News Interest Index: Gulf Oil Leak Dominates Public's News Interests

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News Interest Index: Gulf Oil Leak Dominates Public's News Interests

As oil from an undersea well continued to flow into the Gulf of Mexico last week, Americans tracked the worsening environmental disaster much more closely than any other major news story.

About half (49%) say this was the story they followed most closely. Press coverage was divided between the oil leak (17% of coverage) and Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court (13%); just 5% of the public cited Kagan's nomination as their top story of the week.

Read the full report, Gulf Oil Leak Dominates Public's News Interests, on the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press' Web site.

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