Highlights of the group's free airtime
coverage included:

* WCPO-TV in Cincinnati taped viewer questions that were addressed
directly to candidates in 13 races in the station's Ohio, Kentucky and
Indiana coverage area. 20 through Oct. Senate
Democratic primary debate which was aired statewide on all Florida NBC
stations.com,
HGTV.com.

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S.
The candidates for county sheriff and attorney general accepted an
invitation to be questioned at the family's home.m. Also participating were
the company 's three NBC affiliated stations, WPTV-TV, West Palm Beach, Fla. W. The Center's research finds most
voters unable to identify several members of the Council of State, the body of
elected executive branch officials that includes the Attorney General,
Agriculture Commissioner and the State Treasurer , among others. Both of these plans, dubbed the "Voter Owned Elections
Act," are similar to the new system being used to elect statewide judges in
North Carolina.

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WCPO also produced and aired
a debate between candidates for the U.S.

* A careful review of the context and accuracy of political
advertisements on television and the Internet.;
KSHB-TV, Kansas City, Mo.com , fineliving."
This past election, former state Representative Wayne Goodwin experienced
first -hand the growing pressure on candidates to dial for dollars when he ran
for N. In the home stretch leading up to Election
Day, Goodwin was compelled by the money chase to spend his time on the phone ,
calling up donors, instead of reaching out to voters.

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* KJRH-TV in Tulsa, Okla.com and gactv . Center for Voter Education confirmed what many
observers have suspected: North Carolina voters believe money influences
political behavior and keeps good people from running for office. The reform plan
would also offer limited public financing, on a voluntary basis, to candidates
running for posts on the Council of States, excluding the offices of governor
and lieutenant governor.
The Center 's survey found substantial voter support for a public financing
plan.

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Senate
candidates that featured questions from the live studio audience.
The Scripps television stations are concentrated in the top 50 U.

Scripps Newspapers, including daily and community newspapers in 19 markets
and the Washington-based Scripps Media Center, home to the Scripps Howard News
Service., A new public opinion study released
today by the nonpartisan N. Only 28 percent sided with the candidate who solely took
private funds.
The state's judicial system of public financing has already made the state
a national leader and is a proven success. "This new research proves that voters also need
a reliable source to learn about the candidates for the Council of State.
Empowering voters with the information they need, along with stemming the
rising tide of campaign spending, are key to increasing voter confidence in
our state's democratic system.

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Participating in Democracy 2004 were the company's six ABC affiliated
stations, WXYZ-TV, Detroit; WCPO-TV, Cincinnati; WEWS -TV, Cleveland; WFTS-TV,
Tampa, Fla. RALEIGH, N. A majority (57 percent) believes these contributions
have "a great deal of influence. A similar measure, HB 1563, was presented by a bipartisan
coalition in the House.

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The free airtime was made available to the candidates in a variety of
formats and aired during regularly scheduled newscasts as well as special
Democracy 2004 public affairs programs . The debate
aired statewide on ABC affiliates, C-Span and National Public Radio
affiliated radio stations.) Star.
"Candidates have an uphill climb to get the voter's attention ," said
Heagarty, "and when special interests get involved, it really tilts the
playing field.

C.

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"
As part of the Democracy 2004 project, Scripps stations provided five
minutes of free airtime to candidates nightly between 5 p.m.; WMAR-TV, Baltimore; and KNXV-TV, Phoenix. Scripps Networks brands include Home + Garden
Television, Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living, Great American Country
(GAC) and HGTVPro.

Shop at Home Network, the company's television retailing subsidiary , which
markets a growing range of consumer goods directly to television viewers and
visitors to the Shop At Home Web site, shopathometv. While Governor Mike Easley was identified correctly by 89
percent of voters surveyed, there was a dramatic drop off when it came to
other members of the Council of State. The guide, mailed to all North Carolina voters, presently
includes only contenders for the state's appellate courts.

politics: politicians, parties, elections, political publications etc.

