Show Me the Convention

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com>
Date: September 5, 2004 11:07:56 PM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipient:;
Subject: Show Me the Convention

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

Show Me the Convention

By MICHAEL J. COPPS
August 30, 2004

Washington - As a Democratic commissioner on the Federal
Communications Commission, I may not agree with many positions taken
by speakers this week at the Republican National Convention. Even so,
I believe our broadcast media owe us more coverage of an event that
remains an important component of the presidential campaign. Yet
tonight, if people around the country tune in to the commercial
broadcast TV networks, most will not see any live convention
coverage. That's not right.

Let's remember that American citizens own the public airwaves, not TV
executives. We give broadcasters the right to use these airwaves for
free in exchange for their agreement to broadcast in the public
interest. They earn huge profits using this public resource. During
this campaign season broadcasters will receive nearly $1.5 billion
from political advertising.

What do we get in return for granting TV stations free use of our
airwaves? Unfortunately, when it comes to coverage of issues
important to our nation, the answer is less and less. Coverage of the
2000 presidential election on the network evening news dropped by a
third compared to reporting on the 1996 election. During the last
election cycle we heard directly from presidential candidates for an
average of 9 seconds a night on the news. Local races? Forget it. In
2002 - the most recent midterm elections - more than half of local
newscasts contained no campaign coverage at all. Local coverage has
diminished to the point that campaign ads outnumber campaign stories
by four to one. What coverage there is focuses inordinately on polls
and handicapping the horse race.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/30/opinion/30copps.html


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