News Interest vs. News Coverage News Interest 2012 elections
The latest allegations in the child sex abuse scandal at Penn State University rivaled news about the 2012 elections and the economy for the public’s attention last week.
About two-in-ten (19%) say news about the candidates for the 2012 presidential elections was their top story, while 18% each say they followed news about the economy or the Penn State scandal most closely, according to the latest weekly News Interest Index survey, conducted Dec. 8-11 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press among 1,008 adults.
With Newt Gingrich’s rise to the top of the Republican field and the Iowa caucuses just weeks away, the 2012 presidential campaign received more coverage than any other story. The campaign accounted for 24% of the newshole last week, according to a separate analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ).
News Interest vs. News Coverage  | News Interest  | News Coverage  | 2012 elections  | 19  | 24  | 18  | Penn State scandal  | 18  | 13  | Economy  | Virginia Tech sho ootings  | 10  | Anti-Wall St. protests  | European debt crisis  | News ly, interest.shows Research the percentage the ofpeople who the say they followed 2011. this story most  | close ly, Pew shows Research the Centerfor percentage ofnews the People & the Press devoted Dec. each 8-11, story, 2011. News  | coverage shows the percentage ofnews People coverage devoted to each story, Pew  | Research Center's Project for Exce ofnews Ilence inJournalism, Dec. 5-11, 2011 story, 