Blago-gate Dominates the Week's News

The arrest of Illinois Gov Rod Blagojevich (D) was the top story for the week of Dec 8-14. For all of 2008, it was the biggest weekly story not related to the election or economy. And it seemed to siphon media attention away from the week's other big stories. As a topic, coverage of the economy edged out Blagojevich when stories such as the auto industry, financial meltdown and holiday shopping are all combined. But last week's economic coverage dropped noticeably from the week before. And coverage of the new Obama Administration, the next-biggest Dec. 8-14 storyline, plunged to less than half the previous week's total. In a sign of its far-reaching tentacles, the media framed the Blagojevich bust as the Obama team's first test of crisis management.