Most Americans say they get their news from television, but if they relied on local TV news for information about last fall’s elections, they didn’t get much–at least not of the unpaid variety.
On a given night, local stations devoted an average of 45 seconds to candidate discourse–defined as federal, state and local candidates actually talking about the issues–according to a survey of 74 stations in 58 media markets released this week.
The study, from the USC Annenberg School for Communication’s Norman Lear Center, surveyed the 30 days leading into the November election, covering newscasts that ran between 5 p.m. and 11:35 p.m.
The results show a wide variance of attention to politics–not just the presidential race, but all campaigns.
KNXV-TV in Phoenix devoted the most time to political discourse, an average of 5 minutes and 44 seconds every night. It was followed by WPTV-TV of Palm Beach, Fla. (4 minutes, 3 seconds) and WCPO-TV in Cincinnati (3 minutes, 38 seconds).
At the bottom were KWTV-TV Oklahoma City, at 2 seconds; WSOC-TV, Charlotte, 6 seconds; and WFMY-TV, Greensboro, N.C., at 7 seconds.
Two Chicago stations were included in the survey, and their results figured in the low range: WBBM-Ch. 2 devoted 32 seconds to candidate discourse, and WLS-Ch. 7 weighed in with 26 seconds.
Abandonment of local television coverage of politics is not a new development. Politics and local news have been estranged for years, measured both by the amount of newscast time spent on politics and the demise of local political interview programs. As TV news consultants have told stations viewers aren’t interested in politics, TV and movie celebrities have discovered regular parking slots reserved for them every night in local newscasts all across the country. Jennifer Lopez and Puff Daddy? Sure. A regular plug for “Survivor II”? You betcha.
A federal commission recommended in 1998 that stations assign 5 minutes a day to candidate discourse during the final month of the fall campaign, part of what the panel defined as the obligations of broadcasters in exchange for receiving digital TV spectrum for free. The Phoenix station was the only one in the study to meet or exceed the recommendation, but the 23 that committed themselves to the standard aired three times as much political coverage as those that did not.
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As political coverage slipped, political ad spending on television continued to soar last year, underscoring the fact that TV–and not TV news–is the primary source of televised political information. The Campaign Media Analysis Group recently estimated that $771 million was spent last year on political advertising, up a whopping 82 percent from the 1996 elections, when the spending total was $424 million. Look for those numbers to keep going up.
Coming of age: In a move that recognizes the market growth of the Hispanic population, the corporate parent of the nation’s largest Spanish-language broadcaster is now part of the S&P 500 index. Univision Communications Inc. owns 32 television stations reaching more than 90 percent of U.S. Hispanic households. The S&P index provides a daily snapshot of the stock market, as measured through the performance of the 500 large-cap companies on the list. Univision replaced Union Carbide Corp., which was absorbed by Dow Chemical Co.
Squirrels hoarding nuts: Fox television said Wednesday it will be “in extremely good shape” to weather a strike by writers and actors later this year. Peter Chernin, president of News Corp., the corporate parent of the Fox network, said the network has been very aggressive in stockpiling programming in anticipation of a strike, which could come as early as May, when the writers’ contract expires. The cupboard includes new episodes of existing programs, more reality shows and a low-cost soap opera, Chernin said.