2014 sunday show study

8/9/2019 2014 Sunday Show Study

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/2014-sunday-show-study 1/30

State of the Sunday MorningPolitical Talk Shows

2013 - 2014



Key Findings

Among the top 10 most frequent elected and administration guests on the five Sundayshows, Republican appearances beat out Democratic ones in a landslide – in 2014, 98of these appearances are of Republicans while only 26 are of Democrats.

Conservative journalists outnumbered progressive ones on the five Sunday shows inboth 2013 and 2014.

Fox News Sunday tilted heavily to the right in every measure analyzed.

White men were disproportionally represented when compared to their representationin the general population.

Introduction

The Sunday morning political talk shows on the four broadcast networks and CNN -- ABC’s This Weekwith George Stephanopoulos, CBS’s Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer , Fox Broadcasting Co.’s Fox

News Sunday , NBC’s Meet the Press with Chuck Todd , and CNN's State of the Union with Candy

Crowley (henceforth referred to as “the five Sunday shows”) -- typically host high-profile political

guests week after week, and the shows themselves draw big ratings, adding up to more than 11

million viewers every Sunday for the four broadcast shows. Taken separately or together, that the

five Sunday shows host newsmakers and reach large audiences puts them in a unique position to

influence the political and media agenda each week. The guests of the five Sunday shows are

deemed important and given a platform from which many will listen, and Media Matters decided to

analyze these shows for ideology as well as gender and ethnicity demographics.

On MSNBC, Up with Steve Kornacki and Melissa Harris-Perry are the premiere Sunday morning news

talk shows. While these programs do not command the audience draws of the four broadcast shows

and follow a meaningfully different format (both are two-hour long programs that host a larger

variety of guests outside of Beltway politics), they nonetheless are a part of the Sunday morning

media landscape. For these reasons, we determined that guests' political ideology was not as

important but that their gender and ethnic diversity still mattered (as a variety of voices can only

strengthen debate); therefore, Media Matters only analyzed these programs for those demographics.

The guests invited are given a large platform from which to express their views. Those whom the

shows’ producers invite to speak have an opportunity to shape the news cycle and the course of

political discussion. Overwhelmingly, though, our results from 2013 and 2014 show that those voices

tend to be white and male, and ideologically, Republicans and conservatives hold advantages in

several key areas. This lack of diversity leads the Sunday shows to elevate the views of this particulargroup more so than others and creates an echo chamber that validates their opinions as conventional

wisdom.

http://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/sunday-show-ratings-jan-18/253451



Fox News Sunday was the only program to host Latino men close to their representation in the

general population. This can largely be attributed to Fox News contributor Juan Williams' regular

appearances on the show's roundtable, whose appearances account for 68 percent of all appearances

by Latino men on the program.

Asian-American and Middle Eastern men and women were all significantly underrepresented on the

Sunday shows. In many cases, the raw number of such guests over the course of 2014 was in the

single digits per program -- compared to nearly (and in one case, more than) 300 white men on fiveshows: This Week (310), Face the Nation (287), Fox News Sunday (276), Meet the Press (278), and Up

(285).

Guests On The Sunday Shows, Including MSNBC

0%

18%

35%

53%

70%

CensusThis WeekFace the NationFox News SundayMeet the Press

State of the UnionMelissa Harris-PerryUp

White

Women

WhiteMen

African-

American

Men

African-

American

Women

Latino

Men

Latino

WomenAsian-

American

Men

Asian-

American

Women

Middle

Eastern

Men

Middle

Eastern

Women

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014



Gender and Ethnicity: Solo Interviews

When guests appear one-on-one with the host on six of the seven shows analyzed, they are much

more likely to be a white man. This Week, Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday , Meet the Press, State

of the Union, and Up each hosted white men in solo interviews more than double theirrepresentation in the general population.

Up’s performance was particularly troubling given that the MSNBC show had been more diverse in its

guests in the year before. The program did not have enough solo interviews to be included in the

analysis in 2013, but in 2014, Up’s solo interview data closely resembled data from the five Sunday

shows.

Only Melissa Harris-Perry divvied up solo interviews more equally.

Latino men fared better among the other groups analyzed, with some representation on all seven

shows. But Asian-American and and Middle Eastern guests were severely underrepresented, even on

Melissa Harris-Perry . The raw numbers of solo interviews given to men and women of theseethnicities were in the single digits per group across all shows.

