Civic Catalyst Newsletter
Winter 1999

Lessons Learned: Sailing Uncharted Free-Time Waters

By Andy Moore
Senior Producer
Wisconsin Public Television

Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold was running a little behind the day he stopped into our station to record some free time. He rushed in, armed with a computer disk containing six, one-minute commentaries we had invited him to write.

It was part of an experiment last fall in which Wisconsin Public Television offered major candidates the opportunity to tape one-minute commentaries on six designated issues that we then aired on "Weekend," a lively newsmagazine popular across the state.

The idea was simple and powerful in a state where the cost of campaign financing was to be a centerpiece of the 1998 election. Simple, powerful - and more complicated than we envisioned. The candidates were enthusiastic about the experiment but, like us, they vastly underestimated the effort it would take.

While we picked the topics, there were no other ground rules. Theoretically, the candidates could say anything they wanted. However they wanted. And we were ready, within reason, to allow them to do as many takes as needed to be satisfied.

Without exception, each of the six candidates took us up on the offer, but left the studio in a huff of frustration at the time it took to tape the six messages.

It soon became clear that an experiment meant to level the playing field and be an antidote to the predictable onslaught of paid political spots had us sailing in uncharted waters. Like this awkward moment during Feingold's recording session:

"Was that all right, Andy?" asked Feingold, finishing a commentary.

"It was horrible," I thought to myself. "It was choppy. It was poorly written. It was a lousy delivery." But I kept all those thoughts to myself.

It was not my job to coach the candidate. But it was awkward, nonetheless, because we had never dealt with a candidate as a client.

Soon, we hosted the Democratic candidate for state attorney general attacking his Republican opponent on our time. Were we aiding charges that were, at best, open to interpretation? How liable did we become in the delivery of the messages we produced? All were new questions for us.

We learned a number of lessons that will serve us in the next campaign.

Each of the candidates came to our studios to tape all six commentaries at once. Next time we'll warn them that the production of six one-minute, unedited commentaries can be expected to take an hour, more or less, depending on how well they have prepared.

We found ourselves pacifying one harried, behind-schedule candidate in a reception area because his opponent was still taping. Almost to a person, the candidates were reading the copy for the first time as they sat down to record. (One was reading copy written by a state party staffer.) Often the candidates stopped to clarify staff-written sentences and reshape words. One forgot to prepare a commentary and had to return a second time. All of these things combined to absorb far more time than our very small staff would have predicted.

We had hoped to depart from the format of paid political spots and get the candidates talking about their views directly to the voters. But we hadn't set clear ground rules.

After a spirited internal debate, we decided we had to go with negative commentaries from the Democratic candidate for attorney general. We received no complaints from viewers, but some of the candidates, while taping, asked us if their opponents had "mentioned my name." We made clear that we couldn't advise them on the other commentaries.

We encountered one irony along the campaign trail. Ed Garvey, the former NFL players attorney and Democratic candidate forgovernor, spent much of his commentary time beating up on Wisconsin Public Television for not providing enough time for candidates. Although Sen. Feingold was a national poster boy for limiting campaign funds (he refused to accept money from political action committees), Garvey was the statewide candidate who followed the strictest limits. Running against popular, three-time Gov. Tommy Thompson, Garvey limited his contributions to $200 per person and could afford the least amount of TV time.

We selected the six topics based on viewer input, staff editorial consideration and interviews with state political scientists and pollsters. Our original plan was to rotate these commentaries - all 32 of them - inside our "Weekend" program and also to place them during regular weeknight program breaks. But our Program Director changed his mind, concerned about the absence of commentaries from independent and third party candidates.

Were the commentaries worth the effort? Without question. Viewer response and the attention of other news organizations showed the effect to be significant. The candidates liked them, even if they hated producing them. Here are some changes we are debating:

• Requiring the candidate to speak in the first person without attacking opponents.
• Placing the commentaries outside normal programming and opening them up to third parties.
• Writing clearer rules for preparation and setting an earlier cutoff for producing the spots so that they can be aired more often.