The budget, Cameron in the US, and NHS reforms
For the week ending Sunday 18 March
- Final preparations for George Osborne’s budget captured the most headlines
- Cameron’s US visit, NHS reforms, and the killing of 16 Afghan civilians by an American soldier, covered lots
- Legal aid, the ICC’s first verdict, and violence in Gaza, covered little
Covered Lots
- George Osborne, who has been busy drafting – and battling over – the forthcoming budget, 355 articles
- David Cameron’s visit to the US, and reassertion of the special relationship, 234 articles
- The NHS, prior to the health and social care bill’s final reading in the House of Lords, 167 articles
- An American soldier kills 16 Afghans, 127 articles, as there are renewed calls for British withdrawal, 72 articles
Covered Little
- Legal aid, due to be cut significantly in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill, currently being debated and amended in the Lords, 33 articles
- The ICC, in its first verdict, found the Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga guilty of using and recruiting child soldiers between 2002 and 2003, 25 articles
- After four days of violence in Gaza – where 25 Palestinians died and 35 Israelis were injured – Egypt steps in to broker a ceasefire between the two, 12 articles
Political ups and downs (top ten by number of articles)
- David Cameron, 717 articles (+23% on last week)
- George Osborne, 423 articles (+69% on last week)
- Nick Clegg, 217 articles (-6% on last week)
- Ed Miliband, 128 articles (+29% on last week)
- Vince Cable, 114 articles (-37% on last week)
- Gordon Brown, 104 articles (+49% on last week)
- Tony Blair, 102 articles (+12% on last week)
- Ed Balls, 94 articles (+119% on last week)
- Theresa May, 81 articles (+23% on last week)
- Boris Johnson, 81 articles (+16% on last week)
Celebrity vs Serious
- Britain’s Got Talent is set to return for another TV series, 71 articles vs. The Government has launched the NewBuy scheme, designed to assist first time buyers onto the housing ladder, 55 articles.
- Russell Brand was in trouble with the law – again – throwing a photographers mobile phone through a window, 43 articles vs. Kony 2012 may have 83 millions hits on Youtube, but it was mentioned in just 42 articles
- David Beckham and family head out for lunch and he opts for a Burrito (possibly not the same day), 32 articles vs. Bo Xilai, one of China’s leading Government officials, was sacked by the Communist party after trying to block a police inquiry regarding his family, 38 articles
Eurozone leaders (top ten by number of articles)
- Nicolas Sarkozy (France), 77 articles (+17% on last week)
- Angela Merkel (Germany), 37 articles (+3% on last week)
- Elio di Rupo (Belgium), 24 articles (from 0 last week)
- Mariano Rajoy (Spain), 19 articles (-10% on last week)
- Enda Kenny (Ireland), 17 articles (+325% on last week)
- Mario Monti (Italy), 14 articles (-66% on last week)
- Lucas Papademos (Greece), 11 articles (-27% on last week)
- Mark Rutte (The Netherlands), 5 article (+150% on last week)
- Jyrki Katainen (Finland), 1 article (from 0 last week)
- Pedro Passos Coelho (Portugal), 1 article (-50% last week)
- Jean-Claude Junker (Luxembourg), 1 article (from 0 last week)
No other Eurozone leaders were mentioned in UK press coverage.
Who wrote a lot about… George Osborne
- Jason Groves, 10 articles, MailOnline
- James Chapman, 10 articles, MailOnline
- George Parker, 9 articles, Financial Times
- Hugo Duncan, 8 articles, MailOnline
- Nicholas Watt, 8 articles, The Guardian
- Heather Stewart, 7 articles, The Observer
- Sam Coates, 7 articles, The Times
Long form journalism
- 5,689 words, ‘David Cameron: The Verdict So Far’, George Parker, Financial Times, 16th March
- 4,436 words, ‘With Friends Like Him…’, Andrew Gimson, The Sunday Times, 18th March
- 3,789 words, ‘Ed Balls:’No one is going to say Gordon Brown was a great prime minister’, Ann Treneman, The Times, 17th March
Journalists who have updated their profile
Chris Mason is a political correspondent for the BBC. After studying at Christ’s College Cambridge, he trained at City University as an ITN trainee. Chris has worked for numerous BBC outlets and was part of the team that won the Sony Gold award for ‘The Birth of the Coalition’ on Radio 5 live. Follow him on twitter @ChrisMasonBBC
Emily Lawrence is a freelance journalist who has written for a number of publications. After completing her studies in International Relations at Exeter, she has worked for Al Akhbar English, Palestine News Network, Palestine-Israel Journal and the Electronic Intifada. Follow her on twitter @EmilyWarda
All information taken from journalisted profiles as updated (2012-03-20)
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