If you're like me and you want local TV news to offer more information to help people make decisions in the ballot box, here's something to cheer you up a bit.

All three of Denver's local network stations now are assigning talented reporters to critique political advertisements.

The basic format for the fact-checking stories is the same on all three stations, and it makes for great local TV news.

The commercials are played during the newscast, and the ad is paused while its claims are analyzed. Then another portion of the ad is played and analyzed, and so forth. The format requires journalists to step outside of their usual he-said-she- said role, and tell us what's true and what isn't - and what needs more explanation. This is a welcome relief from horse-race political coverage that dissects political strategy (polls, target audiences, etc.) and ignores the issues and facts at play in an election.

It doesn't surprise me that the 9News "Truth Test" series, which analyses advertisements, is "hands down our most popular political coverage," according to 9News reporter Adam Schrager.

And I think Schrager's explanation for this is right: "People are starved for information on what they can believe and what they can't," he says. Especially TV viewers who are overwhelmed with these ads.

9News and CBS 4 News have been critiquing ads during recent election cycles, but this year Denver's 7 is trying it for the first time since reporter John Ferrugia apparently introduced the fact-check concept here with his "Truth Meter" series in the1990s. Since then, Ferrugia has been too "overwhelmed" with investigations to do it.

It's smart for Denver's 7 to cut back on the usual investigations and use investigators to fact-check ads.

I've fantasized for years about ways local TV stations could put the obvious talent of their over-promoted investigators to better use.

The investigative reports on local TV news help create the illusion of serious journalism, with undercover cameras and dramatic confrontations. In fact, the trivial nature of many of the investigations, which mostly are focused on consumer issues, don't contribute much to helping viewers become informed citizens.

Recent investigations by the Call7 Investigation team, for example, focused on getting good seats at events, a "rip-off" dating service and a magazine renewal scam.

Don't get me wrong. Some of the investigative work represents journalism at its best - such as the recent Denver's 7 investigation of questionable expenditures by officials in Black Hawk - but much of it isn't.

So it's good news that Denver's 7 is applying investigative time to political-ad analysis.

Now that Denver's 7 has joined channels 4 and 9 in analyzing ads, channels 2 and 31 should get on it.

Darn questions. The best talk radio hosts spotlight the wisdom and ignorance of their listeners. But unfortunately, some hosts fall so deeply in love with themselves that they sometimes forget to put their audiences first.

That's what Mike Rosen of KOA-AM (850) did July 7. April Zesbaugh, co-host of Colorado's Morning News on KOA, asked Rosen whether he wanted people to e-mail him questions for his upcoming interview with Sen. John McCain.

Even KOA's Zesbaugh seemed startled when Rosen told her, "I've got my own darn questions."

Rosen e-mailed me that he only had eight to 10 minutes with McCain, and, "I thought that time would be more productively spent with a few carefully focused questions from me." (Disclosure: A client works for Democrats.)

Schaffer distortion. In his debate with Democrat Mark Udall, Republican Bob Schaffer read from a Udall congressional resolution stating that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Shaffer read this and other portions of the resolution without saying that Udall's resolution was intended to stop the invasion of Iraq until all diplomatic options were exhausted.

In its news coverage of the debate July 15, The Denver Post alleged that by doing this, Senate candidate Schaffer "scored a significant point."

Reporters shouldn't be in the business of awarding a "significant point" to any candidate for using tricks to distort his opponent's record. Udall was against the war from the get go.

Jason Salzman, president of Effect Communications, is the author of Making the News: A Guide for Activists and Nonprofits. Reach him at salzmanj@RockyMountainNews.com.