Analysis:

The only thing that viewers would have learned in this story was that 60-70 people turned out to ask questions to candidates about the "issues they care about." You can see about a dozen candidates in the video footage provided but there is no information about the candidates, what their platforms are, what issues they addressed, not even their names.

The channel 8 story was only 27 seconds long and the last 10 seconds are spent with the news reader saying this, “we encourage you to stay with 24 hour news 8 on the air and online over the next several weeks to find out the issues and the candidates on the ballot in your community.” We checked the website and not only was this story not archived, but there was no information about the upcoming November 8 Election (as of this posting on October 19).

This type of election coverage is not new. It is indicative of what we have been documenting with local election coverage over the past 7 years. Local races are not reported on at all or they are reported on like this story, which essentially tells viewers nothing other than there is an election.

Story:

WOOD TV 8 News reader – In a little less than a month residents in Kalamazoo will be picking new city leaders. Seventeen people are on that ballot. Tonight they were part of a handful of public forums leading up to the November 8th election. About 60-70 residents showed up to ask candidates questions about the issues important to them in this election year. And we encourage you to stay with 24 hour news 8 on the air and online over the next several weeks to find out the issues and the candidates on the ballot in your community.

Total Time: 27 seconds