A study of media coverage of health care found that it’s the 8th biggest topic, getting 3.6 percent of all coverage. The report — by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism – notes that “this is more than three times the amount of coverage for education or transportation, but much less than coverage about foreign affairs, crime, or natural disasters.”

Below is the list of topics and percent of coverage.

What strikes me are the high numbers for news about other countries — and the low numbers for science, courts, sports and religion coverage.

The Pew report “covers an 18-month time period, from January 2007 though June 2008. The study includes small, medium and large market newspapers” — front pages only — “and  network TV morning and evening news programs, cable television news, news and talk radio, and online news.”

Here’s a link to the full report.

• Campaigns/Elections/Politics, 21.3

• U.S. Foreign Affairs, 13.6

• Foreign, 11.0

• Crime, 6.6

• Government Agencies/Legislatures, 5.3

• Economy/Economics, 5.0

• Disasters/Accidents, 4.2

• Health, 3.6

• Business, 3.1

• Lifestyle, 3.0

• Miscellaneous, 2.5

• Domestic Affairs (other), 2.3

• Media, 2.3

• Defense/Military (domestic), 2.3

• Immigration, 2.2

• Sports, 1.7

• Environment, 1.7

• Domestic Terrorism, 1.6

• Celebrity/Entertainment, 1.5

• Science/Technology, 1.2

• Race/Gender/Gay Issues, 1.1

• Transportation, 1.0

• Education, 0.9

• Religion, 0.8

• Court/Legal System, 0.4

• Development/Sprawl, 0 .1