Public More Closely Followed 9/11 Anniversary Than Media

A
third of people polled said they followed the story of the Sept. 11 anniversary
last week very closely, but the major national media devoted only 2% of the news
hole.

That
is according to the latest News Interest Index and News Coverage Index from the
Pew Research Center.

The
interest and coverage of a related story--a minister's threatened burning of
Korans on Sept. 11--was more closely aligned, with a third saying they followed
that story closely and the measured media giving it 14% of the news hole.

The
index broke out the two stories, but if combined, that would be 16% for 9/11
anniversary-related stories.

Survey
respondents were most interested in the continuing aftermath of the Gulf oil
leak, with 34% saying they were following it closely, but again there was a
disconnect between that and the coverage, which constituted only 2% of the news
hole.

The
News Interest Index is a telephone poll of 1,001 adults 18-plus years of age.
The News Coverage Index is an analysis of coverage across five major
sectors:  newspapers, network television, cable television, radio and the
Internet.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.