Republican front-runner Newt Gingirch last week transplanted Herman Cain as the top campaign newsmaker, according to the latest Project for Excellence in Journalism News Coverage Index (for Dec. 5-11).
Campaign coverage also topped the news holes of major national outlets by a wide margin, taking up 24% compared to 14% for the economy at number two. Gingrich was the focus of 47% of those stories, twice as much as the number-two campaign figure, Mitt Romney.
Coverage was heaviest on cable and radio, with stories about Gingrich's rise, temperament and record, according to PEJ. MSNBC had the greatest percentage of campaign coverage by far at 53% of its news hole, followed by Fox at 37% and CNN at only 23%.
The number-three story was the European economy at 9% of the news hole, followed by Iran at 3% and Afghanistan, also at 3%.
The index is a content analysis of 52 news outlets in five sectors, network TV, cable, radio, online and print.
