A study conducted by the PEJ and released on Wednesday takes a closer look at the Anna Nicole Smith coverage from her death on February 8 to her burial on March 2. It reveals that most of the coverage was on morning news shows and cable.
While most viewers remember the coverage to be pervasive, the PEJ study reveals that is was a major news story, but not across all outlets. Two other stories--the war in Iraq and the 2008 Presidential race--created more attention than Smith, but only by a small margin.The study looked at 48 different outlets across five media sectors and it indicted that the Smith story did not attract major media coverage from all outlets. It also indicated that not all channels gave equal time to the events surrounding her death and the subsequent legal battles over her child and estate. For example, in network morning shows, the story was covered more heavily by CBS and NBC than ABC. On cable, Fox News Channel had the most Anna Nicole coverage followed by MSNBC.
