Campaign 2008 was much more newsworthy than any of the last five Presidential contests. Barack Obama attracted twice as much coverage as an average nominee. John McCain was hardly shortchanged, attracting more attention than any nominee since 1988-except for the man who happened to beat him.

Economic coverage-woes with mortgages, in high finance, on Wall Street, at the gas pump, in Detroit-always increases during a recession but this year's total (2767 mins) easily surpassed the last two downturns (1775 mins in 2001; 1872 in 1990).

The lame duck President became an afterthought. Astonishingly, the White House correspondents at ABC and NBC did not even earn enough assignments to rank in the year's Top 20. Coverage of foreign policy was the lowest in 21 years and domestic policy ranked 18th out of 21.

Overseas coverage was neglected too. Both ABC and CBS set 21-year record lows for use of their foreign bureaus. If NBC had not been shilling in Beijing for NBC Sports' Olympics, its decline would have been greater. And Baghdad? Well, forget about it.

The Most Newsworthy Woman of the Year: Sarah Palin, prominently interviewed by anchor Katie Couric. CBS found her as worthy of coverage as Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Year's Most Newsworthy Man: Obama of course.