Ballot Issues on Local TV News

Re “Ballot Issues? Local TV Can’t Find the Time,” editorial, Oct. 8:

Personally, I am much more interested in learning more about local, state and national political issues than I am about criminal activity, celebrity personalities and their latest gossip.

We live in the most information-rich society but are the least informed on issues that truly matter, primarily because the television and journalism communities do not in general make an effort to educate people on a regular basis on the issues that have the potential to affect our collective lives. Perhaps the media’s greatest fear is that an army of informed citizens will no longer buy into the hype, commercialism and fear that so permeate most media today.

ROXANA C. ROSS

Huntington Beach

The staff here at KCET’s “Life & Times” feels like the hard-working student at the back of the class who does her homework diligently night after night, only to be subjected to a lecture from the teacher about how remiss the class has been. By the end of this election season, “Life & Times” will have broadcast five hours of programming on the propositions alone. (Ten hours if you include our repeat schedule.) The one-hour program that aired Sept. 29 examined all 15 initiatives in a kind of “voter’s guide,” summarizing the propositions and the pros and cons of each.

Still to come are three hours devoted to Props. 209, 210 and 218: the affirmative action initiative, the minimum wage measure and voter approval for local government taxes, respectively. Then on Oct. 28 we will conduct a debate on Prop. 209.

VAL ZAVALA, Vice President

News and Public Affairs, KCET