TV stations sell millions in ads for Ky. Senate race but provide rural voters little news coverage of it

Television stations in Lexington, Ky., sold almost $3 million worth of advertising to candidates and interest groups in Kentucky’s general election for the U.S. Senate through Oct. 20, but ran relatively few news stories on the nationally important race. Most were horse-race stories about campaign tactics and support, and most of the stories that touched on issues did so only superficially.

Those are the major, preliminary findings of a study being conducted by the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, part of the School of Journalism and Telecommunications at the University of Kentucky. The Institute launched the study because many rural Kentuckians do not read daily newspapers, and their local, weekly papers generally do not cover statewide elections or subscribe to The Associated Press.

Thus, for many rural voters, television is the major source of information about candidates in statewide races. The four television stations in Lexington are better situated to cover Kentucky elections than most other stations in the state, because the Lexington TV market is the only major market that lies entirely within Kentucky. But from Sept. 1 through Oct. 20, they ran more than 92 hours of ads about the race and only 44 minutes of news about it. For details, click here.