Poids média de l'actualité américaine dans les blogues et les médias traditionels selon le Pew Research Center:

In the Blogosphere, the Walkman and the Pitchman Supplant Michael Jackson

After an initial wave of nostalgia over the death of Michael Jackson, social media moved on to other matters last week. Unlike the traditional press, which remained fixated on the life and death of the King of Pop, that story all but vanished from the links in both blog and twitter posts.

From June 29-July 3, discussion of Jackson accounted for a mere 2% of the links on blogs and other social media, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's New Media Index.  This represents a sharp drop-off from the previous week, which, although it included just the first two days of coverage after Jackson's June 25 death, garnered 27% of the links.

Instead, online commentators tracked by the social monitoring services Icerocket and Technorati focused on two different post-mortems last week-one for a bygone technology and the other for another recently deceased celebrity, albeit one lacking Jackson's star power and status.

The top story in social media last week-accounting for 33% of all links-was a report in BBC Magazine about a 13-year-old British boy who was given an original Sony Walkman. He was asked to use the Walkman for a week to help mark the 30^th anniversary of that early foray into portable music technology.

Next, at 14% of the links, were tributes to TV infomercial star Billy Mays who died at age 50 (ironically, the same age as Jackson) on June 28. Initially his sudden death was thought to be caused by an injury from a rough plane landing, but later the cause was revealed to be heart disease.

These two stories, which did not show up anywhere in the top-10 list for the mainstream press last week, speak to social media's predilection toward news about technology and the coming together around less well-known celebrity figures. They also, in the case of Jackson, suggest that social media were not as attracted to the secondary and more troubling strains of the fallout from his death.

On Twitter, the Jackson saga was also passé by last week. A separate look at the Twitter tracking site, Tweetmeme, found the Jackson story amounted to just 5% of the tweets with links from June 29-July 3.  Instead, Twitterers continued their focus on Iran which accounted for fully 48% of the links. And again, the emphasis tended to be on how to marshal support for the protesters in that country.

The mainstream press, on the other hand, dug deeper into the Jackson saga last week, according to PEJ's News Coverage Index. Filling 17% of their newshole with Jackson coverage, the traditional media continued to commemorate the star's legacy. But to an even greater extent, they focused on the ominous questions surrounding the role of drugs in this death and potential court battles over his estate and children.

And there was further evidence of the gap in the news agendas of the social and mainstream media. In a week when the U.S. pulled its troops out of Iraqi cities and launched a major offensive in Afghanistan, only 1% of links in the blogosphere were devoted to Iraq and Afghanistan respectively. But in the mainstream media, events in Iraq were the No. 3 story, at 6%, and Afghanistan was No. 4, at 5%. The No. 5 story in the mainstream press was the debate over health care, also at 5%.

In the social media, however, the rest of the top-five story list was strikingly different.

A BBC Science story about researchers who found that a large ant colony in Argentina is actually part of a large interrelated network of ant colonies, was No. 3, generating 12% of the links. The Supreme Court decision about the New Haven firefighters received 9% of the week's links while the subject of global warming, spurred by the U.S. House passage of a climate change bill, got 6%.

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In the Blogosphere, the Walkman and the Pitchman Supplant Michael Jackson

Poids média de l'actualité américaine dans les blogues et les médias traditionels selon le Pew Research Center:

The Deaths of Michael Jackson and “Neda” Grip the Blogosphere

Michael Jackson and Neda Agha-Soltan had little in common in life. But together last week their deaths in Los Angeles and Tehran consumed the blogosphere and became emblematic of the flow and character of modern communication.

For fans of Jackson, the Web was a place where they could find instant news about his passing and commiserate with others about their feelings and his meaning in their lives. For those following the developments in Iran, the image of "Neda" became a powerful symbol of the protest movement there after an amateur video of her death spread rapidly through Twitter, YouTube and other new media.

They became together the latest demonstration of the power, both emotional and political, of the many-to-many nature of social media.

For the week of June 22-26, discussion of Michael Jackson and Iran in general combined to make up almost half (47%) of the links on blogs and social media as measured in the New Media Index by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Despite the fact that Jackson's death occurred late in the week, stories about the passing of the pop star led all linked-to topics, accounting for 27% of the links embedded in the social media sites tracked by the monitoring services Icerocket and Technorati. On the evening of his death, interest in Jackson was so high that many of sites with the most popular Jackson pages experienced outages and slowdowns. Accompanying comments from bloggers mostly expressed shock at the singer's death and offered moving accounts of his influence.

Amidst tributes to the pop star, political unrest in Iran remained a major topic for the second week running. In PEJ's index of social media, the subject was the No. 2 story last week (accounting 20% of the week's links). While the conversation focused on a range of related issues (from President Obama's response to day-to-day developments in Iran), a remarkable amount of the discussion focused on the woman who died during a protest over the country's disputed elections.

To many, the pictures of Agha-Soltan's last moments personified the cruelty of the Iranian government in response to the protests. A graphic video of Agha-Soltan's death was the most viewed news video of the week on YouTube.

The third-largest story-line on blogs and social media last week, receiving 10% of the links, dealt with the Obama administration. Much of the attention was focused on a June 24 Washington Post column by Dana Milbank where he sarcastically referred to Obama's recent press conference as the "The Obama Show" and chastised the alleged collaboration between the White House and a reporter from the Huffington Post.

The fourth story (also at 10%) was the admission by South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford that he had been having an extra-marital affair with a woman from Argentina after he had gone missing for several days.

Fifth (at 9%) was an unusual BBC story about Australian wallabies reportedly eating opium poppies and hoping around in circles "as high as a kite."

On a separate social networking platform, Twitter, Jackson and Iran were also the two most linked-to news topics, although the emphasis was different than in the blogs. According to the tracking site Tweetmeme, which tracks links embedded in tweets across the globe, Iran represented 64% of the "news-related" links while Michael Jackson was second at 18%. In other words, the pop star was a major topic, but it did not overtake the intense involvement of this platform in the post-election Iranian protests.

