Oil Spill Coverage Engulfs the Media

Six weeks after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, the Gulf disaster generated its highest level of coverage since the story broke, completely dominating the news agenda.

As the drama of devastation, containment and finger-pointing continued to unfold, the mainstream media devoted 38% of its newshole to the spill during the week of May 24-30, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. This marks the sixth week in a row the disaster has made the roster of top stories. And last week's coverage easily exceeded the previous high water mark (20%) during the week of May 3-9. Moreover, it represents the most attention to any subject since the week of March 22-28, when Congress passed the health care bill and that story filled 45% of the newshole.