News Interest Index: Iraq and Tornadoes Top the News

In the news last week, the Iraq war continued to dominate both coverage and interest. Fully 30% of the public followed news about the current situation in Iraq very closely and 24% listed this as the single news story they followed more closely than any other. Fully one-quarter of the public paid very close attention to the debate in Washington over U.S. policy in Iraq, and 9% said this was the story they followed most closely last week. Coverage of the policy debate dominated the national news last week with 14% of the overall newshole devoted to this topic. Another 3% of the newshole was focused on events in Iraq.

The deadly Kansas tornadoes and widespread flooding in the Midwest attracted a relatively large news audience: 22% of the public followed these events very closely and 16% listed them as their top story of the week. Overall, 8% of the news coverage for the week was devoted to these two weather-related stories.

View full article "Iraq and Tornadoes Top the News" at the Pew Research Center for People and the Press Web site.