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. The Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (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 www.wzzm13.com. 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.

For More Information, view the GRIID Media Alert.