If It's Sunday, It's STILL Conservative

Dear Friend,

I am writing to share with you a new report by Media Matters for America -- If It's Sunday, It's Still Conservative: How the Right Continues to Dominate the Sunday Talk Shows -- which presents a comprehensive analysis of the guest lineups on the Sunday-morning talk shows in recent years.

» View the Report & Take Action!

For Democrats and progressives, the results tell a dismal story: the networks continue to give Republicans and conservatives a decisive edge on their flagship political talk shows.

November 2006 offered an emblematic example of how the networks operate. On the Sunday after the elections, in which Democrats took control of Congress for the first time in a dozen years, viewers tuned in to NBC's Meet the Press to hear what the Democratic win meant for the country -- only to discover that host Tim Russert did not have any Democrats on at all. Instead, Russert's guests were Republican Sen. John McCain (AZ) and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (CT), who ran in the general election as an independent after losing the Democratic primary.

» View the Report & Take Action!

But that incident is hardly an aberration. In this report, we show that the influential Sunday shows -- Meet the Press, ABC's This Week, CBS' Face the Nation, and Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday -- have consistently given Republicans and conservatives an edge over their Democratic and progressive counterparts in the past two years. And, as our analysis shows, the recent shift in power in Washington has yielded mixed results, at best.

Consider our key findings:

• Despite previous network claims that a conservative advantage existed on the Sunday shows simply because Republicans controlled Congress and the White House, only one show, ABC's This Week, has been roughly balanced between both sides overall since the congressional majority switched hands in the 2006 midterm elections.


• Since the 2006 midterm elections, NBC's Meet the Press and CBS' Face the Nation have provided less balance between Republican and Democratic officials than Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday despite the fact that Fox News Sunday remains the most unbalanced broadcast overall.


• During the 109th Congress (2005 and 2006), Republicans and conservatives held the advantage on every show, in every category measured. All four shows interviewed more Republicans and conservatives than Democrats and progressives overall, interviewed more Republican elected and administration officials than Democratic officials, hosted more conservative journalists than progressive journalists, held more panels that tilted right than tilted left, and gave more solo interviews to Republicans and conservatives.

Now that Congress has switched hands, one would reasonably expect Democrats and progressives to be represented at least as often as Republicans and conservatives on these broadcasts. Yet our findings for the months since the elections show the networks have barely changed their practices. Only one show -- ABC's This Week -- has shown significant improvement since the election, having a rough balance of guests from the right and left. On the other three programs, Republicans and conservatives continue to get more airtime and exposure.

This is a serious problem for the networks, one that compromises their integrity and threatens to taint political discourse across the country.

» View the Report & Take Action!

The American people deserve an equitable and balanced debate on Sunday morning. To provide anything less is a violation of the public's trust. These programs need to address this problem, or risk diminishing their respected position in America's political landscape.

In the months ahead, will the networks address the imbalance in their guest lineups? Or will they continue with business as usual?

I hope you will join me in urging the networks to address our findings and consider whether the Sunday shows serve the public interest by continuing to give conservatives the edge in setting the terms of the national debate.

Sincerely,

David Brock,
President & CEO
Media Matters for America

P.S. The Sunday shows will never change without public pressure. Please take a moment to sign our petition calling for change and invite your friends and family to do the same.