Ethnic cable networks get political with presidential campaigns

Ethnic cable networks get political with presidential campaigns

By R. Thomas Umstead
Multichannel News
(January 28, 2008) Minority networks are hitting the campaign trail with unprecedented on-air and online coverage of the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates.

African-American targeted networks Black Entertainment Television and TV One, for instance, are planning significant, multiplatform coverage of the historic presidential run of African-American Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Meanwhile, several Hispanic-targeted networks and the Asian-American-geared ImaginAsian TV are developing grass-roots campaigns to encourage their audiences to register and vote.

With issues such as immigration, the economy and the criminal justice system top of mind, BET vice president of news and public affairs Keith Brown said this year’s election is shaping up to be one of the most important and closely watched by the network’s core audience of 18-to-34-year-old African-Americans.

As a result, BET earlier this month launched a nonpartisan on-air and online campaign that it said will provide the most extensive coverage of a presidential election in the network’s 28-year history.

Breaking Down the Vote
Voting patterns among white, black and Hispanic cable subscribers:
Registered to Vote in District of Residence

White

Black

Hispanic

Cable subs

82%

79%

60%

Voting Frequency In Local Elections

White

Black

Hispanic

Always

43%

39%

28%

Sometimes

31%

28%

22%

Never

26%

33%

50%

Voting Frequency In Presidential Elections

White

Black

Hispanic

Always

74%

67%

50%

Sometimes

8%

10%

10%

Never

18%

23%

40%

SOURCE: Scarborough Research 2007 (February 2006-2007)

On-air, the network seeks to profile each of the Democratic and Republican candidates as part of a series dubbed What’s In It For Us? Brown says the series will give each candidate the opportunity to address issues of importance to the African-American community.

The frontrunners for the Democratic nomination, Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), have appeared on the series so far, and Brown hopes to attract the remaining Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls as the primary season goes into full swing over the next few months.

“The good news is that no one has turned us down, but the bad news is no one else has committed,” Brown said. “But this is a forum to introduce these candidates to our audience and to explore what they’re talking about that will affect our community.”

Online, the network’s BET.com Web site has created the election microsite Decision ’08 (http://www.bet.com/news/decision08), offering a rich array of election coverage ranging from daily political blogs to video reports. BET vice president of digital content Nick Charles says the site also has instructional information on how to register to vote and includes a form to register online.

Obama and Clinton have also appeared in interviews for Comcast and Radio One co-owned TV One, which is offering various election specials and election news shorts featuring TV personality and political pundit Roland Martin.

TV One president and CEO Johnathan Rodgers said the lion’s share of the network’s coverage has gone toward the Democratic battle between Obama and Clinton, given their verbal tussles over civil rights and race-related issues during recent primaries.

“We’ve pretty much gone with who the favorites are so most of our coverage has gone toward Clinton and Obama, because that’s where the most interest and debate within the African-American community has been,” Rodgers said.

While no Hispanic or Asian candidates are among either party’s frontrunners, networks representing both groups are planning to aggressively cover the elections while encouraging their viewers to participate in the voting process.

With almost 9 million Latinos expected to vote in the 2008 presidential elections, Hispanic-targeted TV networks have stepped up efforts to mobilize Hispanics to take part, first by encouraging them to apply for U.S. citizenship and then to go out and cast a vote.

Univision has the most comprehensive get-out-the-vote effort in place. In November 2007, it partnered with the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), ImpreMedia, Entravision and other organizations to launch Ya es Hora, ?Ve y Vota! (It’s Time, Go Vote!) a nonpartisan, national voter mobilization effort targeting U.S. Hispanics. The campaign seeks to increase Latino voter registration and turnout in the 2008 presidential elections through a multimedia campaign that encompasses grassroots, print, online and broadcast reach.

This past October Telemundo, along with its sister cable channel Mun2 launched Vota por tu futuro (Vote 4 Ur Future), a comprehensive Hispanic voter-registration campaign in partnership with several organizations, including Rock the Vote, Democracia USA, the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute and League of United Latin American Citizens Campaign.

Three-year old network ImaginAsian TV is approaching its first Presidential election by creating a major get-out-to-vote public service campaign featuring prominent Asian-American celebrities. Michael Huh, vice president of marketing and strategic development said the four million-subscriber network is also formulating its on-air election coverage strategy, which will most likely ramp up later this Spring.

Historically, Asians generate the lowest voter turnout among ethnic groups, but with such a wide open race among both Republicans and Democrats this year, Huh said it’s important that the Asian community gets as much information as possible.

Laura Martínez contributed to this article.

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