NEW YORK, March 17 /PRNewswire-USNewsire/ — Granite Broadcasting Corporation announced today that each of its stations will continue its tradition of providing free air time to qualified, major candidates running for public office during the 2008 general election. First established in 1998, this program is designed to serve the public interest by facilitating an open and vigorous exchange of ideas.
Granite TV stations serving New York, California, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan will select the Federal, State and/or Local political races to be featured in the program series. Every week during the six weeks preceding the general election, major candidates will have two minutes to respond to specific questions regarding issues of local and national significance. Stations will make their production facilities readily available for the candidates to record their statements. Following production, the candidates’ statements will be heavily publicized and regularly scheduled during newscasts or other highly viewed programming. In addition to on-air exposure, candidate responses will also be available for viewing on station Web sites through November 4, 2008. The production, promotion and airing of the statements will all be provided free-of-charge as a public service to the local communities.
W. Don Cornwell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Granite, said, “We’re excited to be able to extend our journalistic responsibility by providing the local communities we serve with this level of informative political coverage. By showcasing the various candidates across our television station group, we continue to expand our dialogue with the voting public.”
Additional information about the candidate political program will soon be available on individual station Web sites.
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Granite Broadcasting Corporation owns and operates, or provides programming, sales and other services to 23 channels in the following 11 markets: San Francisco, California; Detroit, Michigan; Buffalo, New York; Fresno, California; Syracuse, New York; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Peoria, Illinois; Duluth, Minnesota-Superior, Wisconsin; Binghamton, New York; Utica, New York and Elmira, New York. The Company’s channel group includes affiliates of NBC, CBS, ABC, CW and My Network TV, and reaches approximately 6% of all U.S. television households.
Source: Granite Broadcasting Corporation
