It's not really an endorsement!

ASMY COLLEAGUE Pete Kohler points out, broadcasters face considerable discouragement from making endorsements. That is not to say that we can't, or we don't, endorse.

The easiest endorsements are referenda. From term limits to new school construction bond issues the process is pretty straightforward. Invite both sides in to meet with the board, make your endorsement a week to 10 days out, and accommodate the opposing point of view.

At WISC we try to time things to allow for a final, election wrap-up editorial a few days before the election, giving us one last kick at the cat.

Of course, as we all know, the issues that often generate the most passion are the smaller, local issues. We will often backtime our endorsements in those issues in order to allow for "letters to the editor" that we will excerpt during one of our regularly scheduled editorial broadcasts.

This does not preclude the occasional endorsement editorial campaign. We primed the pump for our endorsement of a new convention center with dozens of supporting editorials over the course of many months. We aired two or three in opposition.

But endorsing candidates? Now we're fighting with one hand behind our backs.

And it's the races with the most minor party candidates that are most trouble-some since those candidates are the most likely to want response time. Some of us just bite the bullet. Marjorie Aarons-Barron tells of the time her Boston station made endorsements in school board races with a half-dozen or so candidates and just gave them all equal time. But for the most part that is unwieldy enough to be prohibitive.

So we get a bit creative. I've done editorials offering analysis of candidates' records, a careful reading of which would indicate those we might favor. I've asked voters to weigh certain factors more heavily than others in casting their ballots when it is clear one candidate has a better record than another in those very factors. I've criticized candidates' ads or tactics. Let's just say, there are ways.

The bigger question perhaps is this: If given the opportunity to endorse candidates free of government restrictions how many broadcasters would do so?

Ours is still an industry regulated by the very people we would endorse (for Congress) or decide not to endorse. I believe the day is coming when we'll need to measure those risks. I would like to at least have the option. In the meantime, I guess we'll just keep 'em guessing, with the help of a well-placed hint here or there.

NCEW member Neil Heinen is editorial director of WISC-TV in Madison, Wisc., and chair of the Broadcast Editorial Committee.