At the end of long week of news coverage of the killing of Osama bin Laden, a review of the U.S. media by the Project for Excellence in Journalism offers encouraging news: The mainstream news media stayed focused on the news, not moving to political ramifications or analysis, and continued to deepen and broaden its reporting throughout the week, offering readers and viewers new details and international reaction.
“One quarter (25%) of the mainstream media coverage monitored from May 1 through May 4 involved reconstructing the commando mission at bin Laden’s secret hiding place” the report said.
“. . .The second-biggest storyline in the mainstream press was also one that involved reporting more than analysis. It detailed reactions to bin Laden’s death from around the world and around the country, and accounted for 24% of the bin Laden coverage monitored. “
With news organizations buffeted by layoffs, bankruptcies and other economic disasters, it is encouraging to see such a strong performance by journalists who kept their eye on the news and stayed away from the political analysis and punditry that could have marred their performance.
As PEJ put it, “For a mainstream media culture that reflexively seeks out conflict, the coverage so far has projected a greater sense of national unity and that has persisted through the week.”
That performance was a stark contrast to the information on Facebook and Twitter, where the largest single topic was people sharing jokes about bin Laden’s death — 19 percent — followed by discussions of whether bin Laden was really dead, 17 percent.
“The question of political fallout and who deserved credit for the mission—Obama or his predecessor, George W. Bush—combined to account for 15 percent of the coverage,” the report said, “with more Twitter and Facebook users giving the nod to the current president.”
