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If you thought that coverage of the King of Pop’s death dominated the news landscape over the weekend, then you were right according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.
According to Pew, 93 percent of all cable news coverage was of the death of Michael Jackson on Thursday and Friday. For newspapers on Friday morning, the day after Jackson’s death, “37% of their coverage was Jackson-related compared to 55% of the leading online coverage.”
Chart from the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism
“It was a reminder of how the media at times can be captivated by the hold of celebrity on some people’s lives and at the same time will eagerly exploit it,” the report stated.
In fact, the report shows that Jackson was the top newsmaker of the week, even beating out Barack Obama. And that includes stories about the Obama administration. Sanford was third, while Farrah Fawcett, Neda Alghan-Soltan (the woman shown being killed during a street protest in Iran) and Ed McMahon rounded out the top five newsmakers of the week.
Despite happening on a Thursday, coverage of the pop star’s death was the second most-covered news story of the week. It was narrowly edged by the coverage of the political unrest in Iran following the disputed presidential election earlier in the month.
The Pew report gives an example of how news has changed in the past three decades. “When Elvis Presley died in 1977,” the report states, “CBS News was criticized for choosing not to lead its newscast with it.”
It seems that television news has learned their lesson, and according to a Pew chart, led the way in coverage of the pop star’s death.
A peak at Newseum, a Web site which shows the front pages of newspapers around the country, shows that virtually all newspapers had at least a mention of Jackson in the coveted above-the-fold space, many with large pictures accompanying the stories.
Iran and Jackson’s death were followed by the Mark Sanford scandal (11 percent of news coverage), the economy (7 percent), healthcare (7 percent) and a Washington D.C. subway crash (5 percent).
