News Interest vs. News Coverage Health care 25 Swine flu 24
A quarter of Americans (25%) followed news about the health care debate more closely than any other news story this week, while about as many (24%) cited reports about the swine flu and the vaccine as their top story. This marks the first time since mid-July that health care reform has not clearly been the public’s top story. At that time, the death of Michael Jackson was the most closely followed story.
In terms of news coverage for the week, the U.S. military effort in Afghanistan was the top story, accounting of 20% of all coverage, according to separate analysis by the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ). By contrast, 10% of coverage was devoted to the health care debate and 5% for swine flu during the week of Oct. 5-11, according to PEJ.
News Interest vs. News Coverage  | 10  | Health care 25  | Swine flu 24  | 12  | 16  | Economy  | 20  | Afghanistan  | 11  | Nobel prize  | Whoon crash  | Interest: percent who named story as most closely followed  | Coverage: percent of news coverage devoted to story 