Top news stories on U.S. cable news channels 2011

This statistic presents the top news stories on cable news channels in the United States in 2011. The struggling economy was the most important news story on FOX News and MSNBC, while CNN focused on the unrest in the Middle East. The data reveals a difference in focus across the three major cable news channels. For a statistic on top news stories across all news media click here.

Top news stories on U.S. cable news channels in 2011 (percent of newshole*)

Characteristic	CNN	FOX News	MSNBC
Economy	14%	21.4%	29.7%
2012 Presidential Election	10.3%	16.1%	18.2%
Middle East Unrest	21.5%	9.7%	8.1%
Obama Administration	1.9%	2.7%	3%
Osama bin Laden killed	4.1%	2.6%	3.2%

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Release date

December 2011

More information

Region

United States

Survey time period

2011

Supplementary notes

* The percentages are based on "newshole," or the space devoted to each subject in print and online and time on radio and TV.
PEJ’s weekly News Coverage Index examines the news agenda of 52 different outlets from five sectors of the media: print, online, network TV, cable and radio. The weekly study is designed to provide news consumers, journalists and researchers with hard data about what stories and topics the media are covering, the trajectories of that media narrative and differences among news platforms.

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