Opinion: WTSP's debate snub

A media watchdog group reports that local CBS affiliate WTSP-TV Ch. 10 has earned more from political advertising this year than any other station in the Tampa-St. Petersburg market. You'd think a station that lauds itself as "one of the best-performing CBS affiliates in the country" could sacrifice every now and then when an important public debate dwarfs its own commercial interests. WTSP had that chance this week, but declined to bump the premiere of 48 Hours Investigates to air the first gubernatorial debate between Jeb Bush and Bill McBride.

The station's bad decision was made worse by the way company executives tried to explain it away. Anyone in the news business should recognize that a debate over the future of America's fourth-largest state is more meaningful to the public than a story of a psychiatrist accused of having sex with a patient. Then there was the excuse station officials offered. On Monday, a station vice president tried to put the blame on CBS, saying the network wouldn't allow a prime time show to be pre-empted during premiere week. But the following day, WTSP acknowledged the snub ultimately was a local decision.

Government doesn't belong in the content business, and as overall policy, broadcasters should be free to air what they please, just as viewers are free to watch or turn off what they please. But companies that profit from the public airwaves -- especially from the political ads that are so ubiquitous this time of year -- have a special obligation on those occasions when the public interest is uniquely served. WEDU-TV Ch. 3, the local PBS affiliate, has agreed to televise Friday's debate.

It's too bad WTSP didn't jump similarly at the chance.

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