Health Care, Afghan War and the Economy Drive News Narrative

Two ongoing domestic policy stories and the emerging foreign policy challenge in Afghanistan are now regularly monopolizing the media's attention. And if they haven't completely eclipsed the rest of the news, they have made it more difficult for other topics to break into the headlines. Last week, once again, the debate over health care, the war in Afghanistan and the economic crisis accounted for roughly 40% of the newshole studied by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism—the fourth straight week those subjects combined for that level of attention. The health care battle was the No. 1 story last week, October 25-November 1, filling 16% of the newshole, according to PEJ's weekly News Coverage Index. The war in Afghanistan was close behind, at 13%, followed by the state of the economy, at 12%.