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<\/figure>\n\nFrom January 24 (when Egyptian protests erupted) through March 6, Mideast turmoil (34%) and the U.S. economy (18%) have made up more than half of the coverage in the mainstream media studied by the Pew Research Center\u2019s Project for Excellence in Journalism.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n
During that time, no other subject has filled more than 3% of the newshole, according to PEJ\u2019s News Coverage Index. <\/p>\n\n
The last time we saw two stories command the news agenda for a lengthy period was the eight weeks from September 6, 2010 to October 31, 2010 when the midterm elections filled 28% of the newshole, the economy accounted for another 12% and no other story registered at more than 3%. <\/p>\n\n
Last week, from February 28-March 6, the continuing unrest in the Middle East accounted for nearly a third (32%) of the newshole studied. Almost 90% of that coverage involved the fighting in Libya as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi unleashed counterattacks against anti-government rebels. And Gaddafi\u2019s ability to cling to power in the face of widespread resistance became a significant storyline as the media began to address the difficult and potentially divisive issue of whether the U.S. ought to intervene more directly in the fighting. <\/p>\n\n
This marks the fifth time in the past six weeks that the situation in the Mideast has been the No. 1 story. <\/p>\n\n
Economy-related coverage filled 20% of the newshole studied last week. For the third consecutive week, the leading storyline was the standoff between the governor and unions in Wisconsin, although the coverage expanded to look at other states engaged in similar budgetary conflicts. Some good news on the jobs front\u2014the unemployment rate falling under 9%\u2014also generated attention late in the week. <\/p>\n\n
Far behind, the third-biggest story (at 3%) was the matter of a potential federal government shutdown. Last week\u2019s newsmaker was Congress\u2019 decision to pass a two-week funding extension that at least temporarily avoided that shutdown. <\/p>\n\n
The fourth-biggest story involved a celebrity run amok. Attention to actor Charlie Sheen\u2014who last week embarked on an aggressive media tour that seemed to only further raise further doubts about his well-being\u2014accounted for 2% of the newshole <\/p>\n\n
Coverage of the No. 5 story, health care (2%), was driven by President Obama\u2019s offer to allow states to opt out of some provisions of the controversial new health care reform law if they could achieve the desired results on their own\u2014a move that in another time might have been a much bigger story. <\/p>\n\n
The Shifting Storyline in Libya<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n Two weeks ago, the U.S. media were busy profiling the mercurial Gaddafi while raising doubts about America\u2019s ability to influence the situation inside Libya. Last week, the narrative changed as Gaddafi violently clung to power and the subject of possible U.S. intervention\u2014most notably the establishment of a no-fly zone\u2014became more urgent. <\/p>\n\n The week began with one signal of growing U.S. involvement, as reported in this February 28\u00a0 Wall Street Journal story:\u00a0 \u201cThe Pentagon is repositioning warships and planes in the waters off Libya to be ready to enforce a no-fly zone or deliver humanitarian aid, military officials said Monday. By shifting Naval and air forces in the Mediterranean, the U.S. is preparing the groundwork for possible intervention in the civil war that has engulfed Libya.\u201d <\/p>\n\n [Gaddafi]<\/p>\n\n\n The next day, a story on NPR\u2019s \u201cAll Things Considered\u201d noted that Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and White House press secretary Jay Carney had all addressed the issue. The report said Gates warned that \u201cany military action against Libya must be weighed carefully because it could have broad consequences,\u201d but also included Carney\u2019s sentiments that \u201cpretty much all options are under review.\u201d <\/p>\n\n All of this came amid a growing consensus that there will be no quick and easy conclusion to the fighting in Libya\u2014which could conceivably exert additional pressure for outside intervention. <\/p>\n\n \u201cGaddafi may prove harder to dislodge than previously thought,\u201d the New York Times reported on March 1. \u201cThe regime of the Libyan leader\u2026has been badly undermined, but he retains enough support among critical tribes and institutions, including parts of the army and the air force, to retain power in the capital, Tripoli, for some time to come, say experts on Libya and its military.\u201d <\/p>\n\n One other aspect of the situation that got media attention last week was the growing humanitarian crisis created by the fighting. <\/p>\n\n \u201cThe violence in Libya was threatening to turn into a humanitarian crisis\u2026as thousands of people fleeing into Tunisia overwhelmed relief efforts, creating a bottleneck of evacuees stranded on the Libyan side of the border,\u201d reported the Washington Post. \u201cU.N. officials moved to erect a tent city to shelter the more than 15,000 people arriving each day, largely Egyptian migrant workers but also Libyans as well as oil workers and menial laborers from Chad, Sudan and nations as distant as Bangladesh and China.