A new study of 74 big-city TV stations finds that Kansas City newscasts did a better job than most in letting political candidates speak on the issues during Campaign 2000. Alliance for Better Campaigns, a watchdog group in Washington, D.C., that commissioned the study, wants local TV election coverage to become more issue-oriented. Studies have found that newscasts currently focus on "horse-race" stories - campaign strategy and polling figures. The group wants every TV station to adopt a "5/30" rule: candidates talking about the issues five minutes every night for 30 nights before the November election. The 5/30 standard was recommended in 1998 by a White House panel of political experts and TV industry leaders. For its study, the alliance looked at every early and late evening newscast at 74 stations in 58 cities during the last month of the campaign. Researchers at the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California sorted through more than 12,000 hours of videotape. Two Kansas City stations were included in the study: KCTV, Channel 5, because it collected the most campaign advertising money in the market; and KSHB, Channel 41, because owner E.W. Scripps had pledged to uphold the 5/30 standard. Although only one of the 74 stations actually averaged five minutes a night on issues, the report found that those taking the 5/30 pledge had meatier campaign coverage than those that didn't. Six of the top 10 stations in the report were Scripps stations; KSHB, at 2 minutes 26 seconds per night, finished 12th. KCTV, which did not take the pledge, averaged 75 seconds per night, not including coverage of Mel Carnahan's death. Still, that was a far cry better than most. Two TV stations owned by The New York Times spent a pitiful 22 seconds per night on the issues. Stations committed to the 5/30 standard also used longer sound bites, about 18 seconds on average, compared with 11 seconds for other stations. That seven extra seconds, said Marty Kaplan of the Norman Lear Center, "is often the difference between a slogan, or a bumper sticker, and an idea." Jim Hart, the senior vice president of television for Scripps, said the company's stations will continue to uphold the 5/30 standard in election years. "One of the early charges to broadcasters was that they would serve the public interest," Hart said. "This is in the public interest, and we found it to be more meaningful than we expected and we feel better about it than we thought we would." Hearst-Argyle Television, owner of KMBC, Channel 9, also took the 5/30 pledge but was not included in the study. You can reach Aaron Barnhart through the Web site www.tvbarn.com. >>>

