Driven by Wall Street Protests, the economy was the top story for the survey period Oct. 3-9, according to the lastest Project for Excellence in Journalism News Coverage Index.
The economy accounted for 22% of the news hole for the major national news outlets surveyed, up from 14% of the coverage the week before, when the story was number two behind presidential election coverage, the first time the economy had been knocked out of the top spot in the past month.
Election coverage came in second at 18%, which was its highest percentage of coverage to date (it only got 15% of the coverage as the number one story the previous week). The election attention was a bit of a feint, with much of it the build-up to the announcement by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie that he would not be entering the Republican field.
Coming in at number four were stories about Apple in the wake of the death of co-founder Steve Jobs. The Amanda Knox trial came in at 7%, followed by the awarding of Nobel Prizes at 4%.