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n And late in the week, there was news that the U.S. was helping fly refugees who had fled Libya back to their home countries\u2014perhaps one more signal that a full-blown political and media debate over America\u2019s role in the crisis is in the offing. <\/p>\n\n The Rest of the Week\u2019s News <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n The economy was the No. 1 story in one media sector, radio news\u2014at 28% of the airtime studied\u2014thanks in part to the talk show hosts. \u00a0 <\/p>\n\n The continuing faceoff between Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the unions over his efforts to curtail collective bargaining rights was once again a major storyline. And radio talkers argued about whether the governor or the unions were to blame. <\/p>\n\n On his show, liberal pro-union host Ed Schultz asserted that, \u201cthe public is speaking, through all of the polls out there, that the governor is on the wrong side.\u201d But turning to the 14 Democratic Wisconsin state senators who fled the state to prevent a vote on the matter, Schultz also asked: \u201cHow long can they hold out?\u201d <\/p>\n\n Some of the coverage also looked beyond Wisconsin, including a Washington Post article noting that the tactic used by that state\u2019s Democratic senators was being replicated elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n [union]<\/p>\n\n\n Another economic newsmaker last week was some good news on the job front. <\/p>\n\n \u201cEmployers in February hired at the fastest pace in almost a year and the unemployment rate fell to 8.9% \u2014 a nearly two-year low,\u201d the AP reported. \u201cPrivate employers added 222,000 jobs last month\u2026That shows companies are feeling more confident in the economy and about their own financial prospects. And it bolstered hopes that businesses will shift into a more aggressive hiring mode and boost the economic recovery.\u201d <\/p>\n\n Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., the biggest domestic story involved the skirmishing over whether to shut down the federal government. Yet that accounted for only about one-seventh the coverage of the economic news. In a classic case of good news equaling no (or little) news, the move to extend government funding for two weeks accounted for only 3% of the week\u2019s coverage. Had a stalemate led to a government shutdown, one can only imagine how big a story that would have been. <\/p>\n\n One newsmaker who made himself into a big story was troubled ex-sitcom star Charlie Sheen, who, among other things, has lost his job and custody of his children. His eagerness to talk to the media about his situation\u2014often in quasi-incomprehensible language\u2014accounted for 2% of last week\u2019s newshole.\u00a0 He thus becomes only one of a handful of entertainment celebrities\u2014including Paris Hilton, Anna Nicole Smith and Michael Jackson\u2014to emerge as one of the leading mainstream media stories since in the News Coverage Index began in 2007. However, coverage of the deaths of Smith and Jackson, as well as the subsequent legal battles involved, generated considerably more attention than Sheen\u2019s travails. <\/p>\n\n The No. 5 story may have gotten lost in the rush of news from Libya and Wisconsin. Obama\u2019s move to allow states to opt out of several provisions on the year-old federal health care law might normally have triggered a robust ideological debate in the two sectors that feature the talk shows\u2014cable and radio. Instead, that story accounted for only 2% of the newshole in cable and 3% in radio. <\/p>\n\n Newsmakers of the Week<\/strong><\/p>\n\n For the second straight week, Muammar Gaddafi was the most prominent person in the news, registering as a dominant newsmaker in 6% of the stories from February 28-March 6.\u00a0 In doing so, he barely edged out President Obama, also at 6%. Two Mideast figures\u2014Gaddafi and former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak\u2014have been the top newsmakers in three out of the six weeks that the unrest in the region has been a major story in the U.S. mainstream media. <\/p>\n\n The ubiquitous Charlie Sheen was next, a prominent newsmaker in 2% of the week\u2019s stories. He was tied with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker\u2014who also made the list of top newsmakers the previous week. <\/p>\n\n The week\u2019s fifth major newsmaker was former Republican House Speaker and presumed 2012 presidential candidate Newt Gingrich (1% of the week\u2019s stories). \u00a0Last week, Gingrich inched closer to a run by establishing an exploratory operation. <\/p>\n\n About the NCI <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n PEJ\u2019s weekly News Coverage Index examines the news agenda of 52 different outlets from five sectors of the media: print, online, network TV, cable and radio. (See List of Outlets<\/a>.) The weekly study, which includes some 1,000 stories, is designed to provide news consumers, journalists and researchers with hard data about what stories and topics the media are covering, the trajectories of that media narrative and differences among news platforms. The percentages are based on “newshole,” or the space devoted to each subject in print and online and time on radio and TV. (See Our Methodology<\/a>.) In addition, these reports also include a rundown of the week\u2019s leading newsmakers, a designation given to people who account for at least 50% of a given story. <\/p>\n\n Mark Jurkowitz of PEJ <\/em>\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The violence in Libya and the political standoff in Wisconsin continued to drive the news agenda last week while a potential government shutdown and a significant health care development got about the same attention as the misadventures of a troubled actor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"PEJ News Coverage Index February 28 - March 6, 2011","sub_title":"PEJ News Coverage Index February 28 - March 6, 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