Economic News Overshadowed by Deadly Afghanistan Helicopter Crash

The tragic crash last week of a military helicopter in Afghanistan that killed 30 Americans—including members of the elite force that killed Osama bin Laden--was the most followed news story, according to the latest weekly News Interest Index survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Economic news, ranging from the unprecedented downgrade of the country’s credit rating to the subsequent up and down volatility in the stock market, garnered significantly more coverage than the helicopter crash. News about the economy comprised 32 percent of coverage compared while reports about Afghanistan accounted for seven percent.

Last week the Pew News Interest Index found that 67 percent said they are hearing “mostly bad” news about the economy, up 18 points in the last month alone and more than 40 points since the start of 2011. This week, nearly six-in-ten Americans say that news about the economy makes them feel angry, a nine percent increase from November 2008 as the economic crisis worsened. Forty percent say the news makes them confused, while more than three-in-ten say the news scare and depresses them.

Across party lines, Independents and Republicans express the most anger over economic news (62 percent and 61 percent, respectively). Perceptions among Democrats are virtually unchanged since 2008, when 55 percent the economic news angered them.

The federal budget deficit is far and away the biggest concern to those asked to name the economic problem about which they have been hearing the most. About a third said they have heard most about the deficit, the national debt or government spending. Fewer than half that number said they are hearing most about the job situation (14 percent) or the stock market (13 percent).

When asked to name the economic problem about which they have been hearing most

The stock market volatility and the credit rating controversy were major stories last week, it was the standoff in Washington over the national deficit and debt ceiling that dominated media coverage for much of the past month, Pew found. In the week leading up to the Aug. 2 deadline, the debate accounted for almost half of news coverage.