The Media Monitors' Top 20

Big movers of the week come from those pea in a pod South Australians, writes Patrick Baume.

In order to give a more accurate reflection of dominance across all four media, Media Monitors have introduced an Index score out of 1,000 to determine the Top Twenty every week. This means that the four media are equally weighted in determining the final list, but as you see the raw number of item hits are still there (in italics) for you all to look at, enjoy and swap bon mots about. The Index will let you know things such as that Brendan achieved about 39% of Kevin’s coverage across all media while 20th placed Nick Xenophon (in the first of many appearances, we’re sure) got about 6% of the PM’s coverage. We can tell you’re already as excited as we are…

Big movers of the week come from those pea in a pod South Australians (sometimes their mums can’t even tell them apart) leaving the list: Alexander Downer (forever); and Natasha Stott Despoja (probably, possibly, maybe forever?) as well as the incoming SA Senator Nick Xenophon, whose phone we suspect won’t stop ringing for the next… oh… six years at least.

Warren Truss and Darren Chester up in the list thanks to the good folk of Gippsland, (was leaving when he did the best thing Peter McGauran ever did for the Nats?) and meanwhile Deputy PM Julia Gillard and Climate and Water Minister Penny Wong nowhere to be seen. Okay IR isn’t exactly the hottest topic at the moment, but water and climate change? Wherefore art thou Penny? Keeping her powder dry ‘til the green paper release no doubt (which is very easy if you’re in the Murray Darling Basin).Talkback callers finally bored with Iguanagate, although Premier Iemma maintains his usual strong showing, and many gave a Byronesque wave to Alexander Downer as he headed off to make the Greeks and Turks love each other. Easy.

TW	Move	Position	Politician	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	0	PM	Kevin Rudd	1,000	1,000	1,000	1,000	*32,785*	1,000
2	1	Premier	Brendan Nelson	352	457	447	296	*11,957*	388
3	1	Opp Leader	Morris Iemma	255	451	204	398	*12,203*	327
4	-2	Backbench	Belinda Neal	162	145	366	317	*8,771*	247
5	4	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	229	266	358	133	*6,834*	246
6	1	State Minister	Anna Bligh	141	152	146	297	*7,372*	184
7	-2	Backbench	John Della Bosca	101	73	141	308	*6,751*	156
8	25	Premier	Alexander Downer	80	219	205	94	*4,655*	149
9	6	NSW Opp Lead	Barry O’Farrell	61	157	91	163	*4,687*	118
10	52	minor party	Natasha Stott Despoja	98	98	226	27	*2,648*	112
11	6	Premier	John Brumby	140	145	94	65	*3,144*	111
12	-4	Cabinet	Peter Garrett	63	119	116	107	*3,536*	101
13	-3	Cabinet	Nicola Roxon	76	109	55	83	*2,786*	81
14	6	Shadow	Malcolm Turnbull	97	85	92	40	*2,097*	79
15	1	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	53	108	56	85	*2,757*	75
16	2	Party leader	Bob Brown	82	99	79	38	*2,078*	74
17	-4	Cabinet	Jenny Macklin	57	119	64	51	*2,323*	73
18	*	Backbench	Darren Chester	66	117	51	42	*2,127*	69
19	13	Party leader	Warren Truss	44	76	86	56	*2,115*	65
20	*	Independent	Nick Xenophon	74	120	11	44	*2,005*	62

Talkback callers finally bored with Iguanagate, although Premier Iemma maintains his usual strong showing, and many gave a Byronesque wave to Alexander Downer as he headed off to make the Greeks and Turks love each other. Easy.