NBC gives 3 hours to convention coverage
By Mark Jurkowitz, Globe Staff | July 9, 2004
Yesterday's announcement by NBC that it would devote three hours of prime-time coverage to both the Democratic and Republican conventions was greeted unenthusiastically by convention officials from both parties.
In becoming the first major commercial broadcast network to reveal its plans, NBC said it would air an hour of coverage -- from 10 to 11 p.m. -- on three of the four nights at each event. In Boston, that includes July 26 when former president Bill Clinton speaks, July 28 when vice presidential candidate John Edwards takes the podium, and July 29 when John Kerry accepts the Democratic presidential nomination. NBC will forego coverage on July 27, the night that Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy is slated to speak.
The network will broadcast from the Republican convention in New York on Aug. 31 when California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks, on Sept. 1 when Vice President Dick Cheney addresses the assemblage, and on Sept. 2 when President Bush makes his acceptance speech.
An NBC spokeswoman said the three hours of planned coverage anchored by Tom Brokaw matches its 2000 total and could be expanded if ''events warrant." But convention organizers were not cheered by the news.
''We're surprised that any network would take a pass on any of the nights of the convention," said Leonardo Alcivar, press secretary for the Republican National Convention. On the night NBC will not broadcast, he added, ''many of the country's inspirational leaders will be featured alongside a stirring tribute to President Reagan."
Peggy Wilhide, communications director for the Democratic National Convention Committee, said NBC's commitment was ''the minimum I expected." She added, however, that ''we live in an environment where people get their news in many different ways from many different sources."
Spokeswomen for ABC and CBS yesterday said those networks were not ready to reveal convention plans. But PBS, the public broadcasting network, has announced that it will air three hours of prime time coverage -- from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. -- on all four nights of each convention.
Given frequent complaints about the lack of real drama at the largely preprogrammed events, broadcast news has gradually been getting out of the convention business. According to DNC statistics, the total amount of ABC, CBS, and NBC coverage at each convention fell from about 20 hours in 1992 to only 11 hours in 2000, while ratings dropped by about one-third in that period. Nielsen numbers indicate that the average viewership of the 2000 Democratic National Convention on both broadcast and cable outlets was 20.6 million each night, while the Republican event attracted 19.2 million viewers each night.
Marvin Kalb, director of the Washington office of Harvard's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy, said the diminishing broadcast network attention ''is an unsurprising though sad acceptance of reality."
Viewers who want more coverage can surf over to the cable news outlets. The prime-time lineup on NBC's cable cousin, MSNBC, will feature ''Hardball with Chris Matthews" from 6 to 8 p.m. from Faneuil Hall. ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann" will air next, followed by another three hours of ''Hardball," and then a ''Convention After Hours" show with Joe Scarborough and Ronald Reagan Jr.
CNN's nightly lineup will include ''Lou Dobbs Tonight" from 6 to 7 p.m., followed by ''Anderson Cooper 360," ''America Votes 2004," ''NewsNight with Aaron Brown," and ''Larry King Live" originating from Boston.
The Fox News Channel's programming -- ''Special Report with Brit Hume," ''Fox Report with Shepard Smith," The O'Reilly Factor," ''Hannity & Colmes," and ''On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" -- will be live from various locations in the city.
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