Determination
55
Minnesota
News Council
Cases 55 through 59 all concern media handling of
political campaigns and elections and were held on April 12, 1985.
Appearing at this multi-case hearing were candidates, political party
officials, campaign committee officers, and media representatives.
The presentations were thoughtful and informative, and the Council
expresses its appreciation to all who participated.
In the Matter of the Complaint of Minnesota Citizens
Party against the Minnesota Media
The Minnesota Citizens Party complains about the lack
of coverage by the television and print media of the election returns
of its candidates in the November 1984 general election. The complaint
is directed against the media generally, and not against any particular
television station or newspaper. Consequently, the News Council has
elected to hear this matter as a general discussion item and not as
a grievance requiring adjudication.
Background: The Citizens Party is one of the
nine "minor," independent political parties that appeared on the election
ballot for the November 1984 general election. The Citizens party's
national candidate for the presidency, Sonia Johnson, received 1,200
votes in Minnesota and 75,000 votes nationally. The party's Fifth
District congressional candidate received 6,157 votes. None of the
metropolitan television stations reported any vote totals for independent
parties.
The Citizens Party was told that this was an "editorial
decision." Apparently, in prior elections one or two television stations
have carried returns for the Citizens Party. The 1984 election, of
course, involved a presidential race, in which one of the major party
candidates was a native son of this state. There was also a US senatorial
race of great public interest. While grievant concedes the general
public may have been more interested in the candidates for various
offices from the two major parties, it questions the complete news
boycott of the minor parties. Grievant points out that the presidential
race was decided early in the evening and yet television kept repeating
the vote totals for only the two top contenders with numbing redundancy.
The Citizens Party also complains about its treatment
in the print media. The minor parties were virtually ignored. The
day after the election, a metropolitan daily reported Sonia Johnson
as receiving 30 votes. This was only an early, partial vote, but the
impression was left that this was Johnson's final vote total. There
were other inaccuracies suggesting the minor parties were of minor
concern. The Twin Cities Reader left uncorrected an article published
prior to the election that stated that the party's candidate for the
Fifth Judicial District, Kathryn Anderson, was running against Richard
Frenzel in the Third District.
Grievant points out that although the Citizens Party
may be minor in terms of votes garnered, it needs to be remembered
that the party had met the stringent ballot-access requirements; that
the party offers a point of view on important public issues that deserves
at least some recognition; and that the election represents the hard
work, enthusiasm, and idealism of its party workers who seek to exercise
their rights and privileges as citizens in a democratic society. Grievant
claims, in fairness, it deserved something better in news coverage
than it got.
Discussion: First of all, election returns
of the minor parties can be provided by the League of Women Voters
if requested by the media, but the media have chosen not to request
or report this information. Grievant agreed, however, that there was
no boycott in the sense of any deliberate or concerted effort by the
media to deny minor parties access to the reported news. What is involved,
in the final analysis, is simply an editorial judgment on what is
newsworthy. This judgment must be made under the demanding and hectic
circumstances surrounding election night and the days immediately
following. The media must make a decision on what is important to
the public and how to best marshal limited resources to cover the
vote count, an analysis of the vote in terms of candidates, parties,
issues and electorate, and to report the reactions of candidates.
For better or worse, a minor party has relatively
little impact on the immediate election story and, consequently, its
election returns have little newsworthiness. At such time as a minor
party increases its impact on the public consciousness, it is entitled
to receive, and will receive, media attention commensurate with its
impact.
In the days following the election, the media have
more time to cover the whole story of the election. At such a time,
editorial judgment might include coverage of the part played by the
independent parties, or some of them. Much depends on the circumstances.
For the media to ignore the independents entirely would, it seems,
be to leave incomplete the reporting of the political scene in our
democracy. It is also a function of news reporting, at least for the
larger print media, to provide a record of official public events.
The vote totals of the independent parties should, for the record,
be reported accurately, completely, and with reasonable promptness
after the election.
Decision: Insofar as the complaint describes
a general proposition - a need for full and adequate reporting, particularly
of election results in the days following an election - it expresses
a valid concern and is upheld. The record-publishing function falls
mainly to the print media. With respect to election-night coverage
in the electronic media, the grievance is denied.
Concurring: Bednar, Brooks, Casey, Chucker,
Falkman, Forsythe, Graven, Myers, Pearce, Persons, Ryan, Simonett,
Sundin, Warder
Partial Dissent: Earley, Peek - I would have
favored upholding both parts of the complaint, since I voiced at the
hearing my concern that even on election night, the electronic media
should provide coverage of vote totals of all parties on the ballot.
Since the figures are available to the media and since the electronic
media repeat figures many times during election night coverage, even
minor parties deserve recognition.
Special Concurrence: Ashmore, King - I do
not interpret the majority decision to mean that television stations
should not be encouraged to report election results as completely
as possible. So-called minor candidates' totals should be eliminated
only if reporting those totals would actually jeopardize the reporting
of more pressing election results. The media should report election
results to the public and let the public decide whether a candidacy
is "minor." They should not make the decision for the public.
April 12, 1985
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Determination 56
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