• October 10, 2000

Television coverage of the presidential campaign by the major networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) in September was the worst ever, the Brookings Institution's Presidential Campaign Monitoring Project reports. The project, directed by Brookings Senior Fellow Stephen Hess and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, has been monitoring all network news stories since Labor Day. "There is no sense beating around the bush," said Hess. "Statistically, this is the worst September in the collective history of the networks." Citing analysis of data collected by both the Center for Media and Public Affairs and the project staff, Hess reported that only 247 minutes of TV network airtime was dedicated to presidential campaign coverage in September, a 47% drop from 1992 and a 6% decrease from four years ago. The number of campaign-based stories fell to 141 in September, down from 246 in 1992 and 166 in 1996. The sharp drop in campaign coverage was not caused by competing news, as may have been the case four years ago, Hess said. "In September 1996, our TV screens were filled with images of Hurricane Fran, as well as the US cruise missile attack on Iraq. But last month, the networks' lead stories included the marketing of R-rated movies to children, drug tests at the Olympics, a taco shell recall, and the firing of Bobby Knight. When ABC, CBS and NBC chose to go light on campaign news, it was not because they were pressed for time." The project's research also shows that the majority of network coverage was devoted to reporting the latest polls and political strategy rather than substance. In September, fully 62% of the 141 stories broadcast by the networks favored such horse-race analysis. "Reporters I've spoken to have said their bosses contend that Americans are not interested in this election, and that they don't give consumers what they are not interested in," Hess said. "If that is correct, it is the same lotus-eating logic that cut this summer's convention coverage to the bone and stuttered over airing the first debate. There are some stories that we, as citizens, deserve."

- Anya Khait