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Zurich, August 15, 2012. In a time of depressing news from international politics and finance, the media take a more positive look at celebrity and the arts, according to the latest study by the Media Tenor institute. “Coverage of celebrities has its share of scandals, of course, but TV is more open to positive news in this field,” says Dr. Christian Kolmer, head of research at Media Tenor. “Like sports news, which focuses generally more on the winners, successful artists get a significant share of the limited bandwidth of TV news.”

While obituaries of deceased stars sometimes focus more on the disturbing aspects of their careers, (e.g., the case of Whitney Houston), coverage more often highlights their achievements. Thus the US illustrator Maurice Sendak, who passed in May, made it into the top 15 in British news.

The most important celebrity event of the first six months of the year was the Queen´s Diamond Jubilee, with the royals dominating the ranking not only in British news, but also on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. German programs were less enthusiastic about Prince Philip & co. – but they showed, in general, less interest in the fates of the rich and the beautiful.

The great artists of past centuries stand in good repute with TV journalists as well, as Charles Dickens in the UK and Albrecht Duerer in Germany ranked among the top 15. US news, on the other hand, is clearly more politicized even in this context: The aspiring first lady Ann Romney got by far the most coverage – well ahead of Whitney Houston.

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