The 2010 midterm election was the biggest story of
the year in terms of news coverage, according to the Project for Excellence in
Journalism's News Coverage Index, occupying 57% of the news hole Nov. 1-7.
It was the fourth biggest story since the NCI was
launched in January 2007 behind three other election-related stories from 2008:
the election of President Obama (76%, Nov. 3-9); the combination of the
Democrats' nominating convention that picked Obama and the surprise
announcement of Sarah Palin as Republican VP nominee (69%, Aug. 25-31), and the
Palin story by itself (58%, Sept. 1-7).
In second place at only 7% of the news hole last
week was the economy, followed by two bombs found on cargo planes (5%).
Tropical Storm Tomas was fourth at 2%.
The index looks at about 1,000 stories from 52 media outlets in print,
online, network TV, cable TV and national radio.