In the traditional press, Iran and Michael Jackson also led the week's agenda combining for 37% of the week's newshole according to PEJ's News Coverage Index. Governor Sanford's scandal was third followed by coverage of the health care reform debate in Washington and continuing reporting about the U.S. economy.

Source:

The Deaths of Michael Jackson and “Neda” Grip the Blogosphere

Poids média de l'actualité américaine dans les blogues et les médias traditionels selon le Pew Research Center:

Iran and the “Twitter Revolution”

Some have already dubbed the protests in Iran to be the "Twitter Revolution."

Certainly the political unrest in Iran has demonstrated as never before the power and influence of social media.

How big has the subject been in the social media conversation in recent days and what role does the discussion appear to be playing?

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism took a special look this week at the role of Twitter and other social media to find out in an expanded version of the weekly New Media Index.

From blogs to "tweets" to personal Web pages, the topic dominated the online conversation far more than in the mainstream media as users passed along news, supported the protestors and shared ideas on how to use communication technology most effectively.

In addition to the blogs and social media regularly monitored, PEJ for the week of June 15-19 examined the links being posted (or tweeted) according to the tracking site Tweetmeme. In much the same way that Icerocket and Technorati track links from blogs and other types of social media, Tweetmeme tracks the "hottest" links on Twitter.

And last week, fully 98% of the links from Twitter were about Iran. The tweets took on multiple functions, from spreading unfiltered, albeit often unverified, news around the world to organizing support for those involved in the struggle.

As is the case in many conflicts, the "fog of war" made verifying the quality and sources of information difficult last week. Alongside praises over Twitter's role, some analysts downplayed the site as an organizing tool and there was speculation that tweets purportedly from protestors may have been part of a disinformation campaign. While the original source and location of Twitter links in this analysis is often unclear, the message of these tweets clearly reflects an online activism fostered by new technology.

Among blogs and social media, the main universe of the NMI, the topic accounted for 63% of last week's links. That is the most attention that any single story received in a particular week in the blogosphere since mid-March when 65% of the week's links were about the outrage over the AIG bonuses. (No other story generated more than 6% of last week's links from bloggers.)

The conversation online, in both blogs posts and tweets, amplified a trend PEJ has noticed in social media. It is not just about expressing one's opinion or even passing along information. It is also about getting actively involved.

In the traditional press, the Iranian situation also led the agenda, though to a much lesser extent. About a quarter (28%) of last week's newshole was devoted to the subject according to PEJ's News Coverage Index. The other top stories were the economic crisis, debates over health care reform, concern over North Korea's missile program and wide-ranging coverage about the Obama administration.

Source:

Iran and the “Twitter Revolution”

Poids média de l'actualité américaine dans les blogues et les médias traditionels selon le Pew Research Center:

Political Extremism (At Home and Abroad) Dominates the Blogosphere

Reaction to two events that put the spotlight on political extremists overwhelmed the discussion in the social media last week. One, widely covered in the U.S. media, was the attack at the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. by a white supremacist. The other, barely noticed in this country, was a European Parliamentary election that seated two members of a hard-line right-wing party.

Together, these two stories generated almost 60% of the week's links on the Web tracking site Icerocket, according to the New Media Index by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. The two events also produced a similar pattern of response in the social media-outrage followed by more polarizing commentary about the causes and impact of ideological extremism.

Stories about the European election generated nearly a third (30%) of the week's links, a clear indication of the international flavor of the online community. While a few American bloggers reacted, the vast majority of commentary came from British bloggers upset at the election of two members of the anti-immigrant British National Party (BNP) to represent the U.K.

The shooting at the Holocaust museum (29% of the week's links) by white supremacist and Holocaust denier James W. von Brunn was primarily of interest to American bloggers who quickly turned to the question of who deserved blame.

The third-largest story, at 10% of the week's links, was the latest chapter in a saga that has generated significant interest in the social media. Last week, Miss California Carrie Prejean was stripped of her crown by pageant producers. She first gained attention back in April when her opposition to gay marriage-in response to a judge's question at the Miss USA pageant-prompted bloggers to cheer her willingness to stand up for her beliefs. The pageant producers stated that she was dethroned for contract violations and not for her stance on gay marriage.

The fourth-largest story last week (at 8%) was a June 9 BBC report that downplayed the hype over the popular Web site Twitter. The story described a Harvard study finding that  just 10% of Twitter users generate more than 90% of the site's content, and that the majority of users update their page less than once every 74 days.

The fifth biggest subject (also at 8%) was a June 8 CNN.com story about two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in North Korea after a closed door trial that generated international protests.

PEJ's New Media Index typically utilizes data collected from two different Web tracking sites, Icerocket and Technorati. (Technorati has been having technical problems so this week's NMI is based solely on daily figures from Icerocket.)

The top stories in the mainstream press last week were largely different from those online. With the exception of the Holocaust Museum shooting, which filled 11% of the week's newshole in the traditional press, the other top stories received very little attention online. The No. 1 topic was the ongoing economic crisis (at 13%). After the museum shooting came the debate over health care reform (7%), the Iranian elections (6%), and the troubles plaguing the U.S. auto industry (6%).

Source:

Political Extremism (At Home and Abroad) Dominates the Blogosphere

Poids média de l'actualité américaine dans les blogues et les médias traditionels selon le Pew Research Center:

The Killing of George Tiller Dominates the Blogosphere Debate

The killing of abortion doctor George Tiller was eclipsed by Barack Obama's Mideast trip and economic news in the mainstream press last week. But in the social media, the May 31 shooting that sparked an impassioned debate over a divisive issue was the week's dominant subject.

From June 1-5, the death of Tiller-a rare provider of late-term abortions who was shot while in church-generated 31% of the week's links on the Web tracking site Icerocket, according to the New Media Index by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Much of the online commentary was intense and polarizing, reflecting the hardened ideological fault lines on abortion.  For many of those who were pro-choice, Tiller's murder was an act of terror against a man who devoted his life to helping women. Conversely, pro-lifers saw Tiller as someone responsible for the deaths of thousands of unborn fetuses.

