Project for Excellence in Journalism

Tornadoes Lead News in Days Before Bin Laden Death

May 4, 2011

The deadly tornadoes that ripped through the Southeast on April 27 -- reportedly killing more than an estimated 300 people and leaving hundreds more missing -- topped the news agenda from April 25-May 1, accounting for 15% of the newshole, according to the PEJ's News Coverage Index. No domestic natural disaster has generated that level of attention in a single week since September 1-7, 2008 (17%), when Hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana, causing mass evacuations.

Storm coverage was boosted in part by Barack Obama's April 29 visit to hard-hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama -- a trip he took after making the decision in Washington to give the green light to the bin Laden mission.

Video images of twisters -- many provided by amateur videographers-and scenes of devastation received heavy play on television, especially on the broadcast networks, where the storm news accounted for 23% of the airtime studied by PEJ. Standing in a flattened part of Tuscaloosa where 16 people were killed, ABC News' Steve Osunsami described the human toll: "First responders who were here were so busy pulling the living from all of these debris, they were forced to ignore the dead. That's how bad this is."

At the same time the media were covering the aftermath of the violent storms, they were also preparing to chronicle the week's No. 4 story -- the highly anticipated British royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, which accounted for 11% of the newshole.

Like the tornadoes, the royal wedding was a major network news television event, with newscasts beginning their live coverage as early as 4 a.m. (Eastern) on Friday, the day of the wedding. On the networks, the wedding accounted for 36% of the week's coverage.

The U.S. economy was the No. 2 story last week at 12% -- down slightly from 14% the week before. The news was driven by reports about Federal Reserve chairman Benjamin Bernanke's Wednesday press conference in which he took questions from reporters-a first in the history of the Fed. In addition, about a quarter of the economic coverage focused on the federal budget deficit.

 About a quarter of the Obama narrative focused on the nominations of Leon Panetta to be the next defense secretary and David Petraeus to head the CIA. But about two-thirds of the Obama coverage was given over to rumors about the president's place of birth. Following efforts by potential GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump to raise questions about Obama's citizenship, the president used an April 27 news conference to announce that his long-form birth certificate was now public. Trump responded by publicly taking credit for the "revelation."

Last week marked the third consecutive week that rumors about Obama's birthplace generated significant attention in the mainstream media.

Continuing upheaval in the Middle East rounded out the top five stories last week, as a violent crackdown on protestors in Syria and a NATO bombing of Col. Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan compound that killed his youngest son accounted for much of the 11% devoted to the turmoil around the region.

Read the full report at journalism.org.