Why there is no such thing as equal time

Published online on Sunday, Nov. 05, 2006

When voters go to the polls Nov. 7, one of the most suspenseful local races will be in Fresno City Council District 1, where Scott Miller led Blong Xiong in the primary by a whisker — just seven votes.

In a race so close, it's natural for candidates and their supporters to be sensitive to anything that could tip the scales either way.

So when The Bee published a story on the front page Oct. 25 about how Xiong's candidacy has motivated members of the Hmong community to get involved in politics, we heard complaints that Miller deserved equal time and accusations that the story reflected The Bee's editorial recommendation of Xiong.

The response to the story raises two issues. One is equal coverage of political candidates, which is not as universal or practical or even as logical as some might think. The other is the absolute separation of the editorial pages of the newspaper from all other content.

The myth of equal time

I believe coverage of candidates' views of issues should be as equal as possible. But outside of the candidates' campaign platforms, issues sometimes emerge that apply to one candidate and not another — Bill Clinton's womanizing or John McCain's POW experience, for example.

When the issue is seen as a negative, nobody on the other side clamors for equal time. When allegations surfaced in the 2003 recall campaign that Arnold Schwarzenegger was a serial groper, other candidates for governor didn't complain that they weren't getting their share of ink.

So it's not the blanket concept of equal time that most people embrace; it's equal time for what they consider positive news.

I understand that, and if I were in Scott Miller's position, I'd probably feel slighted. But I submit that campaigns aren't conducted in a laboratory environment where all variables are controllable. If Barack Obama runs for president, we'll read a lot about his being black. If Hillary Clinton runs, there will be extensive discussion of her gender.

And the Xiong story was legitimate and newsworthy. It pointed out that if Xiong is elected to the city council, he will be the first Asian-American in that position and the third Hmong elected official in the state. His candidacy has been inspiring to local Hmong; about 200 are campaigning for him. However, as the story also mentioned, the district, in west-central Fresno, does not have a large number of Hmong residents.

Was the story fair? It didn't address Xiong's fitness for office, but if voters in District 1 tend to see the story as positive, it tips the coverage scale in his favor.

Daily news decisions

What's the solution? Ignore the story? I don't think so. Possibly the story could have run somewhere other than on the front page. However, news decisions are made based on what stories are available that day, and on that day, it was the best local story with a photograph for the front page.

My one regret is that it was published less than two weeks from the election. Had it been thought of earlier, it would have been published sooner.

To even things up, we took the opportunity to cover something uniquely about Miller when he let us know about his work with Tree Fresno to develop a nursery to teach inmates at the Elkhorn Correctional Facility to grow trees. The juveniles will learn job skills, and the trees will be planted around the community. We thought it was a worthy story, although not of the same significance as the Hmong community's mobilization behind Xiong's candidacy. The story appeared on page B1 Wednesday.