Not necessarily the news

The election? Yes, but first: The latest on today's weather!

Published November 21, 2006 6:02PM (EST)

In the month leading up to the midterm elections, researchers at the University of Wisconsin's NewsLab tracked evening and late-night newscasts on local TV stations in five Midwestern states.

The good news? The average 30-minute newscast devoted almost as much time -- one minute, 43 seconds -- to election news as it did to "teasers, bumpers and intros." The not-so-good news? Every minute of election news was matched by about two-and-half minutes of political advertising -- and by about four minutes of sports and weather.


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

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