News Interest vs News Coverage Economic crisis Interest: percent who followed this story most closely
These findings are based on the most recent installment of the weekly News Interest Index, an ongoing project of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The index, building on the Center’s longstanding research into public attentiveness to major news stories, examines news interest as it relates to the news media’s agenda. The weekly survey is conducted in conjunction with The Project for Excellence in Journalism’s News Coverage Index, which monitors the news reported by major newspaper, television, radio and online news outlets on an ongoing basis. In the most recent week, data relating to news coverage were collected from October 6-12 and survey data measuring public interest in the top news stories of the week were collected October 10-13 from a nationally representative sample of 1,006 adults.
Overall, nearly two-thirds of Americans (63%) list either economic conditions or the stock market drop as the single news story they followed more closely than any other last week. One-in-four (24%) list the campaign as their most closely followed story. For its part, the national news media divided its focus between the economy and the campaign last week. According to Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, 41% of the national newshole last week was devoted to the presidential campaign, while 36% was devoted to the current financial crisis.
News Interest vs News Coverage  | Oct 6-12 2008  | Economic crisis  | 36  | 63  | 2008 Campaign 24  | 41  | Iraq  | Afghanistan  | OIJ Simpson  | Interest: percent who followed this story most closely  | Coverage: percent of news coverage devoted to story  | *Coverage of OJ Simpson's conviction accounted for  | less than 1 % of all news ro 2%) 