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	Pope Is Focus of 2010 Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal Stories, Pew Study Finds Georgia Bulletin June 15, 2010 http://www.georgiabulletin.org/world/2010/06/14/US-1/ WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI figured in more than half of all of the stories published in print or carried by broadcast news earlier this year regarding the clergy sexual abuse scandal, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. Unlike the 2002 spate of coverage on clergy sex abuse, which had its epicenter in the Archdiocese of Boston, coverage in the six weeks during March and April examined by the study was greater in Europe than in the United States, as newspaper and broadcast stories focused principally on incidents in Ireland and the pope's native Germany. An April poll by the Pew Research Center found that just 12 percent of those polled said Pope Benedict had done a good or excellent job in addressing the scandal, down from 39 percent in 2008, when the pope visited the United States and had an unscheduled meeting in Washington with victims of clergy sexual abuse. Those who said the pope had done a poor or fair job went up from 48 percent in 2008 to 71 percent in 2010. The findings were part of a report, "The Pope Meets the Press: Media Coverage of the Clergy Abuse Scandal," published June 11 by Pew. Coverage of clergy sexual abuse placed eighth in total coverage, accounting for 2.1 percent of all news coverage during the March 12-April 27 period studied, more than nuclear weapons policy coverage and that of the Tea Party movement.
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