Election voices

PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler says NewsHour's state-focused "Big Picture" series, which features discussions with citizens about election issues, is "exactly what public television ought to be doing." However, "the press, in general, and television in particular, including PBS, did not do a good job at the time of explaining the implications of Democratic primaries in Michigan and Florida," he says. Getler received letters on both topics, including one from a viewer upset by the lack of African Americans in the NewsHour's Colorado discussion group.