Even key Nevada races lack big media coverage

Candidates for Nevada's governorship and open U.S. Senate seat are making multiple public appearances every day.

But you wouldn't know it by watching the evening news.

"It's very frustrating. The sad part about it is the more serious the issue, the less likely we are to get reporters here," said Mike Getto, press secretary for Republican candidate Kenny Guinn.

Getto made the comments moments before a news conference last week on Guinn's record as an education administrator.

As he spoke, a volunteer exclaimed, "They're here!"

A lone television cameraman trudged in and set up his tripod.

The story is the same with the Democrats.

Last week, the Democratic Party hosted a "Road to Victory Caravan," featuring six Democratic candidates for offices ranging from U.S. senator to governor. They rode a bus through Clark County, stopping at various sites to campaign.

They pulled out all the stops to attract the media: NASA astronauts visiting school kids, a rousing "get out the vote" speech from the Rev. Jesse Jackson and persistent phone calls to area newsrooms.

But few reporters showed up.

Although a New York Times reporter opted to spend the day riding with the candidates, no local reporters devoted the entire day to covering the event.

"Anytime you can get that number of candidates together, it would be a perfect forum for members of the media to ask some meaningful questions," said David Cherry, a spokesman for the Nevada Democratic Party.

Michael Bowers, a political science professor at UNLV, said the public ends up being the loser from the media inattention.

"Don't ask me why because I don't know. But there has definitely been less coverage this year than there has been in the past," Bowers said. "I think there will be a lot of people going to the polls uninformed about a lot of races and issues."

But Emily Neilson, news director for KLAS Channel 8, said television political news coverage is on the rebound in Las Vegas.

"About three years ago, all the local stations really cut back on their political coverage. Now we are devoting more time to it."

But she admits no area stations are devoting as much time to political coverage as they were a decade ago.

"The underlying reasons for that were viewer interest and financial. It's not that (politics) isn't important. But we all don't need to be covering the same things. ... I think our viewers are getting more health and medical coverage, more consumer issues, more business coverage, more live breaking coverage than they have in the past."

She said her station often avoids multiple media events such as political news conferences and concentrates instead on things like: investigative reporting, projects to inform children about the electoral process and encouraging viewers to vote.

But some believe broadcasters avoid covering politics because it does not provide compelling images.

"I don't think it is as easy a story visually," Cherry said. "It is much easier to cover something graphic like a car accident where you can send out a crew to shoot the wrecked car, the policeman and the victim. Here they might actually have to do some work to get a story. Maybe it the nature of the beast that their medium doesn't lend itself nearly as well as (newspapers) to give in-depth coverage.

"Television is much more superficial. You really have to sell the visual element. They are not as interested in the content."

But Neilson said this is not fair criticism.

"Print can provide perspective and analysis. It is not as well when you are hearing perspective and analysis as when you are reading it. You want to go back and re-read it, re-check it. You can't do that on television."

Perry Boxx, news director for Channel 13, said the media has become much more conscious of manipulation than it has in the past.

"A lot of the time empty airtime would be filled with some political event -- the same speech being given to a bunch of people standing up and holding signs."

Boxx said his station now approaches political coverage differently by doing things like conducting political polls and reporting on whether paid political ads are accurate.

But Mary Hausch, an assistant professor of journalism at UNLV, said manipulation often is used as an excuse for not having an adequate number of reporters to cover political races.

"There aren't many political reporters here in Las Vegas and those who are here are stretched pretty thin," Hausch said. "Reporters need to be out listening to stump speeches. For one thing, they can check to see if the candidates are telling the truth."

Denise Cardinal, spokeswoman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jan Laverty Jones' campaign, said she too struggles to get coverage of substantive issues.

"Jan has come out with nine position statements on issues like urban growth and education. It's just awful getting reporters to show up. You have to beg and plead. Think about it, these are policies she'll implement over the next four years and they don't think it is important. There have been a number of press conferences where only one person showed up."

Michael Faust, campaign manager for Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Rose McKinney-James, said the more confrontational a campaign is, the more media attention it attracts.

Getto agreed, saying that during the contentious Republican primary between Guinn and Aaron Russo there was more media attention than there has been during the bulk of the governor's race between Guinn and Jones.

Cardinal says she believes the media inattention is due in part to voter apathy.

"Don't ask me which came first: the chicken or the egg. But only 30 percent of all adults will vote in this election. So if the media does a story on politics they will only reach 30 percent of its viewers. But if they do a story on say, the Spaghetti Bowl, it is something that affects 90 to 100 percent of viewers."

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