The Illinois governor/alleged Senate seat peddler Rod Blagojevich was the top story for the week of 12/8/08-12/14/08, propelled there by getting nearly half of the available time on the cable news networks, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Radio, which gave Blago a 37% share compared to cable’s 44%, wasn’t far behind. Newspaper editors thought the auto industry crisis was a bigger story, however, and it tied for first at network television. The general lack of ongoing election news (with the notable exception of Minnesota) allowed a wide variety of stories to get a mention.
| Story | Overall | Newspaper | Online | Net.TV | CATV | Radio |
| Blagojevich scandal | 28% | 12% | 29% | 20% | 44% | 37% |
| US auto industry | 18% | 15% | 19% | 20% | 21% | 16% |
| Financial crisis | 11% | 14% | 6% | 16% | 7% | 12% |
| New Obama administration | 8% | 10% | 8% | 4% | 8% | 5% |
| Missing girl in FL | 2% | x | 4% | 2% | 4% | x |
| Domestic terrorism | 2% | 3% | x | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Global warming | 2% | 6% | x | 2% | x | x |
| Mumbai terror attacks | 2% | 4% | 3% | x | x | x |
| Events in Iraq | 2% | 4% | x | 2% | x | x |
| Riots in Greece | 1% | x | 5% | x | x | x |
| Holiday season | x | 2% | 2% | x | 1% | x |
| Taxes | x | 2% | x | x | x | x |
| SD Marine jet crash | x | x | 4% | 2% | x | x |
| Afghanistan | x | x | 3% | x | x | x |
| East coast storms | x | x | x | 3% | x | x |
| Presidential election results | x | x | x | x | 2% | x |
| Immigration | x | x | x | x | 1% | x |
| Newspaper troubles | x | x | x | x | 1% | 1% |
| Pakistan | x | x | x | x | x | 3% |
| Zimbabwe elections | x | x | x | x | x | 1% |
| Congressional election results | x | x | x | x | x | 1% |
| Congressional scandals | x | x | x | x | x | 1% |
Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism
