Anthony Surprise Verdict Topped News Last Week

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 a story by Jesse Holcomb of  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. 

The murder trial of Casey Anthony, the Florida woman accused of killing her two-year-old daughter, made headlines last week with a not-guilty verdict that surprised many and provoked outbursts of public anger. The case was the No. 2 story, at 17% of the newshole. 

The dramatic conclusion of the trial, the ensuing analysis and finally, the sentencing, were given heavy play on television news. The case was the No. 1 story on both network news (18%) and cable news (38%), and proved to be a major boon for CNN’s sibling channel HLN, whose ratings spiked 1,700 percent on the afternoon of the trial’s conclusion.

Casey Anthony, the defendant in the high-profile murder case, easily generated the most attention in the media last week. She was a dominant newsmaker in 12% of all stories studied by PEJ from July 4-10. (To register as a dominant newsmaker, someone must be featured in at least 50% of a story.)

Despite hosting his first ever “Twitter” town hall and leading a bipartisan debt summit, President Obama was relegated to No. 2 lead newsmaker status behind Anthony (8%), the same level of coverage as the week before.

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