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Journalisted Yearly: Elections, World Cups, and WikiLeaks

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Journalisted is an independent, not-for-profit website built to make it easier for you, the public, to find out more about journalists and what they write about. It is run by the Media Standards Trust, a registered charity set up to foster high standards in news on behalf of the public, and funded by donations from charitable foundations.

Each week Journalisted produces a summary of the most covered news stories, most active journalists and those topics falling off the news agenda, using its database of UK journalists and news sources. From now on we’ll be cross-posting them on Journalism.co.uk.

for the week ending Sunday 19 December

  • Nothing dominates the press like a football World Cup, even when England perform poorly
  • The General Election, the X-Factor, and the BP Gulf oil spill were three of the other biggest stories of the year
  • Twitter and Facebook became household brands
  • Though India, Japan and Brazil failed to generate much press interest

Newsletter stats based on 892,330 articles published in the national press and on the BBC this year

Students can now create their own profiles on Journalisted.com

The Media Standards Trust’s unofficial database of PCC complaints is now available for browsing at www.complaints.pccwatch.co.uk

For the latest instalment of Tobias Grubbe, journalisted’s 18th century jobbing journalist, go to journalisted.com/tobias-grubbe

Covered lots

  • The football World Cup, which was spread across most front pages and back pages throughout June 2010, 22,413 articles
  • The General Election, that led to the formation of the Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition government in May, 18,087 articles
  • Spending cuts, of which many were introduced by the incoming Coalition government, 11,152 articles
  • The X Factor, both a television and a news phenomenon, 9,740 articles
  • The BP Gulf oil spill, which remained headline news for almost 3 months, 4,471 articles
  • WikiLeaks, who released three loads of leaked information – Afghan war logs, Iraq war logs and US diplomatic cables, 2,859 articles
  • The volcanic ash cloud that hung over Europe and grounded all flights, 2,372
  • The 33 Chilean Miners whose incarceration and rescue captivated the world media, 944 articles

Covered little

  • Gun crime referred to in 296 articles, despite a General Election, shootings in Cumbria, and a nationwide hunt for the armed Raoul Moat
  • Parliamentary debate mentioned in only 222 articles
  • Child detention that continues into 2011 despite Lib Dem promises to end it, 101 articles
  • NHS waiting lists that were hardly mentioned, despite it being an election year, 27 articles
  • Saving Gateway, a £100 million pound scheme to encourage those on low incomes to save that was cut by the Coalition government, 24 articles
  • US-Saudi $60BN arms deal – the Obama adminstration does largest US arms deal in history, going to Saudi Arabia, 20 articles
  • The ongoing conflict in and around Kashmir, contributing to regional nuclear tensions, 119 articles

Most covered politicians

Under-exposed world leaders

(receiving >5% of coverage of Obama, who was mentioned in 19,704 articles)

Most written about sports stars

Countries of war, civil conflict, military occupation

  • War in Afghanistan, 8,572 articles
  • Iraq, with ongoing civil unrest after occupation, 8,393 articles
  • Haiti, with civil unrest after an earthquake, 4,216 articles
  • Sudan, with ongoing nomadic conflict, 3,433 articles
  • Burma, under a military-led government, 3,165 articles
  • Somalia, with inter-clan unrest and insurgency, 3,101 articles
  • Israel-Palestine, with ongoing dispute over territories, 2,755 articles
  • Sri Lanka, with ongoing human rights allegations after civil war, 2,647 articles
  • Yemen, battling insurgency, 2,120 articles
  • Democratic Republic of Congo, 1,049 articles
  • Mexico, with an ongoing drugs war, 1,011 articles
  • Kashmir, with insurgency against Indian administration and military, 850 articles

Celebrity vs serious

  • Simon Cowell, presenter of the X-Factor 4,146 articles vs Al Qaeda, 4,173 articles
  • Lady Gaga, singer and fashion icon, 3,739 articles vs. floods in Pakistan, in which almost 2,000 people died and over 20 million were affected, 1,285 articles
  • Cheryl Cole, singer and presenter of the X-Factor, 3,597 articles vs. Raoul Moat, on the run from police and shot after a nationwide hunt, 1,029 articles
  • Katie Price, 1,585 articles vs. Child Trust Funds, scrapped despite take-up by over 5 million people since 2002, 381 articles
  • Ann Widdecombe, ex-politician and Strictly Come Dancing contestant, 1,038 articles vs. Derrick Bird, taxi driver who went on a killing spree in Cumbria, 685 articles

Most over-used phrases

(with thanks to John Rentoul)

Most written about internet services

Who wrote a lot about…’David Cameron’

Nicholas Watt – 360 articles (The Guardian), Patrick Wintour – 294 articles (The Guardian), Michael White – 202 articles (The Guardian), George Parker – 201 articles (Financial Times), Andrew Grice – 189 articles (Independent), Macer Hall – 179 articles (Daily Express), Michael Settle – 178 articles (The Herald), Andrew Porter – 170 articles (The Telegraph), Hélène Mulholland – 156 articles (The Guardian), James Chapman – 152 articles (Mail Online)

Long form journalism

Most prolific journalists

(by number of articles)