But beyond those arguments, a more complex series of cross-currents emerged in the blogosphere commentary. While most pro-life advocates condemned the murder, some wondered if it could be morally justified. Some pro-choice bloggers speculated about the role of certain talk hosts in inciting violence. And commentators on both sides of the issue pondered the impact of the crime on the ongoing battle over abortion policy.

The second-largest story in social media last week, receiving 23% of the week's links on Icerocket's list, was the death of actor David Carradine in Thailand at the age of 72.  The next two were more serious, policy related topics: At 17% of the links was a June 2 report by the Associated Press (on the Washington Post Web site) about whether a comment from Obama signaled that it might be acceptable for Iran to develop nuclear power for peaceful use. This was followed by discussion of efforts to protect against terrorist attacks (8%), triggered by a  USA Today/Gallup  poll showing most Americans oppose the closing of Guantanamo Bay. And the No. 5 story, at 7%, was of the tragic June 1 crash of an Air France plane with 228 aboard.

PEJ's New Media Index typically utilizes data collected from two different Web tracking sites, Icerocket and Technorati. However, Technorati has been having technical problems so this week's NMI is based solely on daily figures from Icerocket.

The top stories in the mainstream press last week focused on Obama's Mideast trip and Cairo speech (20% of the week's newshole), followed by  the ailing U.S. auto industry (13%) and the ongoing economic crisis (11%). The Air France disaster was next at 10%. The Tiller shooting filled 8% of the newshole, roughly one-quarter of the attention it generated online.

Source:

The Killing of George Tiller Dominates the Blogosphere Debate

Poids média de l'actualité américaine dans les blogues et les médias traditionels selon le Pew Research Center:

Ruling on Prop 8 Triggers the Online Debate

Over the past two months, one issue has emerged as the leading catalyst for online conversation. While debates over harsh interrogation methods and the economic crisis have repeatedly attracted interest in the social media, the subject of gay marriage has bubbled up again and again, in a debate often missing from the mainstream media.

Last week (May 25-29) it was a California Supreme Court ruling upholding a gay marriage ban that re-ignited the social media debate, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. With 35% of all the linked to news stories, as studied by the Project's New Media Index, the ruling dominated online conversation. That marked the fourth time in the last two months that the topic has either been the No. 1 or No. 2 story.

Earlier attention was also triggered by state government actions. First, in early April the Vermont legislature and Washington D.C. City Council approved gay marriage initiatives, followed by the Maine legislature in early May. Then last week's ruling in California turned in the other direction, upholding that state's ban on same-sex marriage. The one other driver, in late April, was Miss USA contestant Carrie Prejean who voiced disapproval of same-sex unions in response to a pageant judge's question.

The intense social media focus on same-sex marriage stands in stark contrast to mainstream press attention. Over the past two months, the topic generated 11% of the links in the blogosphere but filled just 1% of the newshole in the traditional media.

That disparity in coverage illustrates a basic difference between the traditional media's more hierarchical structure and the online world's self-motivating communities of interest.

More mainstream media editors must weigh an event or issue against the day's other news when allocating resources and space, often creating a substantial threshold for stories to gain prominence. In the blogosphere, on the other hand, any event tied to an issue that mobilizes a segment of the social media universe can quickly gain attention and dominate the conversation.

A series of state decisions on Gay marriage-a subject that stirs great passion and interest for some news consumers-speaks to this phenomenon.

Another component to the online discussion is how the debate breaks down. For the most part, the initiatives approving gay marriage sparked more response from supporters who cheered on the movement. The notable exception is the Prejean episode which generated more commentary from opponents who praised her for standing up for her beliefs.

Last week however, was the first one in which the conversation was quite mixed, with both supporters and opponents of same sex marriage contributing to the debate.

From May 25-29, the debate over the Prop 8 ruling overshadowed a number of other subjects. No. 2 in the blogosphere (at 19% of the links) was a discussion of health care triggered by news of a possible new sales tax to fund it. The No. 3 story in social media (12%) was the nomination of the first Latina Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor-a subject that topped the mainstream news agenda. That was followed by Obama's announced intention to appoint a cyber security czar (8%) and the North Korean nuclear test (5%).

PEJ's New Media Index typically utilizes data collected from two different Web tracking sites, Icerocket and Technorati. However, Technorati has been having technical problems so this week's NMI is based solely on daily figures from Icerocket.

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Ruling on Prop 8 Triggers the Online Debate

Poids média de l'actualité américaine dans les blogues et les médias traditionels selon le Pew Research Center:

Once Again, Interrogation and Torture Drive the Online Debate

The polarizing issue of what defines torture dominated social media last week, marking the third time since the beginning of April that the subject has been among the top-two weekly stories in the blogosphere. From May 11-15, almost a quarter of the links (23%) on blogs and social media sites related to the  debate over harsh interrogation techniques, according to the New Media Index from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism.

The commentary online spread across two main areas of debate: Whether harsh interrogation techniques help keep the country safe, as former Vice President Dick Cheney has repeatedly suggested in a series of media interviews, and whether President Obama should release photographs of reported abuse of prisoners.

In the latter case, Obama experienced somewhat rare criticism from left-leaning bloggers who were disappointed with his decision to not release photographs involving U.S. soldiers and their prisoners.

Beyond the issue of torture, last week's most discussed topics online were a diverse mix ranging from remarks by a Saudi judge to the White House Correspondents' Dinner to health care reform.

The second largest story online, with 11% of the links, was a CNN report that quoted a  Saudi Arabian judge saying it was okay for husbands to slap their wives if they spend too lavishly. The comment was universally condemned online with many bloggers connecting it to other examples of the mistreatment of women in that country.

