Jackson's death one of 21st century's top stories

NEW YORK: The death of pop legend Michael Jackson has become one of the top stories of the 21st century for mainstream and Internet media, according to a language analysis group.

"The death of Michael Jackson has resulted in a global media event of the first order," said Paul J J Payack, president and chief word analyst of Global Language Monitor (GLM).

"The fact that he has broken into the top media of the 21st century is a testament to the global impact of the man and his music," he said.

According to GLM, in the 72 hours after his death, Jackson jumped to the No 9 spot for the global print and electronic media.

For Internet, blogs and social media, Jackson jumped to No 2, only trailing the election of Barack Obama as president of the US.

The analysis tracked news stories within the first 72 hours after the events which in descending order of Internet citations also include, the Iraq War, the Beijing Olympics, the financial tsunami, hurricane Katrina, the death of Pope John Paul II and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Citations for the election of Obama are five times greater than that of Jackson's death which, in turn, is cited more than double than those for the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003, the GLM said.