Election Coverage 2006 Campaign
One way for citizens to become more active participants in the election process is for news organizations to provide information that allows voters to make an informed decision. The Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy (GRIID) has been monitoring the election coverage in West Michigan since 1998. We have concluded over the past 6 years that if citizens were relying on any of the local TV stations to make an informed vote they could not.
Some examples over the years on the lack of election coverage are:
- During the 2000 Elections there was no coverage of the following races: State Board of Education, State Supreme Court, State Board of Appeals, University Regents, regional judicial races, Kent County Commission, Kent County Clerk, and most of the State House of Representative races (see: An Informed Vote? 2000 Election Coverage).
- In 2001 there were more stories on the 3 local TV stations about Ostriches running lose in Kent County (12) than election stories (8) (see: An Informed Vote? 2001 Election Coverage).
- In 2002, all 3 stations ran more stories on the DC sniper (107) than all local election races combined -- 0 stories on Kent County Commission races (see: An Informed Vote? 2002 Election Coverage).
In addition to the lack of coverage viewers are often given mostly horse race coverage -- coverage of candidates on the campaign trail, with little or no information on platforms or voting records. We have also documented that viewers are exposed to far more crime stories and paid political ads during the newscasts than election stories.
