Survey finds pope's visit got a big chunk of U.S. media's attention

Published: 2008-05-07

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The news media gave Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the United States in April more coverage that week than any topic except the 2008 election campaign, according to an analysis of reporting by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism. The analysis released May 6 found that coverage of the pope's April 15-20 visit took up 16 percent of the week's "news hole." The presidential campaign accounted for 31 percent of coverage; the law enforcement raid on a polygamist church's compound in Texas received 8 percent of the coverage; the economy got 5 percent and the Iraq War received 3 percent. More than half of the papal coverage focused on two main angles of the pope's visit: his meeting with victims of sexual abuse by priests and his comments on the subject in various places, which totaled 37 percent of the reporting, and his relationship with American Catholics, which accounted for 17 percent of stories, the survey showed.

Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .