Two dramatic events—reports of a potential breakthrough in deadlocked deficit talks and the verdict in the Casey Anthony murder trial—drove the dominant news stories last week. 

Fueled by coverage of the high-stakes deficit negotiations, the economy accounted for 24% of the newshole last week, making it the No. 1 story from July 4-10, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

That coverage was up from 19% the previous week and marked the third week in a row that the impasse over the deficit and debt ceiling has made the economy the No. 1 story. Last week, the deficit debate accounted for about two-thirds of the overall economy coverage and by week’s end, a flurry of optimism about a deal was replaced in the media narrative by the prospect of more deadlock.