The third most linked to story took a somewhat lighter tone, the May 9 White House Correspondents' Association dinner (10%) where President Obama performed his first comedic monologue as Commander-in-Chief to mostly positive reviews. Some bloggers, however, felt Obama had reacted inappropriately to controversial jokes told by the mistress of ceremonies, comedienne Wanda Sykes.

Fourth (at 8%) was a report on Foxnews.com about the Andersons, a family living in Chicago that decided to only patronize black-owned businesses for a year as an "Empowerment Experiment."

Health care policy and Obama's May 11 health care summit rounded out the top five (7% of links). Some of the discussion revolved around a May 10 New York Times column by Paul Krugman applauding insurance companies' willingness to participate in discussions about reforming the system. Social media also focused on a May 8 report in the Los Angeles Times that claimed the Obama administration was threatening to rescind stimulus money earmarked for California if wage cuts to unionized health care workers were not restored.

Two of the week's top-five stories matched up in both the traditional press and social media-terrorism and interrogation techniques (22% in the mainstream press) and health care policy (6%). The other top stories in the mainstream press were the economic crisis (at 12% of the newshole), further troubles for the U.S. car manufacturers General Motors and Chrysler (5%), and continued developments in the war in Afghanistan (4%).

These are some of the findings of the PEJ's New Media Index for the week of May 11-15, an effort to monitor the content appearing in new media platforms. The full methodology is described below, but this week, due to recurring technical problems with Technorati, the data comes primarily from Icerocket. (Data from Technorati was only available Monday, May 11, and Tuesday, May 12. The page was not functioning properly for the remainder of the week.)

Source:

Once Again, Interrogation and Torture Drive the Online Debate

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (4-10 mai) selon le Pew Research Center:

Economy Up and Flu Down in a Stressful Week

The news narrative shifted significantly last week as the stress tests for troubled banks overshadowed a flu outbreak that suddenly seemed less stressful.

The release of the financial health reports of 19 major banks helped make the economic crisis the top story from May 4-10, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. The economy’s health filled 21% of the newshole studied in PEJ’s weekly News Coverage Index during the week. That’s double the coverage of the previous week and the most attention the financial meltdown has received in the 55 media outlets included in the NCI in six weeks. Two related subjects, the President’s plan to crack down on overseas tax havens and the troubled auto industry, filled about another 8% of the newshole.

Conversely, coverage of the swine flu outbreak—while still the No. 2 story at 9%—plunged by more than two-thirds last week as evidence suggested the virus was less severe than previously feared. The previous week, the potential for a pandemic had overwhelmingly dominated the news agenda, accounting for 31% of the coverage and crowding most other subjects out of the headlines.

With its new name, H1N1 rather than swine flu, the global health threat had to share attention last week with some overseas national security threats. The volatile situation in Pakistan, where that nation’s military battled the Taliban, was the No. 3 story, at 5%. But the conflict in neighboring Afghanistan accounted for an additional 3%, while Obama’s May 6 meeting with the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan filled another 3%. That brought coverage of what some in the media and Washington are now calling the “Af-Pak” crisis—depicted by the administration as one inextricably intertwined geopolitical challenge—to 11% of the week’s newshole.

Still, it was the fragile state of the economy that re-emerged as the dominant story last week—with several caveats. The level of press attention still pales in comparison to earlier in the year. (In the first two months after Obama’s inauguration, the subject filled 43% of the newshole.) And to some extent, economic coverage is pegged to specific events and milestones—such as last week’s release of the bank stress tests. When such signposts emerge, media interest seems to spike. When there are not such visible measures of economic health, tracking the state of the economy becomes more difficult for the media, more of a subterranean slog.

Source:

Economy Up and Flu Down in a Stressful Week

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (27 avril-3 mai) selon le Pew Research Center:

Flu Fears Dominate a Week of Big Events

Last week, a key Republican senator switched parties, altering the balance of power on Capitol Hill. Barack Obama celebrated his 100th day in office with a prime-time press conference. The chairman of Bank of America was ousted and the Chrysler Corporation declared bankruptcy.

Yet all those stories were overwhelmed by the frantic coverage of a new flu virus that in a matter of days had made its way around the globe and was threatening to become the first influenza pandemic in four decades. From April 27-May 3, the swine flu, or H1N1 as it officially became known, accounted for nearly one-third of the newshole (31%) studied, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

This marked only the second time since January 2007 that a health-related subject led PEJ’s weekly News Coverage Index. That other story, now mostly forgotten, was the potential spread of a seemingly dangerous form of tuberculosis by an Atlanta lawyer, and it filled 12% of the newshole from May 27-June 1, 2007.

The dominant story of the year so far, the economic crisis, fell to No. 2 last week, at 10% of the space studied in print and online and time on television and radio.  That was followed (at 9%) by the Obama administration with the focus on evaluations of the President’s first 100 days. Moderate Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter’s defection to the Democrats came next (9%), followed by more bad news from the auto industry (at 8%).

It’s quite possible that in another week, any or even all of those stories might have received substantially more attention. But the possibility of pandemic flu overwhelmed the media as they scrambled to cover various aspects of the story—from epidemiology to human interest, from the growing number of victims to the political fallout. Press attention was so extensive that some of the coverage began examining whether the threat had been overblown and the media’s role in that.

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Flu Fears Dominate a Week of Big Events

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (13-19 Avril) selon le Pew Research Center:

Economy Shares Headlines with Pirates, Tea Parties and Waterboarding

For the second week in a row, the economic crisis only narrowly edged out Somali pirates as the top story in what is becoming a more diverse news landscape than earlier in the year.

With media attention to the financial meltdown falling to less than 50% of its level a month ago, an obvious question emerges: As the news about the economy gets modestly better, and the torrent of grim news slows, is the story attracting less attention than it did when things seemed more dire?

For the week of April 13-19, the financial crisis accounted for 18% of the newshole, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. While that’s a small increase over the previous week (15%), it marks the third in a row when the subject has accounted for less than 20% of the coverage. By contrast, it filled 43% of the newshole in the first two months after Barack Obama’s inauguration.

