3 Stations Lift Bans on Political Ads in Newscasts : Television: Channels 2, 4 and 5 join others in bowing to economic factors. Some fear that ads may be misconstrued as news.

Despite previous concerns over the dangers of broadcasting paid political advertising within their newscasts, KCBS Channel 2, KNBC Channel 4 and KTLA Channel 5 have recently lifted their longtime policy prohibiting such ads in order to keep up economically with other local television stations.

The other four major Los Angeles stations have all been accepting political ads during their newscasts for some time now, ignoring concerns that such ads might be misconstrued by some viewers as news. Both KABC Channel 7 and KCOP Channel 13 have sold political time during news for more than two years. KTTV Channel 11 has accepted those ads during news since last February. A spokeswoman at KCAL Channel 9 could only say that her station has been doing so for some time.

KCBS began accepting such ads in August “on a trial basis,” a station spokeswoman said, “in order to make more time available to the candidates.”

Bill Emerson, KNBC’s manager of broadcast standards, said that the station decided just two weeks ago to sell time to candidates during newscasts because the time available outside of news was severely limited and therefore the cost for spots was higher. “This way we are able to give more access to political candidates at cheaper rates,” he said.

But the primary reason for the change in policy is economics. Many political candidates prefer to buy time in newscasts because such programs are perceived as credible and objective, and because news viewers are thought to be likely voters. So a station that turns down such advertising is simply directing revenue toward its rivals.

“You have to remain competitive,” Emerson said.

KTLA spokesman Ed Harrison said that, until a week ago, the station had refused paid political ads during news because it did not want to be perceived as biased toward one side or the other. After KCBS and KNBC flip-flopped on this issue, however, KTLA went along with the crowd.

When asked if the station changed the policy because it would lose ad revenue if it adhered to its previous position, Harrison said, “Let’s just say that you have to remain competitive.”

“It’s clearly an economic issue,” said Dan Gingold, assistant professor of journalism at USC and a onetime executive producer of news at Channel 2. “Business being what it is, with stations seeing their profits shrinking, they have to get revenue wherever they can. When these candidates come in with cash in hand, stations are willing to push the envelope and compromise a little.”

Gingold contended that it is “dangerous” to mix the “unilateral assault” of paid political ads with an objective, balanced newscast. He said, for example, that if a station presents a political package on the governor’s race, complete with excerpts from interviews conducted with both Pete Wilson and Dianne Feinstein, for example, and then an ad for Wilson pops up after the report that denounces Feinstein, Wilson would appear to get in the last word.

Emerson said that station policy dictates that all political commercials during KNBC’s newscasts be sandwiched between other types of commercials so that the paid political spot does not bump directly against the newscast.

KTTV tries to avoid this problem by accepting such ads only during the feature-heavy last half-hour of its hourlong newscast.

Rick Feldman, KCOP’s station manager, said that he believes viewers can tell the difference between news and advertising.

“I have always thought that news is a natural environment for such ads,” he said. “I think it helps the political process. It’s productive for people who are interested in the campaign to see the unbiased news reports on the race and then compare how the candidates are presenting themselves in their commercials.”

Feldman said that his station reviews each commercial on an individual basis for inaccuracies or misrepresentations.