By Jill Rosen and David Zurawik and , jill.rosen@baltsun.com and david.zurawik@baltsun.com|October 15, 2008
Bishop Douglas I. Miles has lately been preaching a little something extra to his congregants at Koinonia Baptist Church in Northeast Baltimore - the gospel of tuning in to the presidential debates.
His congregation listened - as did many others in the Baltimore area, where ratings collectively were the highest in the country for the first two presidential debates and the vice presidential debate. The third presidential debate between Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain airs at 9 o'clock tonight from Hofstra University on Long Island, N.Y.
"Parents and grandparents want their children and grandchildren to be witness to this historic event in the lives of the African-American community and America," Miles said. "Every family should be paying attention."
Baltimore ranked third in viewership for the first debate, first for the vice presidential showdown and third for the most recent presidential debate - far outpacing even the nation's steeped-in-politics capital 40 miles down the parkway. That's a marked change from the 2004 race, when Baltimore did not finish in the top 10 TV markets for any debate.
In other markets where black households make up more than one-quarter of all TV homes, viewership for the recent debates was also among the strongest in the country - in metro areas including Memphis, Tenn.; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; and Norfolk and the Richmond, Va., area.
Black viewers compelled by Obama's candidacy are being drawn to national politics in a way not seen since the civil rights movement, several analysts said. In Baltimore, other factors could be at play, they said, such as the concentration of colleges, including historically black Coppin State and Morgan State universities.
"The reason, of course, is Barack Obama, who has made it possible for African-Americans to hope again," said Sheri Parks, an associate professor of American studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, who specializes in the study of media, pop culture and African-American families. "Many African-Americans, and I am one of them, did not expect to see this in our lifetimes, an African-American who could be president, and you are not going miss any chance to see him on television."
Among the Top 30 TV markets in the country, Baltimore has the second-highest percentage of black viewers at 27.1 percent. But for the three debates, Nielsen figures show the black audience tracked higher than that, at about 38 percent of all viewers.
