Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
It’s been a while since the debate over Iraq policy was the nation’s top talk show topic. But the Iraq doubters drove the suddenly re-ignited conversation on the airwaves last week. Meanwhile, the strange saga of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and his dog fighting operation proved a difficult topic to tackle.
Two different destructive storms struck the continent and even in the dog days of summer, the presidential race continued to attract significant media interest. But several factors—an intelligence report, a senatorial statement, and a presidential analogy—all combined to re-ignite the debate over U.S. policy in Iraq.
The departure of the Bush Administration’s most-polarizing adviser gave talk shows plenty to talk about last week, as hosts from the left and right assessed the White House tenure of Karl Rove. But even as the aide prepared to shuffle off to Texas, the campaign was on most hosts’ minds.
With the news split between stories like the Utah Mine collapse and the resignation of Karl Rove, the leading topic in the media last week was he 2008 campaign, but only barely. And by week’s end the nations’ economic turbulence was grabbing headlines.
In the second quarter of 2007, the presidential campaign supplanted the debate over Iraq as the No. 1 story in the media. Barack Obama overtook Hillary Clinton as the candidate getting the most attention. And Republicans began to catch up with Democrats in exposure. PEJ offers a 2nd quarter report on the media.
The actual vote may be 15 months away, but a loaded campaign calendar helped make last week the biggest one so far for the 2008 presidential race in talk media. No other stories really came close. One of the biggest topics in all the talk: Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton.
The fate of six miners trapped 1,500 feet underground followed two storylines last week as rescuers rushed against time and the mine company owner took his case to the public. But three presidential debates and the Iowa straw poll pushed the 2008 presidential campaign in the top spot.
The deadly collapse of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis last week quickly became one of the most heavily covered events of the year so far. And while it was the top story in every medium, coverage was particularly intense on cable TV, where officials, rescuers and even some victims told their stories.
Format moved to the forefront of the Talk Show universe last week. The unusual CNN/YouTube Democratic debate inspired a good deal of talk show commentary. The hosts also found time to discuss an attorney general under stress, a quarterback under arrest, and actress under duress.