Election '08? Somebody Tell CBS, NBC, and ABC!
It’s a Presidential election year, which almost always means good financial news for the television industry. This year is no exception, as the political parties and leading candidates pour hundreds of millions of dollars into high-stakes TV ad campaigns. Meanwhile, where is network TV news in this mix?
If you’re talking about the traditional Big Three networks — ABC, NBC, and CBS, the answer increasingly is MIA. For example, none of the networks scheduled coverage of last night’s Pennsylvania Primary, nor did they show up for what was arguably the most important date in this election season to date, Tuesday, March 4, when t
he Ohio and Texas primaries were held.
The reason the news staffs stayed home on Tuesday nights has nothing to do with the news cycle and everything to do with money. It’s an “American Idol” night, to start with, so Fox almost always wins the ratings game. Meanwhile, the decision-makers inside the huge corporations that own the NBC, ABC, and CBS put up shows like “Big Brother,“ “Just for Laughs,“ “The Biggest Loser,” and “Dancing with the Stars.”
Meanwhile, on March 4, John McCain was actually wrapping up the GOP nomination. But, in order to know that, you had to have cable, probably going to CNN, and Wolf Blitzer, and his annoying chest-pounding (”The best political team on television.”) He’s right, of course, if only because most of the competition has left the field.
In fact, the only networks that scheduled live coverage last night were the cables: CNN, MSNBC and FNC. CNN’s flashy setup includes a high-tech wall map of the U.S. that’s nearly as long as basketball star Yao Min is tall. Correspondent John King goes over to this magical map, and uses a touch-screen interface to zero in on or out from cities, counties, and regions of interest.
It’s a pretty cool map. So where did CNN get it? Turns out David Bohrman, the head of CNN’s political team, found it at a military intelligence trade show last year.
Hello? What’s the head of the best damn political team on television doing at a military intelligence trade show?
No comment. At least he’s trying to make this election interesting. Not so the Big Three network execs. But the last time I checked, the airwaves still belonged to the public, and the networks were given bandwith in return for supposedly serving the public interest. I don’t think that means growing fat off of political advertisements while sitting out the primary season.
Maybe the next administration’s FCC should look into this matter.
In addition to serving as a BNET Media analyst/blogger, David Weir is a veteran journalist and the author of several books. Weir is a co-founder and vice-president of the Center for Investigative Reporting, as well as an editorial board member of The Nation.
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