During the last month leading up to the 2006 mid-term elections, voters
turned to local television news for information about candidates and
issues. In the process, they also viewed numerous political ads during
those newscasts’ commercial breaks. So what got more air time —
substantive news coverage by reporters or political ads designed by
campaign consultants?
On TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2006 at 11:00 A.M. (CST), the University of
Wisconsin-Madison’s NewsLab will release a set of findings from the
Midwest News Index (MNI). The MNI is an ongoing comprehensive analysis of
political and government news coverage in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota,
Ohio, and Wisconsin. In the month preceding Election Day, the UW NewsLab
tracked the rate of news coverage and political advertising in Chicago,
Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Cleveland, Columbus, Madison and Milwaukee.
The MNI is a project of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s NewsLab, a
nationally recognized program that has conducted extensive analyses of
local television coverage of government and politics. The Midwest News
Index is funded by the Joyce Foundation of Chicago, one of the nation’s
philanthropic leaders in political and government reform.
WHEN:
11:00 AM CST/12:00 PM EST
Tuesday, November 21
Please Note: You can preview key survey findings on Tuesday at 8:00 a.m.
CST/9:00 a.m. EST on the Joyce Foundation’s Web site,
http://www.joycefdn.org/ . A searchable archive of election coverage will
be also be available at the UW News Lab’s Web site,
http://www.mni.wisc.edu/ .
Teleconference and Web cast Information:
At 11:00 AM CST/12:00 PM EST, the findings of the MNI will be presented
through a teleconference. A supplemental power point presentation will be
presented simultaneously via Webcast. Instructions for both are below.
Teleconference:
Teleconference dial-in number: 800.414.9222
Alternate dial-in number: 847.413.3402
Confirmation number: 16293044
Web cast:
Please Note: Prior to logging into web cast, please disable popup blocker
Copy and paste the following URL in your web browser:
http://web.meetme.net/r.aspx?p=2&a=70541629304489
Once on the Meeting Center page, enter your name and e-mail address.
Click on the “Sign-In” button.
Accept the “Terms and Conditions” and click “Join” to enter the
conference.
If the above URL does not allow you to join the web cast, copy and paste
the following URL in your web browser:
http://web.meetme.net/audience
Then copy and paste the following meeting key: 70541629304489
Speakers:
Professor Ken Goldstein, Director, Midwest News Index
Larry Hansen, Vice President, The Joyce Foundation
Mike McCabe, Executive Director, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
Catherine Turcer, Legislative Director, Ohio Citizen Action