One effort last week to summarize the state of the economy, a front-page story in the April 15 Washington Post, began with the sentence, “The president and the Federal Reserve chairman voiced cautious optimism yesterday that the economy could be beginning to stabilize.” Perhaps a storyline that ambiguous and tenuous helps explain why the media have diverted their attention to pirates and other events in recent weeks.

Indeed, the economy last week was rivaled by the dramatic story of piracy, hostages and freedom on the high seas. In the days following the April 12 rescue of Captain Richard Phillips, the Somali pirates accounted for 16% of the week’s coverage. And the saga was the top story on both cable news and broadcast network news. The No. 3 story—the war on terror at 7%—was fueled by the disclosure of memos detailing controversial interrogation techniques during the Bush administration.

The No. 4 story (also at 7%) involved the April 15 tea party protests. But it also proved to be something of a journalistic Rorschach test, generating very different levels and kinds of coverage in different media sectors. In some quarters (most notably the Fox News Channel), the protests were largely treated as an outpouring of grassroots dissatisfaction with tax policy and expanding federal government. In others (most notably MSNBC), they were often dismissed as anti-Obama anger fests centrally orchestrated by Republicans looking for an issue.

And so last week, the tea parties became a vehicle for the ideologically driven arguments that had been a significant part of the earlier media narrative about the stimulus package and Obama’s proposed budget. Recently, as those partisan battles over economic policy have subsided and news from the banking sector has brightened a bit, coverage of the meltdown has plunged.Source:

Economy Shares Headlines with Pirates, Tea Parties and Waterboarding

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (23-29 mars) selon le Pew Research Center:

Geithner’s Plan Drives the Narrative

The media’s ever-changing economic narrative shifted again last week, moving away from a reviled insurance company toward a beleaguered Obama Administration official.

With Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner unveiling a financial sector rescue package and calling for stricter regulation, the economic crisis was once again overwhelmingly the top story last week. It filled 41% of the newshole from March 23-29 as measured by the Pew Research Center’s Project in Excellence. While that represented a drop from the previous week’s coverage (53%), it is in line with the overall level of attention to the crisis (43%) in the two months since Barack Obama was inaugurated. The No. 2 story last week, concerns over Mexican drug smuggling, was about one-seventh as big as the economy.

Geithner’s proposal to clean up the so-called “toxic assets” made him the week’s second-biggest newsmaker, behind only Obama. At a time when public perception and confidence can have a significant impact on the economy, the Treasury Secretary was looking for what golfers call a mulligan—or in more common parlance, a do-over.  Back on February 10, when he first outlined a financial sector bailout proposal, Geithner was widely panned for poor presentation, criticized for a lack of specifics and blamed for a 382-point drop in the Dow that day. (“Geithner Plan Lacks Freshness and Clarity,” declared the Washington Post headline that pretty much summed up the coverage.)

Geithner’s March 23 proposal generated a warmer reception, particularly on Wall Street where the Dow shot up 497 points. “This Time, Geithner’s Plan for Banks Makes Sense,” declared the headline on business writer Joe Nocera’s New York Times column.  Praise was far from unanimous, though, and a Congressional hearing held during the week kept some of the focus on AIG.

Source:

Geithner’s Plan Drives the Narrative

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (16-22 mars) selon le Pew Research Center:

One Story Dominates: AIG in the Crosshairs

Last week, the media narrative for a complex economic crisis got much simpler. The coverage focused on one corporate villain and one angry public.

With news of the AIG bonuses driving that narrative, the economic crisis generated its highest level of weekly coverage to date. From March 16-22, it filled 53% of the newshole according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. That not only marks a major increase over the previous week (35% of the newshole). It is the highest level of weekly coverage for any story other than the 2008 presidential campaign since PEJ started its News Coverage Index in January 2007.

As further evidence of the week’s lopsided news coverage, the No. 2 story, turmoil inside Pakistan, was all the way back at 3% of the newshole.

The catalyst for last week’s news agenda was the revelation that failing insurance giant AIG—which had received about $180 billion in bailout funds—was paying out $165 million in bonuses. As fallout spread from Capitol Hill to the Connecticut homes of AIG officials, the bonus story accounted for more than half the economic crisis coverage. And the overarching theme was outrage.

“A.I.G. is a P.I.G.,” shouted the front page headline of the New York Daily News as a U.S. Senator suggested the company’s executives either resign or “go commit suicide.”

There were some alternative voices in the press, such as the New York Times’ Andrew Ross Sorkin who wrote that, “Maybe we have to swallow hard and pay up, partly for our own good.” But that view was eclipsed in coverage that also tried to assess the collateral political damage, particularly to President Obama and his beleaguered Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

In one clear marker of how thoroughly the AIG story permeated the media landscape, Tonight host Jay Leno had barely exchanged pleasantries with Obama on his March 19 show when he dove straight into the subject. “I know you are angry — because, you know, doing what I do, you kind of study body language a little bit,” he told Obama. “And you looked very angry about these bonuses. Actually, stunned.”

Source:

One Story Dominates: AIG in the Crosshairs

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (9-15 mars) selon le Pew Research Center:

Media Focus on Economic Villains: Bonuses, Bernie and Blather

In a week highlighted by a rise in the stock market and a showdown between a comedian and cable host, the financial crisis was again the top story in the news—by a wide margin.

The economic meltdown, with its spreading storylines, accounted for 35% of the newshole from March 9-15, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. Related stories, such as the Bernard Madoff scandal and problems in the auto industry, added another 8%, as measured by PEJ’s weekly News Coverage Index, an examination of 55 different mainstream news outlets across five media sectors.

Last week, the narrative seemed to focus more on what had been a smaller but ongoing element, the hunt for people or institutions that appear to embody the nearly unbridled excess that contributed to the unraveling of the financial system.

