News Interest vs News Coverage December 8-14 Financial crisis 24
The governor’s arrest, based on information gathered from a federal wiretap investigation, led all news coverage last week, accounting for 28% of the newshole, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. The scandal was the top story in three sectors (online, radio and cable TV), making up 44% of all cable news coverage. The Blagojevich case surpassed the level of weekly news coverage devoted to Spitzer (23%) when that story broke earlier this year. Republicans and Democrats were about equally likely to have paid very close attention to the Blagojevich arrest (34% vs. 29%).
While the Blagojevich scandal dominated news coverage, many Americans remained focused on the nation’s economic crisis and news about a potential multi-billion government bailout for the U.S. auto industry. A majority (51%) followed economic news very closely. About one-in-four (24%) named economic news as the story they followed most closely. Four-in-ten (40%) say they followed news about the auto industry bailout very closely, while 24% list this as their top story. By comparison, 29% followed the Blagojevich scandal very closely and just 14% say it was the story they followed most closely.
Following the extensive Blagojevich coverage, press accounts favored news about government assistance to the automakers (18% of all news) over reports about the economy (11%).
In other news, slightly more than two-in-ten (22%) paid very close attention to the discovery of remains in Florida that could be those of missing toddler Caylee Anthony. For 13% of the public, news about that discovery was their top story of the week, roughly equal to the percentage who listed the Blagojevich scandal as their top story (14%).
News Interest vs News Coverage  | December 8-14  | Auto Industry 24  | 18  | Financial crisis 24  | Rod Blagojevich 14  | 28  | 13  | Caylee Anthony  | Obama transition 10  | 8  | Iraq  | 5  | Interest: percent who named story as most closely followed  | Coverage: percent of news coverage devoted to story 