ABC, CBS and NBC nightly news programs had 45 percent fewer minutes of campaign coverage last year than in 1995, when President Clinton was readying his re-election effort against eventual GOP nominee Bob Dole, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs.

"This is the election that the big broadcast networks decided they are no longer the whole ballgame," Robert Lichter, president of the Washington-based think tank, said Thursday.

The news landscape has changed markedly in four years. This is the first presidential campaign covered by three cable news networks, and there is more Internet coverage than ever before.

One expert suggested that the center's conclusions about the evening news may be misleading.

Lichter said he would have anticipated more network campaign coverage in 1999, given that there are no incumbents and that the primary season is starting earlier and is more compressed than before.

The cable news networks -- CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC -- have been covering the campaign extensively. Early debates, in particular, have drawn big ratings for the news networks.

"The downside is the inadvertent viewer doesn't get educated," Lichter said. "The stuff is still out there for the junkies, but the average viewer isn't going to run across it."

NBC's "Nightly News" devoted 184 minutes to presidential politics in 1999, down 37 percent from 1995. The "CBS Evening News" had 144 minutes, down 55 percent from four years earlier. ABC's "World News Tonight" had 141 minutes, down 39 percent.

Oddly, NBC had the most evening news coverage on the campaign even though it is the only one of the three tied to a cable news network, MSNBC.

"NBC News reaches more people today with its news coverage than it did four years ago," spokeswoman Barbara Levin said. "A news organization's depth of political coverage must now be measured by not only its broadcast reporting but its cable news and Internet coverage as well."

There were no immediate comments from CBS and ABC officials.

Andrew Tyndall, a consultant who studies evening news content, suggested the center's 1995 tally of campaign stories may be inflated by including news on the aftermath of the 1994 GOP takeover of Congress. Tyndall's own study shows a less marked drop in coverage.

The evening newscasts had more presidential coverage last year than they did in 1991, Tyndall said, suggesting there is no long-term shift away from presidential politics.

The Center for Media and Public Affairs found that a candidate for Senate -- Hillary Rodham Clinton -- drew more evening news coverage last year than any of the presidential candidates.