Weather Leads the News

The deadly tornadoes that ripped through the Southeast on April 27 -- reportedly killing more than an estimated 300 people and leaving hundreds more missing—topped the news agenda from April 25-May 1, accounting for 15% of the newshole, according to the PEJ’s News Coverage Index.

No domestic natural disaster has generated that level of attention in a single week since September 1-7, 2008 (17%), when Hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana, causing mass evacuations. Storm coverage was boosted in part by Barack Obama’s April 29 visit to hard-hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama -- a trip he took after making the decision in Washington to give the green light to the bin Laden mission. Video images of twisters -- many provided by amateur videographers -- and scenes of devastation received heavy play on television, especially on the broadcast networks, where the storm news accounted for 23% of the airtime studied by PEJ. Standing in a flattened part of Tuscaloosa where 16 people were killed, ABC News’ Steve Osunsami described the human toll: “First responders who were here were so busy pulling the living from all of these debris, they were forced to ignore the dead. That’s how bad this is. You can hear the sound of smoke detectors in the distance but no one’s here. There’s the smell of death.” At the same time the media were covering the aftermath of the violent storms, they were also preparing to chronicle the week’s No. 4 story—the highly anticipated British royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, which accounted for 11% of the newshole.