The Media Monitors' Top 20

Just to prove that perception is reality, the PM had more press and internet coverage this week and the Opposition Leader was number one in the broadcast media, writes Patrick Baume.

Just to prove that perception is reality, the constant media refrain this week that “now we have a game on our hands” was reflected in the amount of coverage the two party leaders received, with the PM leading in press and internet and the Opposition Leader number one in the broadcast media.

It will be interesting to see if Turnbull can stay close to Rudd in volume of coverage, as Rudd himself did as Opposition Leader which Nelson only managed on his way out the door.

Plenty of movement on the list this week, with Anthony Albanese receiving lots of coverage on infrastructure and as class warrior number one, while Stephen Smith beavers away to make sure our Kevin can protect the world on the Security Council. Oh and “where’s the beef” Murphy sneaks into the Top 20 for the first (and last?) time.

On the Opposition side, new super shadow ministry man Robb got a big lift to his usually subterranean profile, Barnaby Joyce deeply enjoyed unrequiting Malcolm’s love and the new Shadow Treasurer learns the joy of number retention.

TW	Move	Position	Politician	Press Index	Radio Index	TV Index	Internet Index	Raw total	INDEX
1	2	PM	Kevin Rudd	1,000	886	851	1,000	*25,805*	934
2	2	Opp Leader	Malcolm Turnbull	898	1,000	1,000	776	*25,193*	918
3	-2	Backbench	Brendan Nelson	470	149	149	672	*10,468*	360
4	2	Cabinet	Wayne Swan	293	293	320	399	*9,575*	326
5	0	Premier	Nathan Rees	224	251	160	619	*10,660*	313
6	10	Shadow	Julie Bishop	203	301	265	224	*7,262*	248
7	-5	Backbench	Peter Costello	248	81	112	450	*6,814*	223
8	5	Backbench	Morris Iemma	123	91	38	495	*6,861*	187
9	0	Cabinet	Julia Gillard	158	130	103	193	*4,243*	146
10	18	Cabinet	Anthony Albanese	61	35	77	203	*3,145*	94
11	18	Cabinet	Stephen Smith	61	112	44	146	*3,086*	91
12	0	Shadow	Tony Abbott	90	57	26	180	*2,859*	88
13	-3	WA Opp Ld	Colin Barnett	22	97	27	180	*3,182*	81
14	13	Backbench	Barnaby Joyce	54	106	79	84	*2,509*	81
15	4	Minor Party	Steve Fielding	57	85	44	134	*2,680*	80
16	23	Shadow	Andrew Robb	82	69	25	131	*2,405*	77
17	4	Party leader	Bob Brown	38	56	52	156	*2,655*	75
18	-1	Independent	Nick Xenophon	54	50	37	147	*2,429*	72
19	-4	Premier	Anna Bligh	121	17	12	100	*1,499*	62
20	*	Parl Sec	John Murphy	45	57	121	16	*1,474*	59

Neck and neck on talkback as well as the relative riches, both financial and intellectual, of our political leaders was discussed at length.

Rank	Politician	Talkback
1	Kevin Rudd	660
2	Malcolm Turnbull	653
3	Brendan Nelson	113
4	Wayne Swan	106
5	Nathan Rees	85

Oh and they give a little achievement award to one of the players too, do they? That’s nice … keep them from getting too bored.

Press

Radio

TV

Internet

Total

INDEX

Rebecca Twigley

40

29

53

34

1,198

44

There’s more on the Media Monitors website.