US TV
The death of Anna Nicole Smith topped news from Iraq on America's cable news channels last week.
The Project for Excellence in Journalism's news coverage index, a weekly look at what is at the top of America's news agenda, has revealed that of all programming on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel monitored by the project, 21% of it across the week was dedicated to Smith, pushing the Iraq war into second place with 15% of monitored minutes.
Across February 8 and 9, when the news broke, 50% of airtime on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel was occupied by Anna Nicole Smith's death.
Cable's turn to the tabloid was even grumbled at by some on-air personalities. CNN's Jack Cafferty, who provides commentary during the network's late-afternoon news block The Situation Room, noted on the channel's air: "Her death was tabloid gold and apparently, we just couldn’t help ourselves."
By contrast, news reports on broadcast TV placed Iraq policy, the war in Iraq, severe weather coverage, and a scandal involving a NASA astronaut ahead of Smith's death.
The Project for Excellence in Journalism's news coverage index, a weekly look at what is at the top of America's news agenda, has revealed that of all programming on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel monitored by the project, 21% of it across the week was dedicated to Smith, pushing the Iraq war into second place with 15% of monitored minutes.
Across February 8 and 9, when the news broke, 50% of airtime on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel was occupied by Anna Nicole Smith's death.
Cable's turn to the tabloid was even grumbled at by some on-air personalities. CNN's Jack Cafferty, who provides commentary during the network's late-afternoon news block The Situation Room, noted on the channel's air: "Her death was tabloid gold and apparently, we just couldn’t help ourselves."
By contrast, news reports on broadcast TV placed Iraq policy, the war in Iraq, severe weather coverage, and a scandal involving a NASA astronaut ahead of Smith's death.
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