The nation's longest war--in Afghanistan--fell off the news radar
last week.
The story had accounted for 19% of the news hole the week before,
according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's News Coverage Index,
but that was driven by the WikiLeaks story about documents leaked to the site.
Last week (the measurement period Aug. 2-8), the war claimed only
3% of the news hole. The top story was on the economy and signs that the
recovery was losing steam. Driven by disappointing job numbers, the economic
crisis claimed 12% of the news hole across a range of national on-air, online,
web and print outlets. That was up from 10% the week before and enough to edge
out the BP oil spill, which claimed 11% of coverage.
The upcoming elections was the third-biggest story with 8%,
followed by a California judge's ruling that the ban on same-sex marriages was
unconstitutional (5%) and another judicial reversal, the overturning of some of
Arizona's new immigration law (4%).
