Scripps Stations Expand Free Airtime Offer

As part of “Democracy 2012,” the Scripps stations in all 13 of the company’s television markets will provide a minimum of five minutes of free airtime to candidates nightly between 5 and 11:35 p.m. in the 30 days preceding primary and general elections as well. This year the stations are also adding multiplatform coverage.
By
TVNewsCheck,

The E.W. Scripps Co., which started giving free airtime to political candidates more than a decade ago, has renewed its commitment to election coverage by its stations.

As part of “Democracy 2012,” the Scripps stations in all 13 of the company’s television markets will provide a minimum of five minutes of free airtime to candidates nightly between 5 and 11:35 p.m. in the 30 days preceding the general elections. The stations also will provide free airtime as needed during the 30 days preceding primary elections. The Scripps television station group had a similar free airtime policy during the national elections in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010.

Story continues after the ad

This year Scripps is adding multiplatform coverage that it says can be “a virtual one-stop shop of voter education.”

“Because it is consistent with our vision that we ‘give light and the people will find their own way,’ I’m proud that Scripps began giving free airtime to candidates many years ago,” said Brian Lawlor, senior vice president of the Scripps television division. “And I’m glad to see many broadcasters undertaking similar efforts this year to make politicians’ stances on issues well known.

“At Scripps, political education and discourse are a centerpiece of our local news presentation.   In one of the most crucial election cycles in our lifetimes, we’re going to marinate our audience in political coverage so they’ll make fully informed choices when it comes time to vote,” he added.

Participating in Democracy 2012 are the company's 10 ABC affiliates, WXYZ Detroit; KMGH Denver; KGTV San Diego; KERO Bakersfield, Calif.; WCPO Cincinnati; WEWS Cleveland; WRTV Indianapolis; WFTS Tampa, Fla.; WMAR Baltimore; and KNXV Phoenix. Also participating are the company's three NBC affiliates, WPTV West Palm Beach, Fla.; KSHB Kansas City, Mo.; and KJRH Tulsa, Okla. 

In addition to the free airtime for candidates, Democracy 2012 includes the following enhancements: 

  • “The Scripps television stations in Tampa, the site of the Republican National Convention, and West Palm Beach, Fla., teamed up with Scripps newspapers in Naples, Fla. and the state’s Treasure Coast to provide an online portal for voters in the Sunshine State that is unmatched by any other media company. The battleground state of Florida always is a pivotal state for the presidential election, and features a competitive senatorial race in 2012 as well. Voters can click on www.fldemocracy2012.com to get everything they need to connect to the political process, including information on candidates’ positions, voter registration information and maps of political jurisdictional boundaries.

  • “Voters feel connected when they have a chance to interact with candidates, and each of the Scripps television brands is making that possible with an ‘Ask the Candidates’ element to online election coverage. These elements will be specialized Web features that invite candidates to answer questions related to local political races.  Online users can submit their own questions, compare candidates’ answers, and participate in online discussions.

  • " ‘Get out the vote’ public service announcements will receive priority clearance in each station's public service inventory during the 30-day period prior to the primary and general elections.
  • “Scripps stations will concentrate editorially on exploring key local issues during each of the 30 days leading up to the general election. Station leadership, through an interactive process with local individuals and citizen groups, will develop election coverage that is unmatched.

  • “Scripps stations will pursue special programming such as town hall meetings and debates during the 30 days leading up to the general election.

  • “Scripps is partnering with the Center for Responsive Politics to offer Web-based, searchable databases that allow voters to research campaign contributions and follow the money trail from the sources all the way to the beneficiaries.

  • “The Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C. is expanding to provide more election material specific to local markets. Scripps will have a new team in place this year to focus on political investigations, such as the tracking of campaign finances.”
Edit Article

Tags

Comments (0) -

Today's Top Stories

Classifieds

The Market

Symbol Last Change (%)
Nasdaq 2778.79 +0.00 (+0.00)
NYSE 7462.77 +35.03 (+0.47%)
S&P 500 1297.53 +2.31 (+0.18%)
Updated 05/21 9:57a ET Quotes delayed at least 20 mins.
Source: Financial Content

Ratings

Overnights, adults 18-49 for May 17, 2012
  • 1.
    3.0/9
  • 2.
    2.5/7
  • 3.
    2.4/7
  • 4.
    1.5/4
  • 5.
    1.1/3
  • 6.
    0.3/1
Source: Nielsen
Reviews
Opinions
Features
  • David Wiegand

    Fans of Sex and the City have finally gotten their wish: Their beloved sex-focused sitcom is back on the air ... sort of. The four women have become four men, of course, and the writing isn't as good. Oh, and the laugh track so annoying, it's offensive. And did I mention that the costumes would be considered fashionable if you were holding a yard sale? Men at Work on TBS is almost quaint, it's so old fashioned. If it had any meat on its bones, you'd be tempted to say it's the sadly ignoble epitome of TV's long-festering emasculated-men syndrome. But it's so much of a big, forgettable, innocuous shrug, it's not even worth any actual vitriol.

  • Mike Hale

    The USA Network's motto is "Characters Welcome." Apparently they're especially welcome if they resemble Oscar Madison and Felix Unger. Already stocked with Odd Couple knockoffs in Psych and White Collar, USA adds to its inventory Common Law, another comic crime-fighting show about mismatched partners. But this latest entry exhibits very little of that kind of spark as it tries to wring laughs from the juxtaposition of counseling and police work. It looks too flat and schematically plotted to succeed as the type of lightweight summer fun we’ve come to expect from USA.

  • Joanne Ostrow

    Johnny Carson: Fantastic entertainer, miserable human being. That's the lasting message of Johnny Carson: King of Late Night, the new PBS American Masters film, a rich history of a rare product of television who dominated the small screen for decades. Unprecedented access to personal archives plus all existing episodes of The Tonight Show (1962-92), distinguishes this film by Peter Jones. Telling interviews with family and colleagues, including second wife Joanne Carson, former Tonight Show executive producer Peter Lassally and a number of biographers sharpen the picture. The clips are carefully selected to illustrate specific personality traits, the performance highlights are given context and meaning beyond funny lines and memorable moments.

  • Hank Stuever

    AMC's The Pitch is a sharply-made if slightly off-putting reality series that follows different advertising agencies each week as they compete for new accounts. The inspiration for the show — made clear by its own ad campaign — is to harness some of the verve generated by the network's acclaimed Mad Men. The Pitch has a way of making the ad world seem like a real downer — a repugnant exercise in egotism laced with depressing bouts of creative compromise.

  • Tim Goodman

    HBO's Veep stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as former Sen. Selina Meyer, who accepts the vice presidential duty and regrets it almost immediately: She has no real power and gets muscled by the Senate, Congress and the (so-far-unseen) president, who delegates all the truly crappy jobs to her. Louis-Dreyfus has found perhaps her best post-Seinfeld role and takes to it with such fervor — the constant swearing, the barely veiled desire to become president, the unhappy give-and-take with other politicians and a delightful disdain for average citizens — that you can't help but applaud what is clearly an Emmy-worthy effort. Her work alone makes Veep a gem, but there's even more to like.

This advertisement will close automatically in  second(s). You will see this ad no more than once a day. Skip ad