TV Political Coverage Takes a Hit

Freeway chase? News at 11.

Local politics? Not nearly as interesting to most TV stations here.

And what coverage there is took a hit this week when KNBC-TV Channel 4’s notable political reporter, Linda Douglass, disclosed that she will soon leave the station and move to Washington.

Few things give a TV newscast more credibility than a knowledgeable political reporter. Douglass, who is heading to the nation’s capital because her husband’s law practice is increasingly involved there, knew the local terrain very well.

In this election year, she was certainly KNBC’s most valuable player throughout the dramatic campaign.

During the California primaries, she--and others--noted that the victories of Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer in their bids for Democratic senatorial nominations may have been helped by reaction to the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings that aided various women candidates.

It was a year to remember for the 44-year-old Douglass.

She says, for instance, there was a phone call from Ross Perot a while back to express his displeasure over an interview she did with him. She says he also called before Election Day to express concern after some supporters at a rally, angry at the media, “surrounded our (news) van” and banged on the windows.

As for the local TV scene she is planning to leave, Douglass thinks there has been some improvement in political stories on the commercial stations because of such reporters as Josh Mankiewicz of KCAL-TV Channel 9; Linda Breakstone, Mark Coogan and John North of KABC-TV Channel 7; Dave Bryan of KTTV-TV Channel 11 (“when he does politics”) and Larry Attebery of KCOP-TV Channel 13.

Many viewers, however, would like a lot more day-in, day-out political coverage and in-depth reports than is offered by the commercial stations. None of the major stations, for instance, has a Sacramento bureau--a shameful fact.

Douglass concedes that the lack of Sacramento bureaus bothers her too. Indeed, for many, that frequent absence of significant state coverage reinforces the perception that local TV is seriously deficient in many areas of political reporting.

“I’ve always felt very strongly that all of the stations should have a Sacramento bureau,” she says.

Several programs, such as KCET-TV Channel 28’s “Life & Times” and Bill Rosendahl’s political discussions on cable, have added badly needed depth to local coverage, and they are often vastly superior to what the major traditional stations have to offer.

Among the factors influencing the mass-audience stations, Douglass believes, “is that if you ask people what they’re most interested in, politics certainly doesn’t come out at the top of the list.” But she thinks public interest in the recent elections should be noted by the stations:

“I hope so. I hope that all of those in the television business who make the decisions about what people are interested in will take a close look at how extremely interested people were in this last election. I think that there may be a residual effect from the passion that the electorate felt about this election.”

Noting the election impact of such TV forms as cable as well as electronic town meetings, she says: “We were all made aware of how much voters need to have direct contact with their elected officials. I also think that voters are satisfied when they see other voters holding the feet of their elected officials to the fire.”

In terms of TV reporting, Douglass thinks the far-flung nature of Los Angeles has made it “a very difficult city to cover as a political story.”

“Each one of the 15 city council districts is filled with wonderful, juicy political stories that are relevant to the people who live in those districts. But when you get into politics that will be of interest to everybody who watches television in Los Angeles, you’re really talking about flattening it out, diluting it, making it much more general and therefore much less sharp-edged.

“When you have a hot story like the political controversy that stemmed from the Rodney King beating, the arguments over whether or not Daryl Gates should be fired or resign or whatever--those stories that involve electric personalities will always get on. But beyond that, it’s hard to bring politics down to the level where it matters to people and still have it matter to all the people who watch in this huge market.”

That has always been the built-in problem of stations oriented to the mass market, and it’s why channels such as KCET and cable can provide a more scaled-down and even specific approach that is not concerned with attracting every viewer.

It’s probably true, as Douglass thinks, that today’s TV political reporters are attuned to trying to deal with the vast reach of Los Angeles. But it’s a tough goal to try to capture a growing, diverse city unless you’re willing to make time for it on the air. That’s the real challenge, and what it takes is commitment and ingenuity because, on paper, the cost factor is probably off-putting.

But for the station that succeeds at best capturing the new Los Angeles, it will be worth every penny over the long haul as the city provides it with the audience of the future.