TV's Election Coverage Paltry

TV'S ELECTION COVERAGE PALTRY
[SOURCE: Rocky Mountain News, AUTHOR: Jason Salzman]
[Commentary] The upcoming election is barely registering a blip on Denver's 10 p.m. news shows, according to analysis of weeknight programs from Sept. 19-25. On those nights, Salzman counted 11 stories about candidates and ballot issues. That's the total for 15 35-minute shows over five days on all three network affiliates (ABC, CBS, NBC). But 67 political ads ran during those programs. (About half were about the governor's race and 22 about U.S. House races.) So, for every election story, there were about six political ads, during the 10 p.m. newscasts alone. It's tough for journalism to compete with political advertising under any circumstances, because the number of ads is so overwhelming. But if TV news shows dedicated serious time to the election, at least there would be more hope that truth, not propaganda, would prevail. Here's the sad part: More U.S. citizens get their news from local TV news shows than any other source, according to polls. These programs are our country's No. 1 news source.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRM...