News Interest vs News Coverage Week of May 21 Gas prices 27 Situation in Iraq 23
The rising price of gasoline replaced the Iraq war last week as the public’s most closely followed news story. More than half of the public (52%) paid very close attention to news about gas prices, and 27% said this was the single news story they followed more closely than any other. By comparison, 33% followed the situation in Iraq very closely, and 23% listed Iraq as their top news story of the week.
Historically, rising gas prices have attracted broad public interest. A year ago, even more Americans (69%) followed news about gas prices very closely. This past week, interest in gas prices outstripped media coverage of the issue by a wide margin. The national news media devoted 4% of its coverage to gasoline prices, making it the sixth most heavily covered news story of the week.
News Interest vs News Coverage  | Week of May 21  | Gas prices 27  | Situation in Iraq 23  | Immigration 12  | 10  | Iraq policy 10  | 10  | 2008 Campaign  | Lebanon violence  | Interest: percent who followed this story most closely  | Coverage: percent of news coverage devoted to story 