One earlier example was former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, who generated attention and scorn for spending more than $1 million to refurbish his office. Or troubled Citigroup, recipient of billions in bailout money, which made headlines with plans to buy a $50-million jet—before reversing course.

Last week, that spotlight moved back onto insurance giant and multiple-bailout recipient AIG, which was lampooned as a financial “black hole” by late night host Jay Leno. Over the weekend, AIG also made front-page news that provoked populist and political outrage after revelations the company would pay a reported $165 million in bonuses despite taking $170 billion in federal funds, and the storyline appeared to be spilling over into this week as week as well.

Another culprit also emerged during the week—the media itself, particularly the financial cable news channel CNBC. Jon Stewart, host of the Daily Show, had recently spent time fingering CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer, among others. Things culminated on March 12, when Stewart, channeling Mike Wallace, grilled Cramer and accused CNBC of abandoning journalism for cheerleading in the run-up to the Wall Street collapse. The encounter, complete with Stewart’s four-letter expletives, became an instant online video hit and made its way to the White House, where Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters he had “enjoyed it thoroughly.” By week’s end, the feud had become a major event in the mainstream press, page one material and a Twitter favorite.

Madoff, perhaps the single-most-visible villain in this run of economic bad news, also attracted substantial attention last week for pleading guilty to bilking investors in a $65 billion Ponzi scheme. By himself, Madoff was the No. 3 story of the week, filling 7% of the newshole.

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Media Focus on Economic Villains: Bonuses, Bernie and Blather

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (2-8 mars) selon le Pew Research Center:

Falling Stocks and Rising Rush Fuel the News

Last week, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell to a 12-year low, coverage of the ever-worsening economic crisis shifted again to yet a new narrative.

Led by falling stock prices, the financial meltdown accounted for 43% of the newshole from March 2-8 as measured by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. That is up modestly from the previous week when the story registered at 38% of the newshole.

In the six full weeks since President Obama’s inaugural—January 26-March 8—the economic crisis has accounted for 43% of the newshole. (And that does not include related stories, such as the U.S. auto industry or Obama’s February 24 speech to Congress.) That is roughly six times more than the next biggest story—the logistics and evaluations of the new administration—which registered at 7%.

These numbers for the floundering economy in 2009 conjure up comparisons to the Presidential election in 2008. It is an ongoing saga that shows no signs of abating (at least the campaign had an ending date) and is consuming the overwhelming share of media attention. In the same period in 2008—one that included Super Tuesday and other key primaries—the election filled 46% of the newshole, and the economy was the second-biggest story at 6%. The numbers are remarkably similar.

Aside from the sheer gravity of the situation—comparisons to the Great Depression are increasingly creeping into the media narrative—the other striking feature in the coverage is the complexity and breadth of the economic problems, which also suggest a story with massive staying power. Last week marked the fourth time in four weeks that a different component of the crisis was the top storyline.

As the key player in the economy story, Obama has easily been the top newsmaker since taking office. But last week he shared some headlines with a subject at least partly of his own choosing. The No. 2 story, at 8%, revolved around Republican Party leadership with the focus on conservative radio talk host Rush Limbaugh. The White House and other Democrats are aggressively portraying Limbaugh as the GOP’s de facto leader, a task made somewhat easier when Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele became the latest member of his party to follow critical comments about Limbaugh with a quick mea culpa.

Obama versus Limbaugh was, in many ways, a classic tale of political tactics and inside-the-Beltway intrigue. But last week, it may have offered the media—and news consumers—a bit of a distraction from pink slips, zombie banks and fleeing investors.

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Falling Stocks and Rising Rush Fuel the News

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (23 février-1 mars) selon le Pew Research Center:

The New Obama Narrative: “Change” was an Understatement

In a week chock full of major events designed to address the crisis—a fiscal responsibility summit, a prime-time presidential speech and the unveiling of Obama’s first budget—the increasingly frail state of the U.S. economy again dominated the headlines.

And amid the swirl of events, a media meta narrative was forming that was considerably greater than the sum of the news: After only five weeks in office, Obama was staking his presidency on a stunning and sweeping overhaul of domestic priorities.

Driven primarily by the Obama budget and concerns over the nation’s red ink, the economic crisis was easily the top story from February 23-March 1, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. It filled 38% of the newshole, compared with 39 % the previous week. But that is only a partial indicator of the dominance of economic news last week.

The second biggest story (10% of newshole), was Obama’s Feb. 24 speech—delivered to Congress but aimed at living rooms—intended to strike a balance between reassurance and urgency about the country’s economic stability. Coverage of the failing U.S. auto industry accounted for another 2%. Some of the media’s attention to the mechanics of the new Administration last week also included an analysis of Obama’s ambitious efforts at domestic restructuring.

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The New Obama Narrative: “Change” was an Understatement

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (16-22 février) selon le Pew Research Center:

Fresh Challenges, New Debates Drive a Grim Economy Story

A month into the Obama administration, the economic crisis appears to shifting from Job One to the worsening mega story of 2009. There were shifting elements in that crisis narrative last week. But the underlying message may be the frightening breadth and depth of the problem.

From February 16-22, coverage of the growing financial turmoil accounted for 40% of the newshole as measured by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism—the fourth week in a row it has reached or exceeded 40%. That represents a modest drop from 47% the week of Feb. 9-15. But those numbers don’t tell the whole story.

Last week, it was the variety of grim storylines that seemed as ominous as anything else. With the stimulus package signed into law, that narrative subsided. But as Obama rolled out his mortgage rescue plan, coverage of the housing and foreclosure problems rose up in its place. So did the troubled auto industry, which last week requested billions more in bailout funds. In addition some coverage of the mechanics of the new administration dealt with the economy’s impact on Obama’s relations with Congress.

In a sign of how the big domestic crisis is eclipsing coverage of other challenges facing the country, Obama last week approved a major escalation—17,000 additional troops—of the increasingly worrisome war in Afghanistan. That story accounted for only 3% of last week’s coverage—about the same amount generated by the fallout over the chimp who mauled a Connecticut woman.

