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ORGANIZATION ISSUES MONEY/POLITICS NEWS INDEX |
Ohio Citizen Action applauds Cleveland's WEWS TV-5
For release: June 13, 2000 Contact: CLEVELAND -- Ohio Citizen Action today applauded WEWS-TV Channel 5 in Cleveland for bringing substantive political information to the voters during the primary season. WEWS was praised in a recent national study about political discourse on network television by the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California. The study compared stations who made a commitment to improved political programming during the primary with their closest rivals. In the study WEWS’ political segments were favorably compared with those of their closest competitor WJW Channel 8. "Sound bites have shrunk dramatically in the past 20 years," said Catherine Turcer, Ohio Citizen Action Campaign Finance Reform Director. "WEWS aired significantly longer segments so that viewers could hear directly from candidates. We urge other Ohio stations to take up the challenge of airing five minutes of candidate-centered discourse nightly for the thirty days prior to the general election." WEWS’ average sound bite length was 44.54 seconds as opposed to WJW’s average of 9.72 seconds. WEWS asked candidates to provide their positions on a variety of topics including social security, health care, and school vouchers. The candidates were then free to speak on these topics. The majority of the speakers were running for congressional office, although some presidential candidates took advantage of the WEWS programming. WEWS provided an average of three minutes and 49 seconds of candidate-centered discourse. WJW’s nightly average, however, was only 24 seconds. In the months of January, February and March WEWS at 5:00 PM was the ratings leader. Another E.W. Scripps station, WCPO in Cincinnati, also committed to the political standard of five minutes nightly prior to the primary. Both stations have committed to substantive political discourse prior to the general election. WCPO was not included in the study. Ohio Citizen Action is part of a national effort urging television stations to provide more candidate-centered discourse. This national effort is coordinated by the Alliance for Better Campaigns, which is co-chaired by Jimmy Carter, Walter Cronkite and Gerald Ford. The Alliance is calling on broadcasters to devote five minutes each evening to candidate-centered discourse during the month preceding elections. This recommendation comes from a presidential commission on the public interest obligations of television broadcasters. This commission included broadcast industry executives as well as public interest advocates. A companion study examined television advertising during the primaries. Ohio Citizen Action campaigns on issues from public health and the environment to utility and insurance rates. # # #
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