Hearst Stations To Explore Issues In Every State

Hearst Television, with a presence in 26 TV markets reaching into 39 states — including top stations in Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin, among other key presidential caucus, primary and “battleground” states —  will for the first time extend its television and digital news coverage of election discourse to every state for the 2020 campaign season.

Under the groupwide banner “Commitment 2020,” journalists from Hearst stations around the country, working with teams from the company’s recently expanded Washington, D.C., bureau, will report not only from Hearst Television markets but from neighboring and regional states to talk to voters everywhere.

“Study after study shows local television to be the most trusted news source for Americans,” said Jordan Wertlieb, president of Hearst Television. “Our teams are well positioned to provide comprehensive coverage of the issues that matter most to voters in their hometowns and regions.”

Also for “Commitment 2020,” Hearst Television stations — which recently earned a National Association of Broadcasters Service to America Award and a 10^th consecutive groupwide USC Walter Cronkite Award, both for TV political journalism — will:

• Launch a collaboration with FactCheck.org, a project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, as part of Hearst Television’s effort to identify misinformation and to ensure news consumers get the facts.

• Devote deep reporting to election security, among other issues, using the resources of the group’s National Investigative Unit, which is based at its Washington bureau.

• Host a minimum of four election-related specials, debates, town halls and forums at each station — a doubling of each station’s 2016-election content threshold.

• Conduct a series of local forums on topics that matter to young voters, including the environment, affordable housing and managing student loans.

“Hearst Television’s ‘Commitment’ coverage has consistently set the standard in televised political reporting,” said Barbara Maushard, Hearst Television senior vice president, news. “From school boards to state houses to the White House, Hearst Television journalists remain committed to identifying the facts, asking tough questions, reporting on inconsistencies, holding those in power accountable and doing so without bias or agenda.”