The Libby Verdict, And Its Fallout, Lead the News

THE LIBBY VERDICT, AND ITS FALLOUT, LEAD THE NEWS
[SOURCE: Project for Excellence in Journalism, AUTHOR: Mark Jurkowitz]
Ever since President Bush announced his troop “surge” on January 10, the war in Iraq has dominated the news as measured by PEJ’s News Coverage Index. Specifically, it was the fierce political debate over strategy in Congress that has commanded the most attention. The debate over the war has finished first or second in the Index’s top story list for eight straight weeks, from early January to early March. But last week, even as Congressional Democrats fine-tuned their anti-surge tactics, the policy debate slipped to its lowest spot of the year, down into to fifth place (at 7%). Instead, two events that offered different and relatively newer angles into the contentious issues surrounding Iraq trumped the political argument over what war strategy would best serve America’s interests. One was the Libby verdict. It was the biggest story last week, filling 13% of the overall newshole from March 4 to March 9.
http://www.journalism.org/node/4515