Re: owners and their political views (was: Boston radio's pizza connection)

[Chuckigo@aol.com]

Auntie Donna asked:
>>do you think owners should actively advocate for 
particular candidates and make their views known to their employees; 
further, do you think by sending such memos, the owner is hoping that the 
station's news department will give the candidate favourable coverage?<<

Donna,
    my agreement in that this is a great question!
to the first, if an owner wants to express his/her
opinion on any particular candidate to their employees,
that is their right but also a chance they take: instead
of rallying the troops for her/his cause, the opposite
could occur, which leads to the potential for a non-
favorable result to your second question.
  i know that there are still stations that discourage
the use of on-air personalities on political spots, be
it the voicing of the whole commercial, or even just
tagging it... ("..paid for by...")
  does a listener take a familiar voice being an
endorsement?  perhaps, in the cases of very well-known
voices in a market.
  i do recall one WBZ announcer getting a week off
without pay for expressing his particular political 
view in regards to the 1984 presidential election.  i
can't be sure if that was as a result of the corporate
slant to the other candidate, or whether it was just 
simply something that was meant to be discouraged. 
  given the results of the latest national election, it
would almost appear that for everyone in favor of one
candidate, there was somebody right next to them in
favor of the other.  
   for an owner to have a *motive* in the issuance of
a memo indicating his/her/their favorite political 
candidate (not gonna use the word *choice* here...that's
been beat to death.<grin>), is a given.  it is up to
the news professionals to remain objective in their 
coverage.  in this situation, however, the possibility
exists that the candidate, knowing the owner's slant,
might make him/herself more readily available for a one
-on-one type of thing.  i don't know of any journalist,
print or broadcast, who would take a pass on a national
candidate if the opportunity arose, even if it was the
one favored by the boss.  the thought, i do believe,
would be that in interviewing candidate A, candidate B
might also be accessable.


-  -Chuck(for some reason craving Pizza)Igo