Posted February 5, 2008 by Meredith McGehee

What Viewers Can Do

The following appeared on yesterday  on the Free Press Action Network as part of a week-long forum on media coverage of the 2008 elections.

Here are a few ideas for what citizens can do to start changing the way television covers campaigns.  Please note that none of these are quick and nothing will really change without stronger action from the FCC and Congress.  But it is important to remember that broadcasters are LOCAL licensees and the recent report on Localism issued by the FCC recognizes that many broadcast licensees are indeed falling short of their obligations to serve their local communities, especially in the area of local political and civic discourse.  The best answer?  Organize, organize, organize.

Below are some steps to take  (With acknolwedgement to my former organization, the Alliance for Better Campaigns which merged with the Campaign Legal Center in 2005)

1. Build Support -  Build a coalition of prominent groups and individuals from your state who share your concerns.  Ask local stations to "TAKE THE CHALLENGE:  30 days before the primary election (if it hasn't already passed) and 60 days before the general election, commit to airing 2 hours a week of candidate-centered discourse, with 1 hour a week during adult viewing hours (excluding regular news broadcasts) with 30 minutes of that 1 hour controlled by congressional and gubernatorial candidates."  

2. Reach out to Broadcasters - Send a letter to the general managers of the stations in your state asking them to commit to the CHALLENGE described above. Conduct follow up calls and meetings with some general managers and news directors to get their reaction to your letter.

3. Go Public - Issue a press release announcing that you have called on your local broadcasters to open up the airwaves to candidate issue forums and to make the commitment described above; Submit an op-ed to your local papers calling on broadcasters to provide a variety of formats for political coverage, again especially on nonpresidential races.

4. Follow up with Broadcasters - After you’ve generated some coverage of the issue and editorial pressure on the stations, go back to them again and ask them to publicly commit to the CHALLENGE.

5. Education and Action -  If your stations refuse to open up the airwaves for candidate issue forums, get the public involved by asking them to send letters, e-mails and faxes and make phone calls to the stations.  If some of your stations agree to follow through on the CHALLENGE, you should publicly congratulate them and encourage people to watch the segments.

6. For groups with activists, monitor and report - Recruit volunteers to record news and public affairs programming aired by local stations. Review the coverage and add up the total time the station devoted to candidate-centered discourse.  Collect data on the sale of political advertising by the local stations.  Release your findings to the press and the public.               

Each of the first 5 steps is important to overall success.  The 6th and final step requires more time and effort but can generate information that can be invaluable.  But, if you don’t have the time and resources to do all 5 steps, feel free to just send a letter to your stations and issue a press release or call some general managers.  There’s no magic formula.  Taking the time to do any of these things will help us improve political discourse and give people the information they need to participate in democracy.