Networks and Politicians WillPonder TV, Elections

Noted journalists and executives from the three major television networks will confer with political experts and scholars this weekend at the Kennedy School of Government to discuss television's role in presidential elections.

The conference will mark the first time that the three networks have met to discuss how television affects the election process and subsequent interpretation of the results, Martin Linsky, assistant director of the K-School's Institute of Politics (IOP), said this week.

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The growing role of television in providing the public with news of political campaigns and elections led to the meeting. Linsky said that not only do politicians gear their campaigns more toward the presence of television, but the networks can actually affect the outcome of elections.

Two often-heard criticisms of the networks in 1980 were overemphasis on the importance of early primaries and prematurity of election night projections on the East Coast which came before West Coast polls had closed.

Since this link between the television news media and presidential campaign strategists reoccurs every four years, Linsky said the conference will provide an opportunity for both media and politicians to review the process and see how it can be improved.

The conference, sponsored by the IOP, has received financial support from the networks.

Day One

Television journalists Frank Reynolds of ABC, Roger Mudd of NBC, Bruce Morton of CBS, and Robert MacNeil of the MacNeil-Lehrer Report, will probably attend. ABC news president Roone Arledge and former CBS news president William Leonard are also expected.

Richard E. Neustadt, professor of Public Administration at the Kennedy School, and Gary R. Orren, associate professor of Public Policy at the K-School will provide political analysis.

Orren said yesterday that the conference is the necessary reaction by the media and politicians to "arguably the most important transformation in American politics in the last 20 years."

Among the politicians that expect to attend are W. Hamilton Jordan, former White House chief of staff in the Carter administration, and David R. Gergen, assistant to President Reagan for communications.

Weekend in New England

The Saturday round table discussions will focus on television policy with respect to campaign coverage while the Sunday group will address the problems of regulations and laws affecting network coverage of campaigns.

"We anticipate that the competition between the networks will be suspended." Linsky said, adding that they have many common problems when confronting the conference's primary issues