Debt Utterly Dominates News Cycle July 25-31

By Alex Weprin 

Coverage of the debt ceiling dominated the news cycle July 25-31, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s News Coverage Index.

Coverage of negotiations took up 52% of the newshole for the week, by far the most of any story. Cable news drove the coverage, with the negotiations taking up a whopping 75% of the cable TV newshole. Broadcast news outlets devoted just 41% of the newshole to the debt.

The number two story was the Norway bombing and shootings, taking up 8% of the newhole, followed by the Mexican drug war, the war in Afghanistan and the end of the NFL lockout, each of which took up 2% of the newshole.

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In an extremely unusual move, President Obama and his administration was not the top newsmaker for the week, replaced instead by House Speaker John Boehner.

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