TV Stations Try New Political Coverage

Television stations across the country are experimenting with new ways to cover politics with help from Best Practices 2000’s workshops and online resource guide. The yearlong BP2K project has been directed by Wisconsin Public Television in partnership with the Pew Center and RTNDF.

At four national workshops, participants in the 11 pilot projects and other broadcasters have brainstormed and showcased innovative campaign coverage and reporting techniques. “One of the things we’ve learned is that if you give good people time and opportunities, good things can happen,” said Dave Iverson, BP2K’s executive director. “People really want to do good work and by adding encouragement and opportunity, the possibilities increase.”

Here are some project updates:

Kansas City

KCPT-TV (PBS) and KCTV-TV (CBS) are using a “Speaker’s Corner,” a portable video production unit, to put “a more human face” on campaign coverage, says Nick Haines, KCPT’s executive producer for public affairs.

KCTV has leased four of the camera units from a Toronto supplier and stationed them in such places as coffee shops and public health clinics, where citizens are invited to step into the booth and respond to a question on the screen. The TV partners are using a BP2K grant to defray the cost of moving the video boxes to various locations.

People at the health clinic, for instance, were asked: What can Congress do to improve health care? What single act could Congress pass that would improve your life? What else is on your mind this election year?

KCTV political reporter Dave Helling also uses the video box to obtain citizen questions he then poses to the candidates. One questioner, for instance, wanted to know what congressional candidates were going to do about the fact that he can’t afford to buy prescription drugs and must choose between food or medicine. Helling videotaped the congressional candidates’ responses and aired them in a series of stories. He says the video box comments have helped him frame issues in terms of “genuine human stories.”

Seattle

KING-TV (NBC) and KCTS-TV (PBS) have used a BP2K grant to hire a researcher to help produce ad watch reports for the presidential and congressional races. Mike Cate, KING’s special projects producer, says the candidates are running so many commercials that, even with the researcher, the partners have been able to analyze only a small portion of the ads. “In the early part of the campaign,” he says, “ads focused on building the image of the candidate.” Now, he says, the commercials contain claims and, sometimes, accusations that require more fact checking. Cate says the ad watches appear to be popular with viewers and generate lots of e-mail.

Tampa

WFLA-TV (NBC) and WUSF-TV (PBS) are working with faculty at the University of South Florida to analyze whether broadcast political ads are being targeted at specific groups of voters, such as seniors or Latinos. The researchers, paid by a BP2K grant, are also studying how people react to the commercials to try to identify “the ones that work and the ones that don’t work” to deliver the candidate’s message. The stations will include the results in their ad-watch stories.

Susan MacManus, professor of public administration and political science, is especially interested in the mechanics of how people see and hear the spots. For example, what color on a television screen is easiest for older people to see and are candidates using that color in ads targeted at seniors? Do people with a hearing loss have an easier time understanding certain words or voices and, if so, are similar words and voices being used in political commercials older people are most likely to watch?

Miami

University of Miami faculty members are using a BP2K grant to survey the attitudes of ethnic voters for WTVJ-TV (NBC) and The Miami Herald. Researchers will ask 1,500 ethnic voters what media sources they rely on to get information about the candidates and issues. Broadcast journalism professor Sam Roberts says the survey will also ask ethnic voters to name the issues they consider important and if they think politicians and the news media are addressing those concerns. The news organizations will use the polling results in issues stories.

Dallas