Solo Interviews On The Sunday Shows, Including MSNBC

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

CensusThis WeekFace the NationFox News SundayMeet the PressState of the UnionMelissa Harris-PerryUp

White

Women

White

MenAfrican-

American

Men

African-

American

Women

Latino

Men

Latino

WomenAsian-

American

Men

Asian-

American

Women

Middle

Eastern

Men

Middle

Eastern

Women

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014



Gender

2014, like 2013, was a disappointing year for gender diversity on the Sunday shows. And once again,

the split between men and women was nowhere close to U.S. Census data.

Aside from very slight variations over the year prior, 2014 was more of the same, with men

overwhelmingly outnumbering women on six Sunday shows: This Week (73 to 27 percent), Face the

Nation (77 to 23 percent), Fox News Sunday (77 to 23 percent), Meet the Press (73 to 27 percent,

State of the Union (74 to 26 percent), and Up (65 to 35 percent.

Gender On Sunday Shows

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%Men Women

Census ThisWeek

Face

TheNation

FoxNews

Sunday

Meet ThePress

State of

the Union

Melissa

Harris-Perry

Up

Gender On Sunday Shows US Population

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014



The proportion of men increased on four of the seven shows -- more so on Up, which jumped four

points between 2013 and 2014.

Of the top 10 most frequent guests, eight were men: conservative columnist and Fox News

contributor George Will, Republican Representative Mike Rogers, Fox News contributor Juan Williams,

conservative pundit Brit Hume, conservative journalist Bill Kristol, Republican Representative Michael

McCaul, ABC News political contributor Matthew Dowd, and ABC News consultant Steve Ganyard. Only

two women, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile and Cook Political Report National Editor AmyWalter made the top 10.

Gender On Sunday Shows — Year To Year Comparison

Men Women

2013 2014 Change 2013 2014 Change

This Week 72% 73% +1 28% 27% -1

Face TheNation

77% 77% No Change 23% 23% No Change

Fox NewsSunday

78% 77% -1 23% 23% No Change

Meet ThePress

75% 73% -2 25% 27% +2

State of theUnion

71% 74% +3 29% 26% -3

MelissaHarris-Perry

53% 55% +2 47% 45% -2

Up 61% 65% +4 39% 35% -4

All Guests, 2014

Person Gender Ethnicity Solo Interviews Total Appearances

Will, George F. Male White 0 35

Rogers, Mike Male White 25 29

Brazile, Donna Female African-American 0 26

Williams, Juan Male African-American/Latino 0 25

Hume, Brit Male White 0 23

Kristol, William Male White 0 23

McCaul, Michael Male White 12 20

Walter, Amy Female White 0 20

Dowd, Matthew Male White 0 19

Ganyard, Steve Male White 4 18



Ethnicity

Ethnic diversity continued to suffer in 2014 as it did in 2013, with little

noticeable difference from year to year. While several shows saw their

proportion of non-white guests increase slightly -- This Week with 23

percent, up from 20; Fox News Sunday with 13 percent, up from 11;

Meet the Press with 22 percent, up from 21 -- this did not amount tomore than a few percentage points at most and remained significantly

below representations in the general population.

Contrasting with Census data, the five Sunday shows and now Up

hosted white guests in a significantly greater proportion than their

representation in the general population. Melissa Harris-Perry is the only program to offer guests of

color in greater proportion to both white guests and to their representation in the general

population.

Ethnicity On SundayShows

Ethnicity On Sunday Shows

0%

2.5%

45%

7.5%

90%Whites People of Color

Census ThisWeek

FaceThe

Nation

Fox

NewsSunday

Meet ThePress

State ofthe

Union

Melissa

Harris-Perry

Up

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014



On cable news, however, the proportion of white guests increased slightly between 2013 and 2014.

State of the Union’s proportion of white guests increased by a point -- from 73 to 74 percent -- while

both shows on MSNBC increased their proportion of white guests. Melissa Harris-Perry ’s proportion of

white guests increased slight from 44 to 45 percent, but Up saw the largest increase – from 67

percent in 2013 to 75 percent in 2014.

Out of the most frequent guests (see table on page 11), eight of the most frequent guests are white:

conservative columnist and Fox News contributor George Will, Republican Representative Mike

Rogers, conservative pundit Brit Hume, conservative journalist Bill Kristol, Republican RepresentativeMichael McCaul, ABC

News political

contributor Matthew

Dowd, ABC News

consultant Steve

Ganyard, and Cook

Political Report

National Editor Amy

Walter. Only two

African-American

guests, Fox Newscontributor Juan

Williams and

Democratic strategist

Donna Brazile made

the top 10. No other

persons of color were

on the list.

