R.I. television stations rank high in election coverage

PROVIDENCE — Two Rhode Island television station ranked well above the national
average in time devoted to election coverage during last fall’s presidential election
campaign, the National Alliance for Better Campaigns reported through its state
coordinator Philip West, director of Common Cause here. WJAR/NBC 10 was ranked
ninth in the study with a daily average of 2 minutes and 32 seconds of “candidate
-centered discourse, ” compared with the national average of 45 seconds a night
Meanwhile WPRI/CBS-12 ranked 18th in the nation. While WLNE/ABC6 was
not included in the national poll, it was praised by West for its commitment to
coverage of the campaign, measured in what he called a “snapshot” study by the
Taubman Center in Brown University at more than 2 minutes per night of coverage
although its evening news format was shorter than the other stations.