Local Broadcasters Fail to Provide Information about Local Elections and Candidates

With less than two weeks until the August 2nd primary vote, the local TV stations have yet to give viewers any substantive information about any of the local candidates. GRIID currently is conducting a study of local TV news coverage of the thirty days preceding the August 2nd primary. Thus far in our monitoring, we have noted a total of five election stories, three of which where about the millage vote in Kalamazoo and two about Grand Rapids city commission races. Of these two stories about the Grand Rapids City commission races, both were on WZZM 13. The first piece was only eighteen seconds and mentioned only that there were several city commission elections but did not mention any of the candidates.

The second WZZM 13 piece was a minute long segment focusing on Mayor Heartwell’s endorsement of 2nd ward city commission candidate Rosalynn Bliss. None of Mayor Heartwell’s reasons for endorsing Bliss are given, nor was he or candidate Rosalynn Bliss interviewed. Nor did the news segment tell the viewer any information about the city commission candidate’s history, backers, issue positions and platform. In the story, the newsreader does list the names of the other candidates for the second ward, but not the candidates for the first and third wards. Rather, the newsreader notes that since these races involve an incumbent, they may not be “hotly contested.” This piece ends with the newsreader noting that if viewers want to learn more about the candidates, to visit the links provided on http://www.wzzm.org. In the online version of this story, a link is provided that goes to a Kent County page that lists the candidates name. This page provides no other information about the candidates, nor is any information provided on WZZM’s website. GRIID has not seen any mention of the city commission races on news casts from WOOD TV8 or WXMI FOX 17.

Over the last seven years GRIID has monitored the local TV media and this lack of coverage of local races is by no means unique to this particular election. All three local TV stations have a long and consistent history of failing to give viewers the information necessary to make informed decisions on election day. These TV stations are allowed to generate profits using the public airwaves free of charge in exchange for promises to serve “the public interest.” That they ignore or barely cover local elections, while reporting a steady stream of crime and disaster, celebrity gossip and commercials disguised as news, illustrates that their commitment to serving the public interest has been overridden by their desire for ratings and profit.

For people who feel that the local media have, by not covering local elections, have failed to fulfill their obligation to serve the public interest, we would suggest contacting the news directors at the three local TV Stations as well as the editorial staff at the Grand Rapids Press and demand that they provide better coverage of these crucial news topics. Also, people can participate in GRIID’s campaign to challenge the FFC license renewals of the local TV stations. Information about this campaign, including data on election coverage, proposed election coverage standards, and form letters that people can fill out and send to the FCC, are available at http://www.griid.org/fcc_license_renewal.shtml.

Contact:

WOOD TV 8
News Director: Patti McGettigan
Phone #: 771-9366
E-mail: patti.mcgettigan@woodtv.com

WXMI FOX 1
News Director: Tim Dye
Phone #: (616) 364-1717
E-mail: tdye@wxmi.com

WZZM 13
News Director: Tim Geraghty
Phone #: (616) 785-1313
E-mail: tgeraght@wzzm.gannett.com