Sunday chatter

Washington Monthly, May, 2006 by Bill Cotterell, Lee Vincent, Peter Helseth

Paul Waldman's otherwise perceptive article on the Sunday talk shows leaning to the right ("John Fund Again?" March) missed an important point that really explains it all.

Does Waldman think these news programs exist to inform the public and explore issues? Like the rest of television, they exist to show us advertisements; therefore, they depend on ratings. If Katrina vanden Heuvel or Paul Krugman brought in viewers, they'd replace George Will and Bill Kristol in a minute. If booking Dennis Kucinieh and Bernie Sanders boosted ratings, we'd rarely see Mitch McConnell or Lindsey Graham.

Look who's sponsoring these shows: GE, Archer Daniels Midland, pharmaceutical companies, IBM, insurance companies, airlines and investment houses. Who are the customers of these advertisers on Sunday morning? I'm betting they're mainly white male business executives and retirees. That such a demographic niche would rather watch conservatives than liberals should not surprise anyone.

Bill Cotterell

Tallahassee, Fla.

It's just too convenient that the period before 1997 cannot be analyzed and compared. I remember getting tired of seeing Bob Novak on "Crossfire" or George Will on ABC Sunday mornings, being outnumbered three to one. I can vividly remember Ann Lewis and Lanny Davis seeming to appear on TV about 200 days a year. Are you honestly saying that you cannot find those little newspaper items in The Washington Post that listed who was going to be on the weekend talk shows?

It's childish to put forward an argument like this, as if TV history began in 1997, as if there never was a period of decades when the talk shows were lopsidedly leftist. This article is as silly as many of the posts on Daily Kos.

Lee Vincent

Groton, Conn.

It may be that these talk shows are just reflecting their audience, which is undoubtedly becoming more conservative. And it doesn't so much matter how many conservatives there are on various news programs as it does who is moderating and editing the content of these shows (including the evening news). The way issues are framed and what is reported make a much greater contribution to the obvious liberal bias in the "mainstream" media than the guests on talk shows whose political biases are well known. You touch on the problem when you mention that Stephanopoulos tries "to shed his political reputation and become a Journalist." This is the moderator presented to the public as a neutral dispenser of information? Would Media Matters take this challenge? Let's ask news anchors and editors who they voted for in the last election. That would provide a far more accurate picture of media bias.

I'm afraid you'll have to go much further to show a conservative bias in the news media.

There will always be bias in reporting. The media should just tell us where they stand and let us make informed decisions.

Peter Helseth

Minneapolis, Minn.