The nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court was a big story, but not big enough to oust the BP oil rig explosion from the top of the journalistic playlist for the week of 5/10-16/10, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism. It was rig 17%, Kagan 13%, with the economic crisis rounding out the double-digit menu with 11%.
The bomb plot in Times Square and the 2010 elections tied for #4 at 5%.
Two stories tied for 6th place at 4%, but the way they got there illustrates the contrasting ways stories make it onto the overall top 10 list.
Afghanistan was one of the stories – no single medium of the five covered by PEJ went overboard on coverage, but all paid attention to the story, giving it a share of between 3% and 6%.
Immigration, on the other hand, didn’t make the top ten for either newspaper, online or network television news outlets. But it scored in double-digits on the radio chart with 11% and just missed that on cable with 9%.
| Story | Overall | Newspaper | Online | NetTV | CATV | Radio |
| Oil rig explosion | 17% | 14% | 16% | 24% | 20% | 12% |
| Kagan nomination | 13% | 9% | 13% | 14% | 15% | 15% |
| Economic crisis | 11% | 16% | 15% | 7% | 4% | 13% |
| 2010 elections | 5% | 9% | x | x | 8% | 8% |
| Times Square bomb plot | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 7% | 2% |
| Immigration debate | 4% | x | x | x | 9% | 11% |
| Afghanistan | 4% | 4% | 4% | 6% | 3% | 4% |
| Education system | 2% | 4% | x | x | 3% | 2% |
| Domestic terrorism | 2% | 2% | 3% | x | x | 3% |
| Libyan plane crash | 2% | x | 4% | 5% | x | x |
| UK election | x | 4% | x | x | x | x |
| Pollution/emissions/going green | x | 2% | x | x | x | x |
| Health care debate | x | x | 5% | x | x | x |
| Thailand protests | x | x | 3% | x | x | x |
| Events in Iraq | x | x | 2% | x | x | x |
| Plains tornadoes | x | x | x | 5% | x | x |
| Beau Biden stroke | x | x | x | 2% | x | x |
| Iraq War homefront | x | x | x | 2% | x | 3% |
| Lena Horne dies | x | x | x | 2% | x | x |
| NASA missions | x | x | x | x | 4% | x |
| Obama administration | x | x | x | x | 4% | x |
Source: Project for Excellence in Journalism
