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Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
Public Chows Down on Pet Food Recall
Only Iraq War Leads in News Interest; Queen and Tenet Lag Far Behind
A story which received relatively little media coverage last week attracted a great deal of public interest. The recall of more than 100 brands of pet food due to possible contamination was the second most closely followed news story last week. Only the war in Iraq attracted more public interest.
Nearly three-in-ten Americans (28%) followed the pet food recall very closely, and 17% said it was the single news story they followed more closely than any other last week. The national news media devoted 1% of its overall coverage to the pet food recall. The story was covered more heavily in newspapers (3%) than in other sectors.
With the Virginia Tech shootings falling off the national news media's agenda last week, the public shifted its focus back to the Iraq war. The situation in Iraq was the public's most closely followed news story. Fully 38% followed news about events in Iraq very closely (up from 27% the previous week), and 28% said this was the story they followed most closely. During a week in which George Bush vetoed Congress's war-funding bill, the Iraq policy debate also attracted a good deal of public interest: 30% followed the debate very closely (up from 18% the previous week) and 13% listed it as their most closely followed story. Media coverage of the war focused more on the policy debate than on events on the ground.
Nearly one quarter of the public (23%) followed campaign news very closely and 11% said it was the story they followed most closely last week. In spite of the GOP candidates' May 3 debate, Democrats followed the campaign more closely than Republicans. The release of George Tenet's book about his experiences as CIA director attracted little public interest in spite of a significant amount of media coverage.