KING-TV was in some ways a better station in earlier years under the ownership of the Bullitt family—its more extensive local programming and aggressive news coverage were community assets. But even under the Texas-based Belo Corp. chain today, Channel 5’s news remains the most popular hereabouts, in part due to longtime anchor Jean Enersen, and a sizable, top-flight news staff augmented by the coverage of King Broadcasting Co. stations in Portland, Spokane, and Boise (all given even wider play via the corporation’s Northwest cable network, NWCN). KING dominates partly by pure bulk, but viewers are also attracted to the higher tone of its reporting and anchoring (in May, at 6 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., its adult viewership was twice that of the next closest station, according to Nielsen ratings). As local TV’s heavyweight, KING is the institutional media counterweight to major corporations and powerful public officials who do us wrong—power against power. Its aggressive news coverage is fulfilling that mission. RICK ANDERSON king5.com