Occupy Wall Street protests occupied its most news real estate so far, driving the economic news category that constituted 22% of national news coverage for the week of Nov. 14-20, the most of any story.
That is according to the latest Project for Excellence in Journalism Weekly News Coverage Index (NCI), which found that 13% of the economic stories focused on the protests in New York, Oakland, Portland, D.C. and elsewhere, up from just 1% the week before.
Number two for the second week in a row was the Penn State child abuse scandal at 15% of the news hole, down slightly from 17% the week before. With his Nov. 14 NBC interview with Bob Costas, alleged molester Jerry Sandusky was the week's top newsmaker. The week before, the focus of the scandal coverage had been more on then Penn State head coach Joe Paterno's ouster.
The third biggest story of the week was the 2012 presidential campaign at 12% of the news hole, followed by the Supreme Court's decision to review the Obama health care law (4%) and Middle East unrest at 4% as well.
The NCI 52 looks at 52 outlets in five media sectors: network TV, cable, print, online, and radio.