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The five-minute question and answer segments
aired daily from Sept.m.
markets and reach about 10 percent of the nation's television households.com.
However, what may be surprising is the public's willingness to support
major campaign reforms to correct an election system that the Center's
Executive Director Chris Heagarty says, "Has gotten so bad that more people
actually know this year's American Idol winner than most of their statewide
elected officials. Almost 95 percent believe
that campaign contributions have an influence on the way their elected
officials make decisions. Commissioner of Labor.

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S. Links to candidate Web sites
also were included when available.S. And most
voters have little knowledge about their elected officials.
"We need candidates off the phones and out of the cubicles, and back out
meeting the voters," Goodwin said , expressing his support for reforming the
campaign system.

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m. Scripps Networks Web sites include FoodNetwork . Shop At Home reaches
about 54 million full-time equivalent U.

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W. and 11:35 p.

Making free airtime available to political candidates was one of the
primary recommendations made in 2000 by the President's Advisory Committee on
the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters .com, DIYnetwork. households, including 5 million
households via five Scripps-owned Shop At Home affiliated television stations. Surveyed voters were also given a hypothetical
situation in which the only difference between two candidates was that one
used taxpayer money in his campaign, while the other used special interest
money.

S.

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* KNXV-TV in Phoenix aired an innovative segment in which candidates in
two hotly contested local races answered questions directly from
members of a family who had identified themselves as undecided voters. The company
first offered candidates free airtime during the 2000 election campaigns.

* Special programming such as town meetings and debates .S.C.
Candidates who do brave the money chase, by and large suffer from virtual
anonymity among many North Carolina voters. Participating candidates would agree to limit their
fundraising and campaign spending, while refusing special interest money.
"The negative reaction of special interest trumps that of using tax
dollars to fund campaigns, even with the anti-tax sentiment shared by many
North Carolina voters," said Gutermuth, pointing out that even Republicans
favored the public financing approach.

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Scripps Company's
broadcast television station group made 1,682 minutes of free airtime
available to 198 candidates for local, state and federal offices during the
2004 election campaigns.m.
The Center gave the other half of respondents several statewide elected
offices, and some non-political offices, and asked them to name the person in
those positions.
A lack of voter familiarity with statewide officials transcended the
political spectrum.
Prior to this survey, state Senators Dan Clodfelter (D-Mecklenburg) and
Stan Bingham (R-Davidson), along with many of their colleagues introduced
Senate Bill 1042. In 2004, 12 of 16 appellate-level
judicial candidates opted into the program, and nearly 4 million copies of the
voter guide were mailed to voters across the state.

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5 hours of airtime between the hours of
7 p.

Bill Peterson , senior vice president/broadcast for Scripps, said that
based on the interest raised by Democracy 2004, the company has decided to
sponsor a similar initiative during the 2006 election campaigns . Scripps Networks
programming can be seen in 86 countries. Scripps newspapers include the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, the
Commercial Appeal in Memphis, the Knoxville (Tenn.

Voters Lack Information on Elected Officials Fear Influence of Money Over Politics + Support Reform Says Center for Voter Education Study

"Equally troubling is that so many voters believe that only wealthy people can
run for public office, and they believe that the behavior of politicians is
influenced so much by special interest money. Nearly half (49 percent) would favor the candidate who opted into
public financing .

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, hosted a 45-minute debate between U. "We
believe that making airtime available to responsible candidates is a
fundamental responsibility that we have as trusted stewards of the public
airwaves. All of the company's media businesses provide content and
advertising services via the Internet."
The survey, conducted earlier this month by the Alexandria, VA-based
polling firm American Viewpoint , revealed that most Tar Heel voters (77
percent) believe that the cost of campaigning almost always or frequently
keeps qualified people from running for office.
These proposals would expand the state voter guide to include Council of
State candidates.

