Project for Excellence in Journalism

Media Coverage Splits Between Midterms and Miners

by Mark Jurkowitz, Associate Director, Project for Excellence in Journalism
October 19, 2010

A midterm election cycle quickly becoming known for harsh rhetoric and sharp personal attacks once again finished as the No. 1 story last week. But it had to share the media spotlight with a live dramatic rescue that became the ultimate reality show.

For the week of Oct. 11-17, the 2010 campaign accounted for 28% of the newshole, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That is up slightly from the previous week (25%) and marks the fifth consecutive week in which the election has been the No. 1 subject, confirming its dominance as the fall's top news story.

Last week, the news was driven by several crucial debates among Senate candidates -- including Christine O'Donnell vs. Chris Coons in Delaware and Sharron Angle vs. Harry Reid in Nevada. New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino generated headlines with disparaging remarks about homosexuals, and an underlying theme of the coverage last week was that the 2010 campaign has been distinguished by a particularly pungent brand of politics.

The week's No. 2 story (filling 21% of the newshole) was the rescue of 33 Chilean miners who had been trapped underground for 69 days. The rescue proved to be one of the rare mega-stories that offered nothing but good news, and it was viewed live around the world. In the U.S., the story filled one-third of the airtime studied on cable news for the week.

The third-biggest story was the economy (12%), which last week focused on the housing crisis and particularly on charges of fraudulent foreclosure practices. One key element of the narrative was the news that the 50 state attorneys general were opening an investigation into those allegations.

The No. 4 story was the conflict in Afghanistan (4%) with something of a twist. There was coverage of more violence on the ground, but the news also broke that the U.S. was allowing Taliban officials to travel to Kabul to participate in talks with the Karzai government -- a development treated in the media as a faint glimmer of hope.

And with a federal judge ordering the Pentagon to halt its current "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, the issue of gays in the military registered as the fifth-biggest story, filling 3% of the newshole.

Continue reading the full report at journalism.org.