American Public: Too Much Chelsea, Not Enough Real News

If you thought the media's obsession with Chelsea Clinton's July 31 wedding went a little overboard, you're not alone. A new poll has found that a majority of Americans think there was too much coverage of the wedding at the expense of real news.

The News Interest Index Survey, conducted July 29 through August 1 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, found [1] that 58 percent of respondents felt there was “too much” coverage of the Clinton wedding.

As the Culture and Media Institute reported [2], the three broadcast networks – ABC, CBS and NBC – aired 87 stories about Clinton's nuptials between July 25 and August 1. That represented a 48-percent increase over coverage of former first daughter Jenna Bush's wedding in 2008. Networks had reporters on the scene in Rhinebeck, N.Y., and brought in gossip columnists and celebrity wedding planners to dish on the event.

But at what cost? Other news happened over the weekend, after all, including continued drama in the Gulf of Mexico and fallout over the leak of classified documents related to the war in Afghanistan, as well as economy and immigration issues.

Americans noticed, according to the survey. While half believed the media delivered the “right amount” of coverage on the oil spill, pluralities felt there was “too little” coverage of the “Afghan War Diary” leak (41 percent) and the economy (42 percent).

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