Study: TV stations aired more election ads than coverage

Newslab tracked 28 TV stations in Midwest markets for the month leading up to the election. Not surprisingly, they found the average 30-minute newscast contained 4:30 minutes of election ads and 1:43 of election-related news coverage. “[They] failed in their responsibility to provide an adequate amount of substantive election coverage” that might have balanced out the ads, said Joyce Foundation VP Larry Hansen. Meanwhile, the NAB called the study “shoddy” because it ignored other political coverage, such as debates, outside the confines of a 30-minute newscast.