science and technology stories Last week, NASA astronauts made their fifth and final mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, adding a high-powered camera and a spectrograph, which scientists hope will reveal information about the origin of the universe. Filling 3% of the newshole, Hubble was the No. 7 story the week of May 11-17, 2009. That one week of coverage was largely responsible for making the telescope the sixth-biggest science and technology story overall since PEJ’S News Coverage Index began in January 2007. In that period, PEJ has identified 66 stories about Hubble, the overwhelming majority of which were generated last week. That still leaves the Hubble saga well behind the top science and technology subject in the past two years—a story that also has significant political implications. Since January 2007, the stem cell debate has generated 149 stories. The biggest single week of coverage (50 stories) occurred in March of this year, when President Obama lifted the ban on stem cell research funding. Overall, however, space missions seemed to dominate the science and technology coverage. Following the stem cell controversy was coverage of space shuttles Discovery (No. 2 with 116 stories), which took three trips to the international space station in October 2007, June 2008, and March 2009 and Endeavour (No. 3 with 112) which took two trips into space in August 2007 and November 2008. The fourth-biggest science and technology story was the failure—and then fixing—of the computers on the International Space Station in June 2007 (90 stories). The issue of cyber security (79 stories), matters dealing with computer hackers and cyber spies, was in fifth place. The mission to Mars by the robotic spacecraft Phoenix beginning in May 2008 was No. 7 (61 stories) and the iphone, introduced in January of 2007 and released for sale in June of that year, was the eighth-biggest topic at 34 stories. Tricia Sartor and Dana Page of PEJ
3.3% - Amount of Afghanistan/ Pakistan coverage on cable and radio talk shows With the violence increasing and the geopolitical stakes rising, the so-called “Af-Pak” crisis was a major story last week. The conflict in Pakistan, where government forces battled the Taliban, filled 5.3% of the newshole from May 4-10. The fighting in Afghanistan, including reports that U.S. air strikes killed numerous civilians, accounted for another 3.2%. And the meeting in Washington between Barack Obama, Pakistani President Asif Zardari and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai filled another 3.1%. Combined, the subject accounted for 11.6% of the newshole from May 4-10, 2009—quadrupling the coverage of the two countries since the beginning of the year. The strategic challenges posed by Afghanistan and Pakistan generated substantial attention last week in a number of media sectors. The subject accounted for 17.1% of the coverage online, the platform that generally devotes the most coverage to international events. Newspapers devoted 11.2% of the front-page coverage studied to the issue. On network news, the Af-Pak stories filled 9.8% of the newshole. Yet, the events of the week barely made it onto the radar screen on the cable and radio talk shows—outlets often driven by debate and ideology that tend not to focus on overseas news. In the PEJ sample of eight prime-time cable talk shows and five commercial talk radio programs, the fighting in Pakistan filled only .3% of the time studied, the conflict in Afghanistan filled only .9% and the White House summit accounted for 2.1%. Combined coverage of the three stories filled just 3.3% of the talk show newshole, less than a third of that in the media overall. Notably, the talkers paid the most attention to the Washington-based storyline, the White House meeting of the three leaders, the thread that got the least coverage in the media in general. Tricia Sartor of PEJ Obama's First 100 DaysHow have the news media covered the early days of the Obama presidency? How does that coverage stack up against that of his predecessors? A new study examines the tone and focus of Obama’s media narrative and how compares it to Bill Clinton’s and George Bush’s.
3:2 – Ratio of last week’s coverage of First Dog Bo compared to the Iraq War On April 14, reporters and photographers swarmed the White House grounds, anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Obamas’ new pet. They caught every step of the first family walking Bo, their six-month-old Portuguese Water Dog, who was a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy. The event prompted all sorts of stories, ranging from a historical look at former presidential pets to the simmering controversy over the Obamas not getting a rescued dog from a shelter. In all, Bo Obama was the focus of two dozen stories the week of April 13-19, 2009, according to PEJ’s News Coverage Index. While that doesn’t put Bo’s debut among the top-five stories of the week, he did attract more press attention than many other significant events. The 24 stories about Bo topped coverage of the war in Iraq, which generated 16 stories. (That included a suicide bombing that resulted in the deaths of five American soldiers.) Bo also received more coverage than North Korea’s decision to ask nuclear inspectors to leave the country (23 stories), new developments in the gruesome murder of eight-year-old Sandra Cantu (19 stories), retiring NFL commentator John Madden (12 stories) and the ongoing and escalating war in Afghanistan (12 stories). Despite Bo’s celebrity, attention to his arrival was short lived, diminishing significantly by late in the week. And it was far from the top story of the week. Many events far outpaced coverage of Bo including the economic crisis (237 stories), the Somali pirate saga (191 stories), and issues relating to domestic terrorism, which included the release of memos detailing controversial interrogation techniques (74 stories). Tricia Sartor of PEJ |
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As the Obama Administration begins in earnest its plans to take up health care reform, how the media covers the debate at the outset will influence the public view of the issue and what happens next.