The sex abuse scandal at Penn State has been one of the most heavily covered crime stories in recent years, reports a media tracking group.
The Penn State scandal ranks fourth among crime stories since the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism began tracking media "newshole" in January 2007. PEJ measures how much time and space media outlets devote to topics and people in the news. (For newspapers, the center counts only stories that appear on the front page.)
Crime stories that got more news coverage:
1.) The Jan. 8, 2011, fatal shootings of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and five others in Tucson Arizona. It accounted for 56.6 percent of the media newshole in the week that followed.2.) The April 16, 2007, massacre at Virginia Tech in which the gunman killed 32 people and himself. It accounted for 50.9 percent of the newshole that week.3.) The July 5, 2011, acquittal of Casey Anthony in her daughter's killing. It accounted for 17.3 percent of the newshole that week.According to PEJ, the Penn State scandal occupied 16.9 percent of the newshole from Nov. 7 to Nov. 13.
The story appeared just once on the front page of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, on Nov. 10. That story reported the immediate ouster of Penn State President Graham Spanier and football Coach Joe Paterno, who initially offered to resign at season's end.
The bulk of the Post-Dispatch's coverage of the scandal appeared in the Sports section. Editors decided this week to move the coverage into the main news section because of the criminal nature of the allegations.
PEJ's News Coverage Index measures how the press uses its newshole -- the space devoted to each subject in print and online, and the amount of time devoted on cable, network and radio news. The index surveys 52 different outlets from five sectors of the media: print, online, network TV, cable and radio.(The Post-Dispatch and STLtoday.com weren't among the media outlets in the survey.)
