The slaughter at Virginia Tech is the runaway winner in the cable news coverage race so far this year, representing more than three-quarters of news stories in the medium between April 15 and 20. That
word comes from the Project for Excellence in Journalism's "News Coverage Index," which analyzes 48 news outlets.
Coverage of the shootings filled at least half the news hole during that
stretch, with 50% of radio airtime and 62% of network TV news coverage. That tops the second-biggest story of the year, the Bush Administration's escalation of U.S. involvement in the Iraq, which
managed 34% of coverage January 7-12. The Virginia Tech killings overwhelmed coverage of the other big story of that week: the grilling of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales by a Senate Committee got
only 6%.
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