Last modified: Sunday, January 21, 2007 12:14 AM EST Our Page 1 part of big U.S. study No matter which medium you turned to two weeks ago - newspapers, the Web, network TV, cable TV or radio - the dominant news story was the debate over what to do next in Iraq. How do I know this? Be-cause the Project for Excellence in Journalism told me. Beginning in the first week of this year, the PEJ began researching about three dozen media sources to see what stories they report and how much time or space they allot to it on their front pages and opening news segments. Among the papers being studied in this national project are The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, The Boston Globe, the Albuquerque (N.M.) Journal, the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, The Chattanooga Times Free Press, and - The Sun Chronicle. It's an honor to be in such distinguished company, surely, although I must add two comments. First, they were looking for geographical diversity in the newspapers, and there was one absolute requirement: The newspapers needed to be available electronically the day of publication. Of course, the entire Sun Chronicle is available, about 1 a.m. every day, through newsstand.com. You can subscribe to our digital edition on our Web site. Of the newspapers in our category for the study - under 100,000 circulation - there are only 22 newspapers with complete, same-day digital editions. Our circulation is a tad under 100,000, I have to admit, but guess how many readers visited our Web site (not our digital edition) in 2006: a record 3,036,995. Yes, that's 3 million. The second thing I want to mention is they never notified us we were part of their research. USA Today reported it in a story in their Jan. 2 edition. Knowing doesn't change anything. Researchers coming to our front page any day of the week will find it predominately filled with local stories, because that's what a community newspaper does. To make the front page, a state, national or world story has to be pretty important or awful interesting. Comparing the media In the first week of the survey, Dec. 31 to Jan. 5, the top three stories in all the media were the new Congress, the Gerald Ford funeral and the Iraq policy debate, in that order. Newspapers devoted the most front-page space to Congress, Iraq and the Saddam execution. On network TV it was Congress, Ford and Iraq; on cable TV it was Ford, Congress and Iraq; and on radio it was Congress, Ford and Iraq. The second week of the study, Jan. 7-12, the top story in all the media was our Iraq policy, followed distantly by Congress, Somalia, events in Iraq and the homefront, in that order. Newspapers added immigration and health stories to that mix, while online added Ethiopia, cable TV added the Beckham story and radio added the strange odor in New York City and stem cells. If you're interested, the weekly research reports are posted on Tuesdays at journalism.org. See you next week. ORESTE P. D'ARCONTE is publisher of The Sun Chronicle. Reach him at 508.236.0394 or at darconte@thesunchronicle.com. Thanks for the cuddlers Last week I mentioned about four bears being dropped off anonymously for Bears on Board. That drew this e-mail response: "Hi. I am the person who dropped of the four bears last week, in three CVS bags. I didn't put my name to the gift because it isn't about getting recognition, it is about giving back. At least it is to me. "A few years ago the fire department, EMTs to be exact, saved my husband's life. I didn't need a teddy bear to comfort me, but the men who came to help did by doing their job and doing it well. I had just had surgery and couldn't drive my husband to the hospital. If they hadn't come to help, I wouldn't be celebrating 29 years of marriage in a month. "My husband and I love children, and we have two grown daughters. We would like to think that through the fire and police departments we are helping to bring some comfort to children. That's all. No public thanks necessary. "Keep doing the good work of collecting the bears for our children! "Thank YOU for doing that job." Bears on Board is a program of the Attleboro Area Council for Children. New bears are given to police officers, firefighters and ambulance crews to give to children in crises. Our teddy bear total to date is 4,902. See you next week. ORESTE P. D'ARCONTE is publisher of The Sun Chronicle. Reach him at 508.236.0394 or at darconte@thesunchronicle.com. Thanks for the papers Thanks to Doria Allard for a copy of the Union-Leader from Manchester, N.H.