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* Priority clearance in public service announcement inventories for "get
out the vote" announcements during the 30 -day period prior to the
primary and general elections.

The E.
In fact, lack of information on candidates is the number-one reason that
North Carolinians don't vote (36 percent), outpacing voter apathy (12
percent), or being turned off by the rise of negative campaigns (9 percent).
"The state's judicial voter guide is an invaluable resource for voter
information," said Heagarty.

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198 candidates nationwide took advantage of Democracy 2004 project

CINCINNATI, The E.
The free airtime was made available as part of the company's Democracy
2004 project, a public discourse initiative that was created to enhance the
political process in communities served by the nine network-affiliated Scripps
stations. and 8 p.

About Scripps
The E.W. United Media is
the worldwide licensing and syndication home of Peanuts , Dilbert and about 150
other features and characters. Scripps Company
Broadcast Television Group
Democracy 2004
Results by Station

Station City Free airtime (minutes) Number of candidates
KJRH Tulsa 143 16
KNXV Phoenix 80 8
KSHB Kansas City 162 27
WCPO Cincinnati 135 27
WEWS Cleveland 85 17
WFTS Tampa Bay 190 38
WMAR Baltimore 70 14
WPTV West Palm Beach 297 26
WXYZ Detroit 520 25

Total 1 ,682 198

C."
"That the cost of running for office keeps qualified people from running
is one of the few issues in today's political environment that Republicans,
Democrats , conservatives and liberals can all agree on," said Randall
Gutermuth, Director of Political Affairs at American Viewpoint."
So what did voters know? The Center asked half the respondents of the
poll to identify a name and to give the office, if any, that the person held.

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News coverage
was developed through an interactive process with local citizens and
citizen groups.

; and KJRH-TV, Tulsa, Okla.

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* WXYZ-TV in Detroit ran 20 five-minute free airtime segments during the
7 p. The stations also provided free
airtime as needed during the 30 days preceding primary elections.
For example, somewhere between 10 percent and 17 percent of voters could
name the Attorney General as Roy Cooper. Newly elected State Auditor Les
Merritt was recognized by only two percent. There may be a silver lining for
long-time State Insurance Commissioner Jim Long, who is a familiar name to
around 20 percent of polled voters, but still ranks two percentage points
higher than this year's "American Idol," Carrie Underwood.C."

The N.

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27. Senate in Ohio. The station also produced and hosted the U.
"Scripps television stations place a high priority on providing vibrant
forums for public discourse during election campaigns," Peterson said.

Discussion forums / message boards concerning U.

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Scripps TV Stations Made 1 682 Minutes of Airtime Available to Political Candidates

newscast., aired four debates between local and
state candidates totaling 3 .

* Editorial concentration by the Scripps stations on key local issues
during the 30 days leading up to the general election.

United Media, a leading licensing and syndication company.
"There is something wrong with our election system, when voters know so
little about whom they voted into office less than a year ago," said Heagarty.

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* WPTV-TV in West Palm Beach , Fla. in
the 30 days preceding the general elections.
Other key elements of Democracy 2004 included:

* Election-related content on Internet sites operated by the Scripps
stations, including candidate positions on issues, voter registration
information, information on the offices being sought and descriptions
of political jurisdictional boundaries.
In addition to the broadcast television station group, Scripps is
organized into the following operating divisions.

Scripps Networks, including the company's growing portfolio of popular
lifestyle television networks. A strong majority of nearly 70 percent favors creating such a system for
executive branch offices.

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The station also hosted four 30-minute issue-oriented
debates within its "Spotlight on the News" public affairs program. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) is a diverse media concern with
interests in national lifestyle television networks, newspaper publishing,
broadcast television, television retailing, interactive media and licensing
and syndication.) News Sentinel and the
Ventura County (Calif. Center for Voter Education is a nonpartisan and nonprofit
organization , based in Raleigh, dedicated to increasing voter awareness and
participation.

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