Media Politics : Candidates Get More Air Time, Are Covered Less Critically : Local TV News: A Stealth Weapon

After a rough night, the Democratic politician looked into the camera and, without flinching, got out the words: “I think the momentum really is with the Dukakis-Bentsen ticket at this time.”

And last Thursday and Friday, KCRA-TV in Sacramento aired that claim by Democratic Rep. Robert T. Matsui again and again, even as national commentators--and even some prominent Democrats--were saying Michael S. Dukakis had not helped his candidacy with his debate performance in Los Angeles.

That is why local television news has become the stealth weapon of this year’s race for President. In a world where reality is a matter of perception and perception largely a matter of television, local news is a little-mentioned but potent phenomenon.

While Dukakis and Republican nominee George Bush chronically avoid interviews with national correspondents, they frequently offer to go on local news programs live.

The reason for this infatuation with local news is twofold: Local television coverage is usually less critical, especially in smaller cities.

And the fact is, local news reaches more people many more times a day than the networks.

In Los Angeles, more than twice as many people watch the seven late local newscasts (anywhere from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m.) as watch the three network news shows at the dinner hour. And that does not include the programs at 4, 5 and 6 p.m. each night, an audience of several million each day.

In the era of the sound bite and the photographic backdrop, local television may be the last best reason candidates still leave Washington to campaign.

“If local news weren’t so important we wouldn’t travel all over America to do this,” said Jim Lake, Bush’s senior communications adviser.

Seen More Hospitable

Both Bush and Dukakis campaigned in California over the weekend, and a study of local television news around the state revealed it to be a more pliant and accepting world for their messages than the rude national network environs of Sam Donaldson and Dan Rather.

“The biggest difference you see between the locals and the nets is the locals’ inability often to insert a balancing element in an individual story,” said KNBC-TV political editor Linda Douglass. “It’s a matter of resources and time. We will do it if we have the luxury.”

A visit by a presidential candidate to any city usually dominates the local news, and the news value doesn’t need to be much.

In Fresno Saturday, Kitty Dukakis got TV air time just by kissing Gander the Goose, mascot of the Fresno State Fair. She also got to deliver the Dukakis message: Don’t believe the polls; the race is still to be won.

“We can get four hits in L.A. on some stations when Dukakis is here--the 4 o’clock news, the 5, 6 and 11,” said Dee Dee Myers, Dukakis’ California Press Secretary.

Another ingredient making local news so appealing to campaigns is the local fascination with the technology of “live” TV.

In Sacramento Friday, KCRA-TV went live at noon to the airport when Dukakis’ plane arrived, switched back to the studio when the candidate delayed leaving the plane, switched back to the Tarmac when he finally got off and then covered him live at the State Capitol as he spoke to a huge rally. The anticipation built up as if Prince Charles and Princess Diana had arrived to tour the Delta.

No Comparison

Over the course of that hour program, 15 minutes were devoted to Dukakis--seven times what either candidate typically would get on network news.

What’s more, Dukakis’ campaign should not have been happier with the tone. There was little mention of his debate performance and much about the upbeat tenor of the rally. Part of the time, indeed, the camera just rolled live as Lloyd Bentsen spoke, in effect a free broadcast of Bentsen’s campaign speech.

This combination of more time and a less critical handling makes local television irresistible.

“You get a much more unfiltered version” of the campaign message “than if you get 30 seconds for a sound bite on network news,” said Lake of the Bush campaign.

“You can also tailor the message to what is particularly salient to that market,” Lake said, such as “in California the environment.”

In the San Joaquin Valley Saturday, Bush had the perfect backdrop for his TV message of the day. “I am committed to an America that has your values,” said Bush as he stood in front of Merced’s white-columned courthouse.

“It was pure Americana,” ideally suited to the Central Valley, said Fresno political consultant John Hix.

Certain local markets are especially important, either because they service a key voter audience, such as the Central Valley, or simply because their reach is so great.

Reach ‘Half of Vote’

The Dukakis campaign estimates, for instance, that Los Angeles TV stations reach “about half the total vote in California, from Santa Maria to San Diego,” press secretary Myers said.

Local TV has become particularly important this year as cheaper satellite technology has made it possible for candidates to sit in a room in Washington and appear via satellite in live interviews with anchors all over the country.

During the primaries, all the candidates made wide use of the technology. Now, during the homestretch of the general election, the candidates are more restricted, fearful of stepping on their carefully controlled message of the day.

But local news anchors have a better shot now at getting an interview with the candidate than the more prestigious national press. At least one of the local TV stations got an exclusive interview with Dukakis last week, for instance, while the networks did not.

And the Bush campaign makes sure that each day, a senior Republican official does an hour of interviews with local TV news stations via satellite, adding up to dozens of interviews each week.

A proliferation of local stations in recent years, plus the advent of cable TV, also has combined to erode network news ratings, making local TV more important. And lighter cheaper technology has enabled some local stations to travel on the campaign buses this year.

The ABC affiliate in Atlanta, WSB-TV, for instance, sent reporter Bill Nigut to cover the campaign full-time starting in 1987.

WCC0-TV, the CBS affiliate in Minneapolis, and WFAA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Dallas, also are covering the campaign “very seriously,” according to University of Texas political scientist Kathleen Hall Jamieson.

This experience has led to some local stations becoming less pliant to campaign messages, as the general growing importance of local news has attracted more experienced people back to local markets.

Douglass of KNBC in Los Angeles, for instance, is a network veteran who now covers politics locally full-time. “But if you’re a general assignment reporter thrown onto one of these things when the candidate arrives,” Douglass said, “it’s much more difficult.”

Benefit to Candidate

And that makes it easier for the candidate. Consider last weekend. Both presidential candidates benefited from a habit by reporters at such stations as KXTV in Sacramento, and KMPH in Fresno, of interviewing people at the rallies to get their opinions on the race.

Since campaign events are often controlled environments with only invited guests, more seasoned political reporters know that interviews with people at these events provide no meaningful gauge of voter reaction to a candidate. But it served the candidates’ purposes well in this state.

“People are sick of eight years of Reagan,” said one unnamed woman at a Dukakis rally on Sacramento television.

“We’re going to win this one! We’re going all the way!” said another man at the rally.

On a day after perhaps his worst campaign disappointment in Thursday’s debate, this was everything for which Dukakis could have hoped.