Midterm Elections Dominate News Cycle Sept. 20-26

Coverage of the upcoming midterm elections dominated the enws cycle for the sweek of September 20-26, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism’s News Coverage Index.

The midterms took up 35% of the newshole on the cable news channels, with the Tea Party movement occupying a solid chunk of that airtime. On the “ideological” radio and cable news programs, the midterms took up a whopping 51% of the newshole.

The second most covered story was the economy, which took up 13% of the overall newshole. That was followed by coverage of the proposed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal with 4%, with education in America and the war in Afghanistan rounding out the top five.

President Obama was once again the top “newsmaker” for the week based on mentions, with Christine O’Donnell taking second place, followed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, pastor Eddie Long and comedian Stephen Colbert.

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