The Meltdown and the Media

An examination of PEJ's News Coverage Index from Sept. 15-Oct. 26 suggests that different media are focusing on different narratives of the economic crisis. Two sectors that include a substantial amount of debate and opinion—cable news and talk radio—have paid particular attention to the political aspects of this story. Coverage of the actual details of the bailout package was pretty evenly scattered among the outlets, but cable, which devoted 15% of its newshole to that subject, was No. 1. Network television news paid the most attention to the impact on average Americans, (13% of the airtime studied.)