Local TV Coverage of the 2000 General Election With funding from the Ford Foundation, The Norman Lear Center analyzed the local news programs watched by most Americans to find out what news they received on the 2000 general election. The Lear Center analyzed local broadcast television coverage on 74 stations in 58 markets in the last 30 days before the election to see whether a White House panel’s recommendation of airing five minutes of candidate centered discourse (CCD) a night had an impact. The Lear Center found that the 74 stations ran an average of 74 seconds of CCD per night. The average sound bite was 14 seconds; 55 percent of the stories focused on strategy; 24 percent focused on issues; and less than 1 percent were adwatch stories. Local Television Coverage of the 2000 Primary Campaigns With funding from the Ford Foundation, The Norman Lear Center analyzed the local news programs watched by most Americans to find out what news they received on the 2000 primary campaigns. The Lear Center recorded and studied news broadcasts on 19 top-rated stations in 11 markets over 30 days. During that period, the stations devoted a total of one hour and 59 minutes to political coverage. The average candidate sound bite was 10 seconds. 62 percent of the stories were focused on strategy/horserace; 21 concentrated on an issue; and 18% were an adwatch, mixture or other.