For Campaign News, The Address Is CBS

CBS Television stations in 17 markets will initiate an unprecedented commitment to political coverage beginning on Monday. All company-owned television stations that carry news will participate in the initiative.

Between next Monday and Election Day, Nov. 7 - the final 37 days of Campaign 2000 - a unique five minutes per day will be broadcast on all stations, said Leslie Moonves, president and chief executive officer of CBS Television.

Reflecting the recommendations of a presidential commission co-chaired by Moonves, these segments will be produced by the local stations and will be broadcast between 5 p.m. and 11:35 p.m. within existing local news broadcasts. The segments will include a wide range of information of importance to voters in federal, state and local elections, including candidate-centered discourse and issue-related features and forums.

"We are proud of this strong commitment to political coverage," said Moonves.

Augmenting this station initiative at the CBS Television Network, CBS News will continue to provide its ongoing, comprehensive political coverage under the Campaign 2000 banner, giving CBS viewers access to timely political discourse on both a national and local level.

In addition to its continuing political coverage, upcoming in-depth series include:

• Mondays at approximately 7:30 a.m., The Early Show will cover an important issue, such as: the cost of prescription drugs, social security, health care. After exploring elements of the issue, experts from the camps of both candidates will face off in a discussion.
  
• Sundays leading up to the election, beginning Oct. 15, the CBS Evening News With John Roberts will broadcast expanded stories on an issue the polling unit has identified as of great importance to voters. These reports will to identify two Americans with differing beliefs on the given issue and to explore the impact each candidate's stance would have on that individual's life.
  
• Invitations have been extended to Vice President Al Gore and Gov. George W. Bush to participate in a special edition of the CBS Evening News With Dan Rather on Nov. 6 - election eve. Each candidate would be given equal time to engage in what is intended to be spirited, information-rich one-on-one interview with Rather. The broadcast has not yet received a commitment from the candidates.
  
• Full coverage of the three presidential debates – on Oct. 3, in Boston, Oct. 11, in Winston-Salem, and Oct. 17, in St. Louis -- and the Vice Presidential on Thursday, Oct. 5, in Danville, Ky is planned. As previously announced, a Spanish-language simulcast of CBS News’ coverage of all four debates will be available to the Network’s owned stations and affiliates via the second audio program (SAP).

Paul Taylor, executive director of the Alliance for Better Campaigns, hailed CBS' announcement as an "important first step toward creating a new kind of political campaign on television."

Taylor's advocacy group, which has been urging stations across the country to adopt the five-minute standard, placed particular pressure on CBS because Moonves co-chaired the presidential commission that made the recommendation.

"But if CBS can do it, why can't others?" Taylor said. "ABC, NBC and Fox should stop treating democracy as if it were a cash cow and start opening the airwaves to something better than attack ads and sound bites."