NEWS
UW study raises concern over TV news
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by Courtney Johnson:
- Construction pops up on State Street this spring (November 6, 2007)
- Woods ahead in fundraising race (March 28, 2007)
- E-mail sparks privacy concern (October 9, 2007)
- Big Ten Network reaches deal with UW housing (August 31, 2007)
- City agency to run Halloween entertainment (May 10, 2007)
Related Stories:
- News broadcasts fail to deliver, study says (October 13, 2006)
- Gubernatorial candidates lead national stats on ad spending (September 23, 2002)
- UW advertising project receives national attention for study (December 4, 2003)
- UW advertising project receives national attention for study (December 4, 2003)
- Study: Internet aids civic action (December 7, 2005)
by Courtney Johnson
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Local Midwestern news broadcasts aired four minutes, 26 seconds of paid political advertising during the typical 30-minute broadcast, according to a University of Wisconsin study released last week. Those same newscasts aired just one minute, 43 seconds of election news coverage.
The study, conducted by the University of Wisconsin NewsLab and overseen by UW political science professor Kenneth Goldstein, studied newscasts in Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Minnesota.
The study focused on newscasts aired in the month leading up to the 2006 mid-term elections. During this period, newscasts in each state's capital and largest city aired 2,392 election stories and 8,995 political ads.
"It's gotten so bad that we've reached the point where TV stations are acting [like] anything that gets aired about election campaigns is something they had to get paid to air," said Mike McCabe, executive director for the political watchdog group of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.
McCabe also said since broadcasters operate on public airwaves, they have not only a civic responsibility but also a legal obligation to serve the public interest.
Some experts are especially worried about these findings, as studies have consistently shown voters use local television newscasts as their primary political information source.
"It makes a tremendous amount of sense to devote maybe less time to this lifestyle journalism or fluff journalism … and devote a little more of that time to local candidates and their positions and help people make better decisions," said Dhavan Shah, a UW journalism and political science professor.
The study also found the typical 30-minute newscast devotes more time to teasers, bumpers and intros for stories than to election coverage, non-campaign government news or foreign policy. Midwestern newscasts also averaged about nine political ads per broadcast.
"Unless you believe that political ads have high educational value, I think the case can be made that viewers are really being shortchanged," said Larry Hansen, spokesperson for the Joyce Foundation, which funded the study and also partially funds the WDC.
McCabe also expressed concern regarding the high number of political advertisements on TV.
"I fail to see how it can possibly be described as serving the public interest, leaving viewers with nothing but paid political messages to go on," he said.
Madison fared slightly better than other cities studied, averaging two minutes, 14 seconds of election coverage per 30-minute newscast, and averaging about five political ads.
This study is second in a series analyzing the coverage of politics and government in local Midwestern newscasts. The first study, released in October, found 30-minute Midwestern newscasts devoted 36 seconds to election coverage.
Newscasts were reviewed in Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Lansing, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Cleveland and Columbus.
More NewsLab findings analyzing political coverage in local Midwestern newscasts will be released through summer 2007.
Anonymous (November 28, 2006 @ 2:11pm):
Whatever you do, don't let the FCC get their hands on that study. They'll destroy it for their corporate masters.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14836500/