Ethnicity On Sunday Shows — Year to Year Comparison

Whites People Of Color

2013 2014 Change 2013 2014 Change

This Week 60% 59% -1 20% 23% +3

Face TheNation

67% 67% No Change 12% 12%No Change

Fox NewsSunday

67% 65% -2 11% 13%+2

Meet ThePress

62% 59% -3 21% 22% +1

State of theUnion

54% 55% +1 27% 26% -1

MelissaHarris-Perry

44% 45% +1 56% 55% -1

Up 67% 75% +8 33% 25% -8

All Guests, 2014

Person Gender Ethnicity SoloInterviews

TotalAppearances

Will, George F. Male White 0 35


Brazile, Donna Female African-American 0 26

Williams, Juan Male African-American/

Latino

0 25

Hume, Brit Male White 0 23

Kristol, William Male White 0 23


Walter, Amy Female White 0 20

Dowd, Matthew Male White 0 19



Gender and Ethnicity

The cross-section of gender and ethnicity demonstrated that

the large disparity between white men and all other guests

continued in 2014 from the year before.

White men dominated guest lists on This Week, Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday , Meet the Press,

and State of the Union. On each of these shows, the proportion of white men was close to or more

than double their representation in the general population.

Gender & Ethnicity OnSunday Shows

Gender & Ethnicity On Sunday Shows

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%White Men Everyone Else

Census This

Week

Face

TheNation

FoxNews

Sunday

Meet ThePress

State of

the UnionMelissaHarris-

Perry

Up

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014



Gender: Elected And Administration OfficialsBreaking down the gender of elected and administration officials demonstrated the stark contrast

between men and women on these programs.

In 2014, more than four out of five elected and administration guests on all five Sunday shows were

men. Fox News Sunday had the greatest disparity with 93 percent of such guests being men. Both

This Week and Fox News Sunday 's proportions of women elected and administration guests were inthe single digits.

Nine of the top 10 elected and administration officials on the five Sunday shows were men,accumulating to a total of 132 out of 142 appearances. The only woman to make the top 10,

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, had just 10 appearances in comparison.

Elected and administration guests, 2014




McCain, John Male White 14 15

Graham, Lindsey Male White 8 13

King, Peter Male White 7 13

Paul, Rand Male White 10 11

Kinzinger, Adam Male White 2 11

Kerry, John Male White 10 10

Feinstein, Dianne Female White 7 10

Durbin, Richard Male White 6 10

Gender Of Elected And Administration Guests On The Sunday Shows

Men Women

This

Week

Face

TheNation

Fox News

Sunday

Meet

ThePress

State of

the Union

Melissa

Harris-Perry

UP

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014



Compared to the year prior, the data from 2014 showed a slight shift toward less gender diversity on

all five Sunday shows. This Week demonstrated the largest change among these five, with men's

proportion of elected and administration guests increasing by five percent and women decreasing by

a corresponding amount.

On MSNBC, Melissa Harris-Perry dramatically increased its proportion of men in 2014 compared to

2013 -- up from 39 to 55 percent. Despite that, though, the show demonstrated that it is possible to

have near parity in media between men and women even though men make up a far largerproportion of elected and administration officials. Up decreased its proportion of men in 2014 but

still hosted men more than three times as often as women.

Men Women

2013 2014 Change 2013 2014 Change

This Week 86% 91% +5 14% 9% -5

Face The

Nation 85% 87% +2 15% 15% No Change

Fox NewsSunday

92% 93% +1 8% 7% -1

Meet ThePress

82% 83% +1 10% 17% +7

State of the

Union 82% 84% +2 18% 16% -2

MelissaHarris-Perry

39% 55% +16 61% 45% -16

Up 84% 77% -7 16% 23% +7

Gender Of Elected And Administration Guests On The Sunday ShowsYear To Year Comparison



Ethnicity: Elected And Administration Officials

The contrast between white elected and administration guests and all other elected and

administration guests again demonstrated a large disparity.

In 2014, whites were a much larger proportion of total guests than all other guests combined -- in

every case, more than twice as much. On Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday, and State of the Unionwhites were hosted more than four times as much as all other guests combined.

All 10 of the 10 most frequent elected and administration guests were white.





