Journal Fires Back At Political Coverage Study

JOURNAL FIRES BACK AT POLITICAL COVERAGE STUDY
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: John Eggerton]
The Journal Broadcast Group, whose stations were included in a University of Wisconsin study critical of the amount of political news coverage on Midwest TV stations, fired back Friday. Doug Kiel, Vice Chairman and CEO of Journal Broadcast Group and President, Journal Communications, called the study "disappointingly narrow" and failing to provide a "complete or accurate" picture of the commitment to election coverage of Journal stations WTMJ Milwaukee and WGBA-TV Appleton/Green Bay, Wisconsin, two of the nine markets surveyed by the University of Wisconsin's NewsLab with funding from media reformer The Joyce Foundation. "By limiting the scope, the authors of the study have made a choice to exclude potential election coverage included in more than thirty hours of news programming each week in Wisconsin's two largest television markets," said Kiel. "Our broadcast group has made a significant commitment of five minutes per day for the thirty days leading up to the November 7th general election," he said. "We have broadcast debates, public service announcements urging people to vote, and significant news and public affairs programming.”
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6381164.html?display=Breaking...

* Déjà View From the Real World
[SOURCE: Broadcasting&Cable, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] We hope this does not turn into an annual event, but once again, broadcasters' campaign coverage is being criticized in a study that leaves a bad impression while leaving out reams of data that could paint a very different picture. Not included in the University of Wisconsin study were morning news shows; a Ball State University study of Midwest viewers in 2004 found that more people were getting their news in the morning than in the evening.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6381194.html?display=Opinion

* What Community Service?
"Roughly half of the local TV news hole not devoted to weather, traffic and sports is devoted to crime and accidents. 30% of morning news shows are devoted to weather and traffic."
http://www.benton.org/benton_files/whatservice.doc