Economy Drives News Coverage

An issue that has repeatedly provoked public passion and media scrutiny—big bonuses at bailed-out banking institutions—helped drive coverage of the economic crisis last week to its highest level in more than two months. With anger over Wall Street compensation simmering and the Obama Administration slashing the pay of some executives, the economy accounted for 15% of the newshole from October 19-25, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That made the economy the week's No. 1 story and represents the most attention to the subject since August 3-9, when a government report showed a small dip in the unemployment rate.