McCain, John Male White 14 15

Graham, Lindsey Male White 8 13

King, Peter Male White 7 13

Paul, Rand Male White 10 11

Kinzinger, Adam Male White 2 11

Kerry, John Male White 10 10

Feinstein, Dianne Female White 7 10

Durbin, Richard Male White 6 10

Ethnicity Of Elected And Administration Guests On The Sunday ShowsWhites People of Color

This

Week

Face

TheNation

Fox News

Sunday

Meet The

Press

State of the

Union

Melissa

Harris-Perry

Up

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014



Gender: Journalists

The gender divide of journalists favored men on all seven shows analyzed by large margins in 2014,

demonstrating not much of a change from the year before.

Fox News Sunday and Face the Nation had the greatest disparity between men and women

journalists: 71 and 69 percent of journalists were men, respectively. Up and This Week hosted men

63 percent of the time each while Melissa Harris-Perry and Meet the Press followed with 59 and 58

percent of journalists being men.

State of the Union was closest to equality between men and women journalists; however, the

difference increased from a close two percent in favor of men in 2013 to 10 percent in 2014.

Gender Of Journalists On The Sunday Shows

Men Women

Gender Of Journalists On Sunday Shows - Year To Year Comparison

Men Women

2013 2014 Change 2013 2014 Change

This Week 59% 63% +4 41% 37% -4

Face The Nation 72% 69% -3 28% 31% +3

Fox News Sunday 72% 71% -1 28% 29% +1

Meet The Press 66% 58% -8 34% 42% +8

State of the Union 51% 55% +4 49% 45% -4

Melissa Harris-Perry62% 59% -3 38% 41% +3

Up 60% 63% +3 40% 37% -3

This

Week

Face

TheNation

Fox News

Sunday

Meet The

Press

State of the

Union

Melissa

Harris-Perry

Up

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014



Ethnicity: Journalists

Journalists of color were severely underrepresented on all shows except for Melissa Harris-Perry and

State of the Union, showing little change from 2013 to 2014.

On five shows -- This Week, Face the Nation, Fox News Sunday , Meet the Press, and Up -- white

journalists far outnumbered all other journalists combined. The disparity was especially stark on

Face the Nation, where white journalists outnumbered all others nine-to-one.

State of the Union showed marked improvement between years, with the proportion of journalists ofcolor increasing by seven percent from 2013 to 2014. Meet the Press similarly raised its proportion of

journalists of color by seven percent; however, white journalists still accounted for 79 percent of all

journalists in 2014 on the program.

Ethnicity Of Journalists On The Sunday Shows

Whites People of Color

Ethnicity Of Journalists On Sunday Shows - Year To Year Comparison

White People People Of Color

2013 2014 Change 2013 2014 Change

This Week 82% 81% -1 18% 19% +1Face The Nation 93% 91% -2 7% 9% +2

Fox News Sunday 84% 85% +1 16% 29% +13

Meet The Press 86% 79% -7 14% 21% +7

State of the Union 68% 61% -7 32% 40% +8

Melissa Harris-Perry 54% 54% No Change 47% 46% -1

Up 74% 74% No Change 26% 26% No Change

ThisWeek

Face TheNation

Fox NewsSunday

Meet ThePress

State of theUnion

MelissaHarris-

Perry

Up

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014



Ideology

The ideological leanings of guests on any particular show will obviously influence the course of

discussion and the sorts of ideas presented to the audience. While we would not expect a program to

be perfectly balanced each and every week, we would expect that any ideological discrepancies

would even out over time; however, this was not always the case on the five Sunday shows during the

period of our review.

The five Sunday shows hosted fewer Republican and conservative guests in 2014 than 2013, with the

gains among neutral guests (up across all five shows, especially so on Meet the Press) and Democrats

and progressives on Face the Nation. Fox News Sunday continued to host Republican and conservative

guests at a much higher rate than Democratic and progressive ones year-to-year, and This Week gave

Democrats a slight edge in 2014. The other three Sunday shows maintained a closer balance between

guests on the left and right in 2014.

Ideology On The Sunday Shows

This Week Face the Nation Fox News Sunday Meet the Press State of the Union

Left Right Neutral

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014



A Note About Ideology Methodology:

To determine a guest’s political leanings, we did not analyze the content of each guest’s speech

during their appearances. That would have introduced enormous subjectivity to the analysis. Instead,

we coded guests based on their stated self-identification or public affiliations with openly partisan or

ideological organizations.

Guests were coded as Democratic, Republican, progressive, conservative, or “neutral.” Party

designations were reserved for current and former officeholders, candidates, campaign staff,

political consultants associated with one party or the other, and administration officials; all others

were coded as progressive, conservative, or “neutral.” The “neutral” category does not necessarily

imply strict ideological neutrality; rather, it is a catch-all that combines centrist, independent, and

nonpartisan guests. For brevity, Democrats and progressives and been combined into a single “left”

category and Republicans and conservatives into a single “right” category in some instances.

