The top media stories of 2007

The final Harry Potter book ignited a media frenzy

It is The Listening Post’s last show for 2007, and in this edition, we give you a countdown of the news stories that got the most column inches and the most airtime this year.

 

With the help of a Canadian company called Influence Communication, we have culled the year’s 15 top stories from newspaper, radio and television sources in 120 countries and in 26 languages.

Richard Gizbert takes us through the sometimes surprising list, starting with number 15 – a celebrity adoption that did not even take place this year, but still had news anchors talking.

The US elections are already grabbing headlines

The stories at numbers 13, 12 and 11 are a testimony to the power of PR in the media. They prove that a touch of scandal or sensation coupled with smart PR moves go a long way in getting media space. The stories are all different – a troubled celebrity, a missing child and a new toy for the technologically inspired – but what unites them is the power of PR.

The politicians start muscling their way onto our list from numbers 10 through to eight. For one of them, it was the end of both his career and life. For the other, this year has seen the start of his time in the international arena – and the amount of print and TV exposure he got reflects the significance of his election win.

Which stories have enjoyed the most column inches and airtime this year?

Moving higher up in our list, we find that the spot of number seven has been taken by a story that had nothing to do with politics, war or natural disaster.

 

Places six and five take us back towards issues of social conflict and politics and the countdown from four to two is in hard news territory with politics and conflict taking centre-stage.

The top story of the year does not come as a surprise – it has been in the headlines since 2003 and has posed some of the biggest challenges to the news media ever since the story broke. The Iraq war is number one on our list and Richard Gizbert talks us through how the story has been covered during 2007.

We sign off our show in our trademark style with an internet video. This week’s video though is no ordinary one – it was the biggest web video of the year and featured as the internet video of the week in one of our past episodes. Check it out here – it is quite a thriller.

Watch part one of this episode of The Listening Post on YouTube

Watch part two of this episode of The Listening Post on YouTube

This episode of The Listening Post aired from Friday, December 28, 2007