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Fresh Challenges, New Debates Drive a Grim Economy Story

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (9-15 février) selon le Pew Research Center:

Stimulus Success Shifts the Storyline

Whatever difficulties Barack Obama has faced in controlling the tone of his coverage as President, he has surely dictated the subject matter. Obama made the economic crisis his top priority, and in his first weeks in office, coverage of the meltdown has overwhelmed the news agenda.

The President may not control the message, but he still controls the agenda.

The week of Feb 9-15, the financial crisis filled 47% of the newshole as measured by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. That is the highest level of attention to any story since the final week of the presidential campaign consumed 54% of the time on TV and radio and space in print and online from Oct. 27-Nov. 2.

To put that into further perspective, in the first two months of 2008—which included key contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina as well as Super Tuesday—the campaign accounted for 44% of all coverage studied. In the three full weeks since Obama’s inauguration, the economic crisis has accounted for 46%.

Last week, which ended with a stimulus bill on the President’s desk, also brought some change to the tone of coverage. A week earlier, with the stimulus bogged down in partisan rancor and Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle withdrawing from Cabinet consideration, media commentary reinforced the theme of Obama’s rocky start.

But the narrative was kinder to the President last week, with the stimulus approved (albeit with only three GOP votes) and polls showing Obama still enjoying high public approval ratings. On the media scorecard, apparently, a big legislative victory—even an imperfect one—goes into the win column.

And the most recent Cabinet glitch—Republican Judd Gregg’s withdrawal last week from Commerce Secretary consideration—didn’t have the same resonance as some previous ones. Coverage of the mechanics of the new administration—which included the Gregg episode—was at only 6% of the newshole. A week earlier, with the Daschle debacle as chief storyline, administration coverage filled nearly three times as much newshole (17%).

With the political struggle over the stimulus over, at least for now, one question is whether the news agenda will begin to broaden. Washington fights make it easy for the press to converge, cover and commentate. But as the Obama agenda now fans out to deal with everything from Afghanistan to Detroit, to what extent will the media follow?

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Stimulus Success Shifts the Storyline

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (2-8 février) selon le Pew Research Center:

The News Narrative Turns Bearish on Obama

Two different stories combined to create one major media narrative last week—a new President off to a shaky start.

For the second week in a row the economic crisis was the dominant story in the news, filling 44% of the Feb. 2- Feb. 8 newshole in the weekly News Coverage Index produced by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

The only other subject to generate significant attention was a related one, the new Obama Administration at 17% (up from 7% a week earlier).

But both stories contained themes depicted as negative for Obama—problems winning Republican votes on the stimulus package and no fewer than four Presidential nominees tainted by tax problems.

The President seemed to fuel rather than dispel the storyline by admitting “I screwed up” during a round of TV interviews. Obama “has all but lost control of the agenda in Washington at a time when he simply can't afford to do so,” wrote Newsweek’s Michael Hirsh. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough went further, wondering if Obama was off to one of the roughest debuts in recent presidential history.

If the storyline seemed to pivot dramatically from a heady inauguration to a rocky transition, that sense was significantly magnified by the two platforms offering instant updates of the Beltway scoreboard, and both of them now firmly ideological. On cable news, a dominant theme among talking heads was Obama stumbling at the starting gate. On talk radio, conservative hosts grew even more aggressive in staking out their opposition to the new President.

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The Economic Crisis Returns with a Vengeance

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (26 janvier-1^er février) selon le Pew Research Center:

The Economic Crisis Returns with a Vengeance

In a sign of how quickly the media narrative has shifted from pomp and circumstance to layoffs and bankruptcy, the grim U.S. economy was the overwhelmingly dominant story one week after Barack Obama’s festive inauguration.

The financial crisis filled 45% of the coverage studied from Jan 26-Feb. 1, as measured by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. A week earlier, it was Obama’s move into the White House that consumed most of the media’s attention, also accounting for 45% of the newshole, or the time on TV and radio and space in print and online.

The economic coverage, which focused on the President’s efforts to pass an $800 billion stimulus package, pushed other news to the sidelines. The next-biggest story, a distant No. 2 at 8% of the newshole, was the Blago-gate scandal—marked by the impeachment of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his somewhat bizarre TV interview tour. The only other subject to generate a moderate amount of attention was the logistics of the new Administration, where the headlines included two Cabinet nominees—Tim Geithner at Treasury and Tom Daschle at Health and Human Services—hampered by tax problems.

Much has been made in the coverage of the historic nature of Obama’s victory. But what may be almost as unprecedented is the urgency with which he has acted on the economic crisis and the press corps’ equally swift pivot from celebrating to legislating. By the end of the week, the media were questioning the efficacy of Obama’s stimulus package, his political clout, and his pledge of bi-partisanship.

For all the talk of a media love affair with Obama, the frantic rush of events and the changing tone of the narrative suggest that the new President’s so-called honeymoon may set modern records for brevity.

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The Economic Crisis Returns with a Vengeance

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (8-14 décembre) selon le Pew Research Center:

Blago-gate Dominates the Week’s News

It takes an extraordinary story to burst into the news cycle in a week when the Senate rejected a lifeline to the American auto industry, companies from Sony to Bank of America announced stunning layoffs, and Barack Obama tapped his choice to tackle health care reform.

And with the sunrise arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on Dec. 9, that’s exactly what we had. It was a saga of cinematic dimensions—part Sopranos/part All the King’s Men. The governor of the fifth-biggest state was on tape allegedly and profanely talking about selling Barack Obama’s now empty Senate seat, and expressing a desire to use his office to peddle a lot of other things for personal gain as well.

“Blago-gate,” as it was instantly dubbed, filled more than a quarter of the newshole from Dec. 8-14, as measured by the News Coverage Index from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. For all of 2008, it was the biggest weekly story not related to the election or economy. And it seemed to siphon media attention away from the week’s other big stories.

