It's not your imagination—the Sunday shows really do lean right

[kpete]

It's not your imagination—the Sunday shows really do lean right.

By Paul Waldman
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you're up early on Sunday mornings in Washington, you can observe a weekly ritual. Around 9am, a string of chauffeured town cars and SUVs pulls up outside the NBC studio on Nebraska Avenue in Northwest Washington where "Meet the Press" is recorded, and out tumble government officials and politicians, reporters, and pundits. They scan the weekend papers over coffee in the green room, catch up with the women who apply their make-up, and wait for their chance to spin or pontificate. One thing you might notice about these select individuals—other than the fact that there are very few women—is that lately they are mostly conservative.

Which leads to another Sunday morning ritual: American liberals yelling at their televisions.

No, liberals, it's not your imagination. "Meet the Press" and the other Sunday political talk shows really have leaned more to the right in recent years. At Media Matters for America, we looked at every one of the 7,000 guests who appeared on the three major Sunday shows from 1997 through 2005—Bill Clinton's second term, George W. Bush's first term, and the last year. We found that the left has of late found itself outnumbered, in some ways substantially, on the television shows that define the Washington conventional wisdom. Liberals are already a disturbingly rare species among what Calvin Trillin refers to as the "Sabbath Gasbags." And in some debates—the war in Iraq, for example—they are in danger of becoming extinct.



http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0603.waldman.html

[Coexist]

1. k & r

almost 60% ... jeepers.

[havocmom]

2. Bob Schiefer's brother is a bushco appointee. No surprise with him now

Brother was appointed Ambassador to Australia. Used to have a great deal of respect for Bob, but he broke my heart by turning far right one to many times on the air.

[henslee]

3. Solution? COUNTERPROGRAMMING. Live on the interent. Every Sunday...

an innovative webcast. A very special, splashy, undeniably meaty, "truthful" show with clips, guests and production value. Launched with a big Madison Ave. type PR campaign. The balls need to be cut off the Sunday shows as the "lense" through which we see the next week. Al Gore -- Senor Current... are you getting this down?

[Warpy]

4. They're also confusing Democrats with progressives

because, although I've seen a lot of conservative Democrats and a few tepid liberals, I've seen damned few progressives on the Sabbath gasbag shows. So few that I finally tuned out for good about five years ago, since none of the conservatives was speaking to me or for me. They were all sitting there lecturing the camera on party talking points. The host, opposition gasbag, and audience were all totally irrelevant.

[deutsey]

11. The spectrum seems to start at center/right and moves rightward from

there. There's hardly any genuine left/progressive views consistently represented.

[hang a left]

12. I guess that means anyone with a (D) next to their name is a liberal.

You know Zell, Joe, and all those on the far left.

[acmejack]

5. And that is what they admit to!

I wonder. It probably is more like 70%

[A Simple Game]

18. I think you are very close. I didn't think 60% seemed right either.

[Vinnie From Indy]

6. Are those "Hollywood" Joe Biden's numbers?

He has to be the all time #1 guest on all shows. Biden's biggest regret is that he doesn't have a clone. It would allow him to be on more than one show at a time.

[Lasher]

7. Something these numbers don't show...

The conservatives on these shows tend to be VERY conservative. The liberals are mostly moderates.

[kpete]

8. right on!

[unblock]

9. it's much worse than that, this statistic understates the problem:

"idiologically identifiable" simply divides guests into 2 categories, right/left.

it doesn't get into HOW right/left they are. the fact of the matter is that the "right" guests are INSANELY off the deep end right. whether or not they themselves are that insane, they spout off the same, insanely right wing message of the day. whereas the lefties would probably have been classified as moderates just a few years ago, or in any event are rarely fire-breathing liberals going full throttle, or our best representatives. think hannity and colmes. and even when someone like carville gets on, the topic of the day might not be a particularly good issue for liberals. imagine having carville on and making the topic flag burning or gay marriage or some other banana republican attack issue.

the other way is that percentages in this layout invite comparison to 50%, rather than comparison to the other side. 58% sounds like "big deal, it's only 8% from the middle", when the problem is, it's SIXTEEN PERCENT from the left's 42%.

pretty close to 3 well-trained righties for every 2 carefully selected lefties. plus they select the topics.

[redqueen]

16. Godo point. Too many DLC types skew representation to the center.

It's a dirty, dirty game, but once you learn the rules...

[deutsey]

10. Yes, and breathing is essential to human life

I'm glad Waldman's pointing this out, but it's a bit obvious and has been for a few years now.

[cyclezealot]

13. 1996 started the new FCC consolidation law.

Signed by Clinton. Why 1997 used as a base for this study? Of course this trend really started under Reagan when the Fairness Doctrine was terminated.

[redqueen]

14. They better ramp that up... usurper boy's numbers are still falling...

so it doesn't seem to be helping too much.

Sorry, boys, but reality intrudes no matter how many people you pay to spew BS.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

15. The examples are so obvious now it doesn't even require detailed study.

Not a SUN show, but here's an example, the Chris Matthews Hardball show, much maligned here (and appropriately).

The huge majority of Iraq vets running for Congress are Dems. Hardball has some on. Do you think they have 1 Dem and 1 Repub? Even that would be pro-Repub bias, given the real numbers, but at least reasonable, "both points of view". So they had 3 vet/candidates. Do you think they had 2 Dem to 1 Repub, which would at least more closely resemble the true situation, but still be pro-Repub bias?

Think again.

[Cary]

17. Obviously our message sells.

Not only do we have a significant showing here at DU but also I can tell you that a lot of wingnuts pay attention to us. In terms of marketing there just isn't a whole lot of difference whether the listeners agree or disagree with the content.

I think it's correct that if the networks cut us out they are going to open themselves up to competition elsewhere. No doubt we should pursue alternatives to the networks. That's the direction we're going in.

[oc2002]

19. Of course the conservatives have already dismissed this study as...BIASED!

or flawed, or the study is just another biased attempte to paint the MSM as conservative or liberaly biased.

nevermind FOX...

this is a study of Meet the Press.

[sasquatch]

20. Liberal media my ass