Media Monitors Index

The month of January saw the top five (in order from lowest to highest) sit as follows:Queensland floods; cricket; Pike River; Canterbury earthquake and the Rugby World Cup. The Canterbury earthquake mentions during that month were 2,008 in total. In February, following the earthquake in Christchurch on February 22nd, the volume of media coverage surrounding the disaster was so wholly dedicated to the event, that it dwarfs the next nearest issue by almost 10,000 mentions. To put this into further context: despite it occurring in the last week of the month, it received more coverage than the rest of the top five stories combined.

With half of the top ten relating to sport, some of this coverage was linked back to the earthquake – Crusaders’ home games being moved, and the debate over whether Christchurch would be able to hold the Rugby World Cup. The riots and subsequent political upheaval in Egypt sits at third place, mostly due to broadcast and then online coverage of the topic. Although the fallout spread to other countries in north Africa, the mentions of Libya in NZ media during February came to 1,460 in total, putting it at 12th place and not in the top ten.

Ex-Maori Party MP, and now independent MP, Hone Harawira gave the media plenty of fuel earlier on in February, following a break down in his relationship with Maori Party members which eventually led to his resignation from the party. There was also speculation over a new left-wing political party former formed by Alliance president Matt McCarten, Hone Harawira and former Green Party MP Sue Bradford.

Queensland prepared for Cyclone Yasi at the beginning of February, with the first week covering the preparations for the cyclone, as well as the news as it began to hit on the evening of the 2nd of February. Cyclone Atu, which primarily affected Vanuatu, was also in the news although it was not expected to reach NZ; and Cyclone Carlos which was headed for Darwin, also featured in NZ media.

The beginning of the cricket world cup, and the end of the of the A-League season for the Phoenix, make up the seventh and eight spot of the top ten. Coverage of Phoenix owner Terry Serepisos also contributed to the coverage of football, as his financial turmoil continued to hit the headlines, and an announcement that he was selling 50% of the football club to Racing Santander owner Ahsan Ali Syed was featured a great deal in broadcast media on the morning of the 22nd, prior to the earthquake. The annual Sevens tournament in Wellington comes in at ninth place, as the city hosted its part of the international competition.

Unemployment mentions in February almost doubled compared to January (total mentions for January were 828), this was in part due to figures released by Statistics New Zealand at the start of the month, showing unemployment jumped to 6.8% at the end of 2009, as well as speculation the impact the Christchurch earthquake would have on unemployment figures nationwide.

If you have any queries, or would like further info, please contact us - @MM_NZ on Twitter or email MM_NZ@mediamonitors.co.nz - and we’ll be happy to help.