PEJ News Coverage Index: Nov. 9 - 15, 2009, Fort Hood Fallout Leads the News Again

Report Read time:
PEJ News Coverage Index: Nov. 9 - 15, 2009, Fort Hood Fallout Leads the News Again

Driven by increasing questions about whether the shooter's background and behavior should have triggered louder alarm bells, the November 5 shooting rampage at Fort Hood topped the news for the second consecutive week.

The continued fallout from the attack that left 13 dead accounted for 20% of the newshole from November 9-15, according to the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism. That represents a moderate increase from the previous week (15%), but those numbers are somewhat misleading since the story broke late in the week monitored in the November 2-8 News Coverage Index.

Nevertheless, the increased coverage last week suggests that the media is treating the Fort Hood case differently from a number of other violent crimes that have generated major coverage only to quickly fade from the headlines. Indeed, the single biggest crime story since the NCI began in 2007, the Virginia Tech massacre, accounted for 51% of the coverage the week it happened and plunged to 7% the following week. The fatal shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, for example, filled 11% of the newshole the week of June 8-14, and dropped to less than 1% the next week.

Among the themes fueling the second-week coverage of the Fort Hood was the issue of whether authorities should have responded more aggressively to warning signs from Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, including his repeated correspondence with a radical imam. Three related storylines—Hasan's background, the role of his religion in the attacks and the question of whether he should have been seen as a ticking time bomb—accounted for about half the Fort Hood coverage.

For the second week in a row, the Fort Hood story had the effect of moving the three topics that had recently been dominated headlines—health care, Afghanistan and the economy—further down on the news agenda.

Read the full report Fort Hood Fallout Leads the News Again on the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism Web site.

America’s Overdose Crisis
America’s Overdose Crisis

America’s Overdose Crisis

Sign up for our five-email course explaining the overdose crisis in America, the state of treatment access, and ways to improve care

Sign up
Quick View
America’s Overdose Crisis

America’s Overdose Crisis

Sign up for our five-email course explaining the overdose crisis in America, the state of treatment access, and ways to improve care

Sign up

MORE FROM PEW

A presentation being given by a businesswoman to a group of participants at a business conference. Four Plan Features Can Boost 'Retirement Readiness'
A large group of people in formal or traditional attire stands together on a stage, with a digital background depicting marine life and the large text “WTO Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies.” WTO Needs to Redouble Its Effort on Fishing Subsidies
A man in a winter hat and sunglasses kneels on a rocky shoreline in front of a campfire, holding a metal mug with gloved hands. Behind him, in the water, a motorboat is moored to the shore. Cliffs rise on both sides of the water. Why Newfoundland’s South Coast Fjords Are Sacred
An illustration of a couple holding hands walking away from an outline of houses behind them Pathways to Homeownership: Housing in America
Composite image of modern city network communication concept

Learn the Basics of Broadband from Our Limited Series

Sign up for our four-week email course on Broadband Basics
Quick View

How does broadband internet reach our homes, phones, and tablets? What kind of infrastructure connects us all together? What are the major barriers to broadband access for American communities?

Pills illustration
Pills illustration

What Is Antibiotic Resistance—and How Can We Fight It?

Sign up for our four-week email series The Race Against Resistance.
Quick View
Pills illustration

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, also known as “superbugs,” are a major threat to modern medicine. But how does resistance work, and what can we do to slow the spread? Read personal stories, expert accounts, and more for the answers to those questions in our four-week email series: Slowing Superbugs.