Cable owns convention coverage

Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON — Who needs Rather, Jennings and Brokaw? Chris Nowinski, political correspondent for World Wrestling Entertainment, will be prowling the floor of the Democratic National Convention this week for the cable television show "Monday Night Raw."

For this assignment, the 25-year-old wrestler will wear a sport coat and slacks instead of his usual TV attire — skin-tight briefs. His story angle, too, is based more on brains than brawn.

"What are they going to do to reach out to young voters in the fall?" Nowinski said he would ask Democrats. "We want to get more young people to vote."

This year as never before, the national political conventions will connect with Americans through cable TV.

Some conduits are established news outlets, such as CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel. Others are known for their focus on pop music, sports, comedy — and even pro wrestling. All are helping fill the void left by shrinking broadcast network coverage of the gatherings that Republicans and Democrats stage every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president.

Just three of the 28 hours of the Democratic convention in Boston this week will be broadcast live on the CBS, ABC and NBC networks, with the coverage anchored by Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw, respectively. That includes a mere one hour on the night Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts accepts his party's presidential nomination. The same slim schedule is planned when the Republicans meet in New York Aug. 30 through Sept. 2 to renominate President Bush.

But CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel will have many hours of live coverage and commentary every day from the conventions. C-SPAN will have its cameras trained on the podiums for every minute of the proceedings. And cable channels that target minorities, such as BET, will be there in force.

More offbeat reports will come from the ranks of ESPN, Comedy Central and MTV. And then there's World Wrestling Entertainment, which produces shows for various cable channels. ("Monday Night Raw" airs on Spike TV.)

"You're not going to be able to watch MTV for more than an hour or so without seeing some report from the convention," said Ocean MacAdams, vice president for MTV news.

ESPN also will send a crew to Boston in its first major effort to cover a convention.

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