As a topic, coverage of the economy edged out Blagojevich when stories such as the auto industry, financial meltdown and holiday shopping are all combined. But last week’s economic coverage dropped noticeably from the week before. And coverage of the new Obama Administration, the next-biggest Dec. 8-14 storyline, plunged to less than half the previous week’s total. In a sign of its far-reaching tentacles, the media framed the Blagojevich bust as the Obama team’s first test of crisis management.

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Blago-gate Dominates the Week’s News

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (1-7 décembre) selon le Pew Research Center:

The News Gets Grimmer at Home and Abroad

With desperate automakers asking Congress for $34 billion, Barack Obama unveiling key Cabinet members, and the U.S. scrambling to ease tensions between India and Pakistan, the three top storylines in the news intertwined last week.

Fears of a deeper recession, job losses, and the Detroit bailout drama made themes about the economy the biggest story the first week of December. As Obama unveiled his national security team, coverage of the incoming administration was the No. 2 storyline from Dec. 1-7. The challenges that team will face were highlighted by the other major story last week, the fallout from the Mumbai massacre that inflamed international tensions and resurrected terrorism fears.

Together, the three storylines accounted for more than two-thirds of the coverage in weekly News Coverage Index of the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. They also reinforced a message growing ever more prominent in the post-election media narrative—that Obama will take office facing the most daunting set of crises since Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933. Indeed, one idea that surfaced in the week’s coverage, articulated bluntly by Congressman Barney Frank, was that the Obama needed to, in effect if not officially, grab the reigns of power before his inauguration.

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The News Gets Grimmer at Home and Abroad

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (17-23 novembre) selon le Pew Research Center:

Cars and Appointments Dominate the News

Two questions drove last week’s media coverage. First, should the government offer a financial bailout to the hurting American auto industry? Second, what do the appointments to his cabinet say about how President-elect Obama will govern?

Taken together, the country’s financial crisis and the auto industry’s troubles in particular amounted to the largest topic of media coverage for the week of Nov. 17 – 23. The transition plans for the new Obama administration followed, and together they accounted for more than half of the media’s attention last week.

But while no other media stories came close to rivaling these major narratives, one new sensational storyline did emerge at the top of the media last week—Somali piracy. And two familiar plot lines returned to the media agenda, another dramatic round of California wildfires, and a milestone agreement reached by the Iraqi government that garnered relatively little media coverage.

These are among the findings of the News Coverage Index for Nov. 17 – 23, a weekly study of the media agenda from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

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Cars and Appointments Dominate the News

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (10-16 novembre) selon le Pew Research Center:

The Post-Election Narrative: A Tale of Two Women

Barack Obama may have toured his new home with President Bush, but much of last week’s media coverage also focused on two women who ran losing campaigns for the Executive Branch. With Hillary Clinton, the speculation was whether she would become the top diplomat in the new Obama Administration. With Sarah Palin, the question was whether she would emerge as the top Republican.

By the end of the week, Palin and Clinton were the second and third-leading newsmakers of the week from Nov. 10-16, trailing only the President elect.

With the financial crisis certain to be topic No. 1 for President Obama, the country’s weakened economy rivaled the Presidential transition as the top story of the week, with nothing else coming close. That was driven in part by a change in the Bush administration’s bailout strategy that seemed to suggest an even grimmer economic prognosis, and Congress arguing over a controversial bailout for the failing auto industry.

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The Post-Election Narrative: A Tale of Two Women

Poids média de l'actualité américaine (3-9 novembre) selon le Pew Research Center:

In Election Week, Media Pivots from Race to Rahm

When the campaign was finally over, the media almost immediately viewed Barack Obama’s victory as a transformational event, and a subject that had been in some ways taboo moved front and center—race.

“Obama Overcomes,” observed the Tuscaloosa Alabama News. “Dream Realized,” said the Brockton Massachusetts Enterprise. “Race is History,” emphatically declared the Beaumont Texas Enterprise

Another common theme in the torrent of analysis and reporting that followed Obama’s win over John McCain Nov. 4 was disarray in a Republican Party with a damaged brand and diminished base. And that seemed to be epitomized nowhere more clearly than in the widely publicized comments belittling Sarah Palin, attributed to anonymous McCain aides, and the subsequent counterattack by Palin.

While some commentary and reporting also suggested the nation was on the cusp of a major political realignment, the media verdict on that was more mixed.

And one other major storyline emerged in the media last week. With the political press corps still fully mobilized and a deepening economic crisis, the narrative pivoted instantly to speculation about the personalities and policies that would drive the new Obama administration. Within a day, the transition from one Presidential era to another was in full swing.

These are among the findings of the weekly News Coverage Index, a comprehensive analysis of the press coverage the week of Nov. 3-9 from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

The final week of a campaign, the presidential election utterly dominated the news agenda. Campaign and election related themes combined to make up more than two-thirds (69%) of the newshole studied. Combined, that would make election and its aftermath the largest single event in the 22 months since the Index began. When you add in the additional stories connected to the Nov. 4 voting—including the U.S. House and Senate races and ballot questions—that number swells to almost 80%.

Three main election themes dominated the coverage. The end of the presidential campaign—which encompassed coverage on just two days, was the No. 1 story, accounting for 27% of the week’s newshole. Coverage of the election results—including straight reporting and analysis—was No. 2, filling another 21%. And coverage of the incoming Obama administration—which began on Nov. 5 and looked forward—was right behind, also accounting for 21% of the newshole.

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In Election Week, Media Pivots from Race to Rahm

Couverture médiatique des candidats républicains et démocrates (27 octobre-2 novembre) selon le Pew Research Center:

La campagne électorale a occupé 54% de l'actualité américaine. La situation économique a été le 2e sujet le plus couvert par les médias avec 13% du contenu. L'Irak, les scandales de corruption et Jennifer Hudson ferment la marche en 3e position avec 2% de l'attention médiatique.

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In the Last Week, Numbers Make the News