Topline
The Pope Meets the Press: Media Coverage of the Clergy Abuse Scandal
Top stories in the news, Spring 2010
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Story
Health care legislation
Economic crisis
West Virginia coal mine accident
Iceland volcanic eruption
2010 elections
U.S./NATO mission in Afghanistan
Obama administration
Catholic priest abuse scandal
Education system/debate
Nuclear policy issues
Number of
stories
854
873
206
170
151
135
139
124
103
133
Percent of
newshole
16.0
14.5
3.4
2.7
2.4
2.3
2.3
2.1
2.0
1.9
Note: Dates covered are March 12, 2010-April 27, 2010.
Scandal coverage by media sector
Rank among
sector’s top
stories
5
5
10
19
22
N/A
Sector
Network TV
Online
Newspapers
News Radio
Cable TV
Talk Radio
Note: Dates covered are March 12, 2010-April 27, 2010.
Number of
stories
51
29
11
10
23
0
Percent of
sector’s
newshole
3.7
3.3
1.9
1.5
0.9
0.0
English-language newspapers’ coverage of clergy abuse since 2002 (number of stories)
Region
All papers
U.S.
Europe
Region
All papers
U.S.
Europe
Region
All papers
U.S.
Europe
Region
All papers
U.S.
Europe
Region
All papers
U.S.
Europe
Jan-Apr ‘02
1426
883
237
Jan-Apr ‘04
465
313
56
Jan-Apr ‘06
301
176
44
Jan-Apr ‘08
281
121
87
Jan-Apr ‘10
1559
252
765
May-Aug ‘02
1636
896
119
May-Aug ‘04
380
185
70
May-Aug ‘06
159
74
42
May-Aug ‘08
348
56
35
Sep-Dec ‘02
957
505
251
Sep-Dec ‘04
279
170
42
Sep-Dec ‘06
289
133
58
Sep-Dec ‘08
134
51
43
Jan-Apr ‘03
510
296
93
Jan-Apr ‘05
452
237
75
Jan-Apr ‘07
154
100
24
Jan-Apr ‘09
226
82
96
May-Aug ‘03
589
347
81
May-Aug ‘05
260
132
35
May-Aug ‘07
275
85
48
May-Aug ‘09
310
55
174
Sep-Dec ‘03
416
221
75
Sep-Dec ‘05
375
186
111
Sep-Dec ‘07
163
99
26
Sep-Dec ‘09
487
87
268
Note: Stories are included that contained a reference to the clergy abuse scandal. “All papers” are major world
newspapers, English-language, as defined by Nexis. U.S. and European papers were drawn from the larger universe
of major world newspapers.
Degree to which recent scandals have been tied to individuals
Scandal
Tiger Woods affairs
Roman Polanski arrest
New York governor scandals
Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme
John Edwards affair
Clergy abuse scandal
Misuse of GOP funds
Illinois Senate seat backroom
deals
“Balloon Boy” hoax
MLB steroid use
Start of media
monitoring
11/27/09
9/28/09
3/01/01
12/16/08
7/22/08
3/12/10
3/30/10
12/09/08
10/15/09
1/09/07
Newsmaker
Tiger Woods
Roman Polanski
David Patterson
Bernie Madoff
John Edwards
Pope Benedict
Michael Steele
Rod Blagojevich
Total number of
stories
329
72
28
593
174
124
32
1114
Percent of stories
tied to newsmaker
90.0
87.5
82.1
71.7
66.7
51.6
50.0
44.9
Richard Heene
Roger Clemens
143
379
33.6
21.7
Abuse scandal lead newsmakers, March 12-April 27, 2010
Lead Newsmaker
Number of stories
64
Pope Benedict
William Levada (succeeded Benedict as prefect of the Congregation for
3
the Doctrine of the Faith)
Sean Brady (head of Catholic Church in Ireland)
2
Marcial Maciel Degollado (founder of Legion of Christ, later removed
2
from ministry by Pope Benedict)
John Magee (Irish bishop, resigned in 2010 amid scandal)
2
David Clohessy (director of Survivor’s Network of those Abused by
1
Priests)
José Gómez (Coadjutor Archbishop of Los Angeles)
1
Dario Castrillon Hoyos (Colombian cardinal who once praised a French
1
bishop for not reporting a pedophile priest)
Werner Huth (psychiatrist who treated sexually abusive German priest
1
Peter Hullermann)
Stephen Kiesle (defrocked California pedophile priest)
1
Jim Moriarty (Irish bishop who resigned in late 2009 amidst fallout
1
from the handling of abuse cases)
Note: Percentages do not sum to 100 because some stories do not have a lead newsmaker.
Percent of abuse
scandal stories
51.6
2.4
1.6
1.6
1.6
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.8
0.8
Catholic media coverage of clergy abuse scandal, Spring 2010
Outlet
Total Vatican stories
National Catholic Reporter
15
Catholic News Service
58
Catholic News Agency
329
All three combined
402
Note: Dates covered are March12, 2010-April 27, 2010.
Vatican stories about
abuse scandal
10
26
98
134
Percent of Vatican
stories about scandal
66.7
44.8
29.8
33.3
Top U.S. newspaper religion blogs, coverage of clergy scandal, Spring 2010
Blog
Total stories
Washington Post
33
USA Today
49
Chicago Tribune
18
Houston Chronicle
49
Combined
149
Note: Dates covered are March12, 2010-April 27, 2010.
Total stories about
abuse scandal
12
12
2
27
27
Percent of blog posts
about clergy scandal
36.4
24.5
11.1
2.0
18.1