This week’s media round up

An invitation to hold talks to prevent industrial action by tanker drivers was enough to spark a frantic chain reaction.

Following the initial announcement by conciliation service Acas, government minster Francis Maude fuelled further concern about shortages advising the public to top up their cars and consider storing petrol in jerry cans at home.

Worries about a shortage became a self-fulfilling prophecy as thousands of motorists queued to bolster their personal supplies.

In Bradford both the media and the mainstream political parties were taken by surprise by George Galloway’s shock win a by-election in the west of the city.

Overturning a Labour majority of nearly 6,000 the Respect party member recorded the largest ever increase in a party’s share of the vote before proclaiming the result as a peaceful expression of a ‘Bradford Spring’.

For the week ending Sunday 1st April the following number of articles were written in the mainstream media according to Journalisted.com.

The headlines:

• There was panic at the pumps as Britons prepared themselves for a possible strike from fuel tanker drivers, 251 articles
• Peter Cruddas resigned after being secretly filmed claiming that a donation of £250,000 gave ‘premier league’ access to the Prime Minister, 170 articles
• George Galloway once again became an MP by winning the Bradford West by-election, 128 articles

The overlooked stories:

• Spain unveiled its most austere budget in a generation as a 24 hour strike occurs, 21 articles
• A report detailing the causes behind the riots last summer concluded that social deprivation was a major factor and people need more of a ‘stake in society’ to stop it happening again, 13 articles
• The legal aid, sentencing and punishment of offenders bill cleared the Lords with minor amendments and now returns to the Commons for final approval, 8 articles

Celebrity versus serious:

• Kim Kardashian says she is ready to date again and Kris Humphries has stipulated terms of her divorce, 43 articles versus the government announced they would protect greenbelt sites with revised planning reforms, 27 articles
• Rihanna visited London last week to promote her film debut, 29 articles versus UK’s GDP for Q4 was revised and found to have contracted, 29 articles
• Lady Gaga celebrated her 26th birthday, 34 articles versus a health database containing 500,000 peoples medical records go online, 4 articles

Political movers:

Ed Miliband makes his now regular appearance in third place after mustering an increase of 38 per cent on last week (316 articles).

With a coverage leap of 991 per cent Francis Maude would expect to clinch first place after helping fuel nationwide panic buying (241 articles) but missed out to an unexpected individual.

Sparing his blushes was George Galloway who makes a shock entrance to the list considering seven days ago he wasn’t a member of parliament. His victory in the Bradford West by-election was seen to have taken the media by surprise as reflected by the 2460 per cent jump in column inches for the newly elected Respect MP.