Libya, Irene, Quake Led News

In a week in which two powerful natural disasters rocked the East coast media capitals, the rebel victory in war-torn Libya led the news.

The end of Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year grip on the North African country was the No. 1 story for the week of August 22-28, accounting for 25% of the newshole, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. Unrest elsewhere in the Mideast, particularly Syria, filled another 2% of the newshole. The extensive coverage of the takeover of Green Square in Tripoli by NATO-backed rebels came after a dramatic decrease in recent media attention to the conflict and the region. The week the U.S. and NATO forces entered the Libyan fighting (March 21-27), coverage of Mideast turmoil spiked to 47% and remained very high (38%) the following week. But it fell to just 5% in the month leading up to the deposing of Gaddafi. As the week went on, however, coverage of that international story diminished as the media turned to two potent acts of nature—Hurricane Irene and a 5.8 magnitude earthquake—both of which occurred in the greater Eastern seaboard region. Combined, those stories amounted to 30% of the newshole, more than Libya-related coverage.