Newsgroups: biz.americast.samples
From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com
Organization: American Cybercasting
Subject: Clinton eagerly accepts TV time
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 92 11:09:31 EDT

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\SE A;CAMPAIGN '92
\HD Clinton eagerly accepts TV time
\SH Bush rejects local Q&A sessions
\BY J.  Jennings Moss
\CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Television stations across the country are lining up to give Bill
Clinton free air time, pre-empting the Democratic presidential nominee's
plans to buy special programs to tout his agenda.

The stations are making the same offer to President Bush, but at the
moment his campaign is not accepting these appearances in televised local
question-and-answer sessions.

While keeping its options open, the Bush campaign instead is relying on
a strategy that is geared to beaming out its own information to local TV
stations.

Taking questions from a studio audience or callers has become a
distinctive feature of the 1992 presidential race - Mr.  Clinton did it in
New Hampshire to save his candidacy, Ross Perot used it to start his
presidential quest, and Mr.  Bush experimented with it as well.

With Mr.  Perot out, Mr.  Clinton dominated the format, appearing on
all three networks' morning news programs at least once - he will be on
"CBS This Morning" again Monday - as well as responding to queries from
young adults on MTV and doing three programs on local stations.

Initially, the Clinton campaign decided to augment those appearances -
all free - with paid half-hour or hour programs.  Mr.  Clinton did one of
these "infomercial" broadcasts for 30 minutes on NBC at a cost to the
Democratic National Committee of $400,000.

George Stephanopoulos, Clinton communications director, said such paid
programs have become "unnecessary."

"There's so much free TV available, buying it would be stupid money
management," he said.

The next local program takes place Aug.  25 with the four television
stations owned by Times Mirror Co.  They are in Dallas, St.  Louis,
Birmingham, Ala., and Austin, Texas.

Mr.  Clinton will be in Dallas with a studio audience, while audiences
will be in the other three cities asking questions, said Karen Cage,
spokeswoman for the Dallas station.

Jeff Eller, Mr.  Clinton's press secretary for local media, said this
is the only program that has been scheduled, but the campaign has at least
five serious proposals as well as other invitations under consideration.

"This is not done without some risk.  The one thing that the stations
understand is that we are not afraid of the tough question," Mr.  Eller
said, adding that one concern is to avoid questioners who are
"disrespectful."

Clinton officials and station representatives said the station controls
who is in the audience.  Station officials uniformly said they look for
undecided voters who represent a range of demographics and interests.

Leslie Goodman, Bush communications director, said the president's
campaign is not ruling out any offer and is analyzing each one.  The
campaign is, however, using a different approach.

She said it combines transmission of 90-second stories to more than 600
stations, satellite feeds with speech excerpts and comments from local
newsmakers, and satellite interviews with Mr.  Bush or others.  She added
that Mr.  Bush has held question sessions with groups arranged by the White
House.

"The American people know George Bush.  They've seen him and watched
him for 3 1/2 years on local television, talking to the press, traveling
across America, actively campaigning," she said.

"We are not driven by a station's offer [for an hourlong program]
because we have plenty of other opportunities to make news and get to
voters," she said.  She stressed, however, that Mr.  Bush and his
strategists consider local media the "heartbeat" of the campaign.

Asked which approach is the most effective, television station
representatives and analysts give the nod to Mr.  Clinton.

"When you open yourself up to questions from just plain folks, there's
a bond that occurs with the television audience.  . . . As opposed to the
anchorpeople and the veteran reporters, there's an empathy with the
audience," said Gary Walker, executive editor for TV news at KOMO in
Seattle.

The ABC station's 75-minute program with Mr.  Clinton on July 25 had a
higher rating in the Seattle market than the same time period on NBC, which
was broadcasting the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

While that broadcast was successful, it also showed one political
danger of the format - an audience member asked Mr.  Clinton if he had
committed adultery.

"Obviously the Clinton people are sold on this [programming]. The Bush
people are not as convinced," Mr.  Walker said, adding that negotiations
with the Republican campaign are ongoing.

Donald S.  Kellermann, director of the Times Mirror Center for the
People and the Press, said he could not understand why the Bush campaign
was turning down free local television time.

"How can a campaign go wrong with an opportunity to give its message in
Dallas and St.  Louis and Austin, etc.?"  he asked.  "National elections
are not fought on national television, they're fought in local markets."


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