In the week immediately following the Rudd Government’s first Budget, the Opposition Leader managed to snaffle 25% more broadcast coverage than the Prime Minister and almost double the Treasurer, in what would usually be regarded as a remarkable feat of stealing the news cycle. However we’re not so sure Dr Nelson is totally thrilled.

Meanwhile Kevin Rudd maintained his dominance of internet news to remain first overall while Wayne Swan was number one in press as the papers devoted small forests to the predominantly already known Budget measures.

Bob Brown bounces into the Top 20 channeling grey fury while Troy Buswell gets a bounce of a different kind as the inevitable flurry of chair sniffing jokes breeze through the media.  

TW

Move

Position

Politician

Press

Radio

TV

Internet

Total

1

0

PM

Kevin Rudd

1,235

5,478

4,644

9,792

21,149

2

1

Opp Leader

Brendan Nelson

648

8,219

4,684

4,072

17,623

3

-1

Cabinet

Wayne Swan

1,509

4,069

3,278

6,985

15,841

4

2

Shadow

Malcolm Turnbull

412

4,945

2,241

3,001

10,599

5

-1

Premier

Morris Iemma

230

1,719

211

3,788

5,948

6

3

Backbench

Peter Costello

357

671

510

1610

3,148

7

-2

Cabinet

Stephen Smith

86

759

83

1,977

2,905

8

0

Premier

Anna Bligh

224

689

343

1,274

2,530

9

-2

Cabinet

Nicola Roxon

219

887

325

990

2,421

10

6

Backbench

Alexander Downer

70

959

534

647

2,210

11

4

Cabinet

Lindsay Tanner

125

979

299

623

2,026

12

-2

Premier

John Brumby

124

595

251

1,009

1,979

13

31

Party leader

Bob Brown

76

853

129

848

1,906

14

18

Outer

Chris Bowen

34

607

451

560

1,652

15

-4

Cabinet

Julia Gillard

203

209

459

709

1,580

16

7

WA Opp Lead

Troy Buswell

106

530

54

884

1,574

17

12

Cabinet

Chris Evans

74

711

20

461

1,266

18

22

Shadow

Nick Minchin

25

952

101

115

1,193

19

-2

Shadow

Julie Bishop

38

354

235

543

1,170

20

6

Cabinet

Anthony Albanese

108

309

324

310

1,051

The NSW Premier may have slipped to a distant fifth in the Top 20, but he still has so many fans out there that he’s kept the Treasurer and his opposite number out of the talkback top three in their big week.

Rank

Politician

Talkback

1

Kevin Rudd

597

2

Brendan Nelson

252

3

Morris Iemma

236

4

Wayne Swan

168

5

Malcolm Turnbull

96

And our celebrity control sample of the week: Farnsy’s former manager, who has now officially changed his name to Celebrity Tax Cheat Glenn Wheatley so that he still gets his mail, got a heap of coverage for reasons that remain elusive to anyone under 40.

Glenn Wheatley

73

1,618

2,242

276

4,209

There’s more on the Media Monitors website.