Say It Aint So: Narratives Do Not Dominate This Week's News Stories

According to The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, For the Week of October 20-26, talk of the likes of 'Joe the Plumber' and 'Lipstick on a Pig' were virtually absent from media coverage. Even Biden's gaffe about Obama being tested by an international crisis was all but absent from the dialogue. The report goes on to say:

Indeed, no single narrative dominated last week’s coverage. The top storyline, the fight over battleground states, accounted for 10% of the campaign newshole from Oct. 20-26, according to the Campaign Coverage Index from the Pew Research Center’s Project For Excellence in Journalism. That’s the lowest level of coverage for any leading weekly narrative since the general election campaign began in early June.

	Percent of Campaign Newshole
Swing State Strategy	9.6%
Economy as an Issue	8.2
McCain v. Obama Polls	6.1
Colin Powell Endorses Obama	5.9
Campaign Fundraising	4.6
Obama Visits his Grandmother	4.1
Foreign Policy	3.8
Total Number of Campaign Stories = 649