Austin—With the television industry on a record-breaking pace to take in up to $1 billion from political ads this year, the Alliance for Better Campaigns today launches GREEDYTV.ORG, a "name and shame" campaign to let citizens know exactly how much their local stations profiteer on democracy and how little air time they devote to candidates discussing issues.

The grassroots effort will call on citizens to demand that the national networks and local stations air at least five minutes a night of candidate discourse in the month preceding the Nov. 7 election, as recommended by a White House advisory panel co-chaired by CBS President Leslie Moonves.

“It’s time we took democracy off the auction block,” said Fred Richardson, director of the Texas Alliance for Better Campaigns. “Broadcasters don’t own the airwaves. The public does. And we have every right to demand that broadcasters fulfill their public service obligation to cover elections, and not just get fat on high dollar attack ads.”

Last week, on Sept. 7, 2000, a spot check by the Alliance of the national networks found they aired 13 seconds of candidate discourse. A similar sample of 15 local stations in the top 75 media markets found they aired an average of 28 seconds of candidate discourse.

This week, Walter Cronkite, former CBS anchorman and honorary co-chairman of the national Alliance for Better Campaigns, sent letters to executives at stations that have adopted the 5/30 standard applauding them for their commitment to the public interest.  But so far fewer than 50 local stations and none of the national networks – not even CBS – have indicated they will try to meet the panel's recommendation. “In Texas, no stations have signed on, despite the fact that stations in Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico and Arkansas have,” said Richardson. “At this point, Texas broadcasters are the most irresponsible in the region.”

During the height of the primary season, the national networks and the typical local station offered fewer than 40 seconds a night of candidate issue discussion. Meantime, in the first seven months of this year – the campaign pre-season – local television stations in the nation's top 75 media markets took in $211.6 million from 286,737 political ads, according to a report released today by the Alliance. In Houston, KHOU 11(CBS) profited most from political advertising, raking in $1,187,231 in just six weeks.

The number of political ads is expected to skyrocket this fall. PaineWebber predicts that TV stations will take in $1 billion from political ads in 2000, double the haul from 1996. Bear Stearns has projected that the industry will sell more political ads this year than fast food ads.

Joining the Alliance in its efforts are 20 national groups, including Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, Sierra Club, the Interfaith Alliance, US PIRG, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, and Rock the Vote. In Texas supporters include Common Cause, AARP, the Sierra Club, the League of Women Voters, Southwest Voter Registration & Education Fund, Consumers Union and the Gray Panthers.

The locus of the effort will be a toll-free phone number, 1-866-GREEDYTV, and the new web site, http://greedytv.org , which will allow citizens to e-mail and fax their local stations and track station-by-station, market-by-market revenues from political ads.

In launching the new grassroots effort, the Alliance has taken out paid print ads in The New York Times, Broadcasting & Cable, Roll Call and regional publications. TV Guide refused to run the ad because it was critical of the broadcast industry.

Just 42 stations – just 3 percent of the industry – have indicated they will try to make good on the 5-minute/30-night standard put forward in 1998 by a White House panel appointed by President Clinton. The panel was charged with determining what public interest obligations broadcasters should incur in light of the free grant of billions of dollars worth of additional spectrum to the industry in 1997 to facilitate its transition to digital technology.

Not only does the industry profiteer on big money in politics, it also fights efforts to reform campaign finance laws. A new report from the Center for Public Integrity, published in the current issue of Columbia Journalism Review, finds that the industry has spent $111.3 million lobbying Congress since 1996 - in part to block campaign finance reform bills that include free candidate air time.

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