The Project for Excellence in Journalism has released its News Coverage Index for the very busy week of August 22-28. Not surprisingly, three big stories dominated the week: Libya, the east coast earthquake and Hurricane Irene.
Libya was the top story, taking up 26% of the newshole, followed closely by Irene, which took up 21%, and the earthquake, which took up 9%. Rounding out the top five stories were the economy and 2012 election, taking up 8% and 5% of the newshole respectively.
On the broadcast networks, Irene was the top story, taking up a full third of the newshole, with Libya not far behind at 24%. On cable news, both strories took up about the same amount of time, with Irene at 50% and Libya at 29%.
The top newsmaker for the week was ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhaffi, followed by President Obama, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Texas Governor Rick Perry.