Anna Nicole Smith found to overwhelm Iraq war coverage

War? What war?

The sudden death of former Playmate Anna Nicole Smith last week drew more coverage on cable news than Iraq, according to figures released Tuesday by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

In just two days, Smith’s demise consumed 21 percent of all programming monitored by PEJ on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel for the week - including a mind-boggling 50 percent Thursday (the day she died) and Friday.

Policy debate over Iraq and the `08 presidential race came in second and third at 15 percent and 10 percent, respectively, over the week, according to PEJ’s News Coverage Index from Feb. 4 to 9.

“We were surprised by the breadth of coverage,” says Mark Jurkowitz, PEJ’s associate director. “It seemed like everybody tried to ask, `Why do we care so much about this woman?’ and nobody could provide an answer.”

Given the mysterious nature of Smith’s death; the “take a number” controversy surrounding who sired her baby daughter; and the bonanza of Benjamins in the balance, cable couldn’t have concocted a better story.

At CNN, in particular, “the entire operation just turned and pivoted on the story,” in Jurkovitz’s view.

During his 4-to-6 p.m. “Situation Room’’ Thursday, for example, Wolf Blitzer looked like a man undergoing a root canal as he went all-Anna-all-the-time. He got no relief from Lou “I’m Above This” Dobbs, either. In a live tease for his 6 p.m. show, Big Lou pointedly told viewers he wouldn’t be covering the Smith story.

Contrary to appearances, Blitzer insists “it wasn’t weird for me, because I’m a news guy. I roll with the punches. When there’s breaking news, we go with it. I’m not an elitist, by any means.

“When a story has high viewer interest, I don’t have a problem with it. If it’s North Korea, I do North Korea. If it’s Anna Nicole Smith’s death, I make sure we give viewers the news.”

Among broadcast networks and Jim Lehrer’s PBS “NewsHour,’’ Smith ranked fifth for the week, behind the war and bad weather and ahead of the presidential campaign and the Scooter Libby trial.

And across all media news platforms combined, the 39-year-old sex symbol’s death was third - behind Iraq policy debate and war coverage and ahead of the `08 race and the astronaut scandal.

With new revelations seeping to the surface almost daily, the Smith story isn’t losing any traction, either, Jurkovitz says.

“My sense is that it’s not going away. It has spawned enough angles that I have to imagine there are a number of additional elements that will create more (ratings) spikes in the news.”

Translation: Sexy celebrity deaths sell.

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As expected, just-retired football star Tiki Barber Tuesday was named a correspondent for NBC News’ “Today’’ and a studio analyst for NBC’s NFL pregame show. He starts at “Today’’ in April.

“There’s no shortage in ways we can use him,” says “Today’’ boss Jim Bell. In addition to reporting all kinds of stories, the ex-Giants running back may even do some hosting in the 9 a.m. hour - or 10 a.m., when “Today’’ expands to four hours in the fall, Bell says.

Barber, 31, signed a four-year, estimated $12 million deal, according to NBC sources. He reportedly turned down big-bucks offers from Disney, CBS and Fox News Channel, where he was a correspondent on the morning show, “Fox & Friends.’‘

Barber and his twin brother, Ronde, host a weekly football show on Sirius NFL Radio, “The Barber Shop.’’ He has written several children’s books and starred in an Off-Broadway play in `05.

Barber is patterning his post-playing career after “Today’’ coanchor Matt Lauer, says Bell.

Hmmm. Like Lauer’s former cohost, Katie Couric, Barber graduated from the University of Virginia. Coincidence? You decide.

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ABC, Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films and Mitch Albom will reteam for “Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom’s For One More Day,’’ a TV movie based on his best-seller “For One More Day.’‘

The two-hour “Day,’’ scheduled to air in December, is about an alcoholic, suicidal former baseball player who finds the road to redemption after magically being given one more day with his departed mother. (Feel free to weep openly.)

Albom and Winfrey’s previous collaboration, 1999’s “Tuesdays With Morrie,’’ with Jack Lemon and Hank Azaria, won four Emmys.