Economic News Hits a 13-Month High

The state of the U.S. economy, driven by the political battle over how to regulate Wall Street, dominated the news last week to an extent not seen in more than a year.

The media devoted 27% of the newshole to the economy during the week of April 19-25, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, up from 16% the previous week. That represents the most coverage of that subject since the week of March 23-29, 2009, when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled a plan to clean up "toxic assets" in banks and economic news represented 43% of the newshole. More than three-quarters of last week's economic coverage focused on the financial sector, including the legislative reform efforts as well as allegations of fraud and profiteering involving blue-chip investment banker Goldman Sachs.