Ideology On Sunday Shows — Year To Year Comparison

Left Right Neutral

2013 2014 Change 2013 2014 Change 2013 2014 Change

This Week 31% 31% No

Change 31% 25% -6 38% 44% +6

Face TheNation

21% 23% +2 28% 24% -4 51% 52% +1

Fox NewsSunday

27% 22% -5 49% 45% -4 25% 32% +7

Meet ThePress

34% 29% -5 37% 27% -10 28% 44% +6

State of theUnion

38% 34% -4 40% 33% -7 23% 33% +10



Ideology: Solo Interviews

A show can bestow no greater importance onto a guest than that of the solo interview, which imparts

to viewers that the person in question is of such significance that a countervailing opinion need not

be provided at all.

2014 saw an overall increase in the proportion of solo interviews given to Democrats and progressives

over that of Republicans and conservatives. Meet the Press and Face the Nation both increased their

proportion of solo interviews to guests on the left and significantly dropped the proportion of solo

interviews given to guests on the right. In the case of Face the Nation, that shift resulted in solo

interviews given to left- and right-wing guests virtually evening out. State of the Union likewise

dropped their proportion of solo interviews to right-wing guests but instead held more solo

interviews with neutral guests.

Fox News Sunday increased their proportion of solo interviews with neutral guests, but Republicans

and conservatives still enjoyed a hefty advantage over Democrats and progressives on the program.

This Week’s proportion of solo interviews to left-wing guests dropped slightly while the proportion to

right-wing guests likewise rose, but Democrats and progressives still received more solo interviews

overall.

Solo Interviews On The Sunday Shows


Left Right Neutral

Left Right Neutral


This Week 37% 35% -2 27% 28% +1 36% 37% +1

Face TheNation

34% 38% +4 45% 36% -9 21% 26% +7

Fox NewsSunday

14% 13% -1 51% 39% -12 36% 49% +13

Meet ThePress

38% 45% +7 42% 26% -16 20% 29% +9

State of theUnion

42% 40% -2 46% 32% -14 12% 28% +16

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014



Ideology: Elected and Administration Officials

A large proportion of all guests on the five Sunday shows -- 26 percent in 2014 -- are what we can

term “officials sources,” representatives of the president’s administration and those elected to

office.

Producers on the Sunday shows have argued -- as then-Meet the Press producer Betsy Fischer toldMedia Matters for a 2006 study -- that because the administration in power has a cabinet full of

newsmakers, we should expect a Democratic advantage during a Democratic presidency and vice-

versa. In that study, we found that the slight edge Democrats enjoyed during the second term of

President Bill Clinton was dwarfed by the large advantage Republicans had during the first term of

President George W. Bush. The data in 2013 and 2014 show a more nuanced split among left and right

across the five Sunday shows.

Elected And Administration Guests On The Sunday Shows


Democrats Republicans Neutral Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014

http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/pdf/MMFA_Sunday_Show_Report.pdf



In 2014, the proportion of Democrats and Republicans were largely down on all shows except for

Democrats on Fox News Sunday (held steady year-to-year), Meet the Press (a large increase from the

prior year), and State of the Union (a moderate increase from 2013).

The proportion of neutral elected and administration officials increased from the prior year in 2014.

This can largely be attributed to week-after-week appearances of Anthony Fauci, Director of the

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, during the

2014 Ebola outbreak. (Fauci, appointed to his position in 1984, has served under both Democraticand Republican presidents; therefore, we coded him as neutral.) Out of a total of 32 appearances by

neutral elected and administration guests, 15 were of Fauci: three on This Week, three on Face the

Nation, three on Fox News Sunday , four on Meet the Press, and two on State of the Union.

Despite this, the top 10 most frequent 2014 elected and administration guests tended to be

Republican. Only three elected and administration guests were Democrats, and they were all at the

bottom of the list. The top seven were all Republican, with Michigan Representative Mike Rogers

taking the lead with 29 appearances -- 25 of which were solo interviews.

Left Right Neutral


This Week 55% 53% -2 45% 41% -4 0% 6% +6

Face The

Nation 46% 45% -1 53% 50% -3 1% 5% +4

Fox NewsSunday

36% 36% No

Change 64% 60% -4 0% 5% +5

Meet ThePress

50% 60% +10 48% 34% -14 2% 6% +4

State of theUnion

50% 54% +4 47% 40% -7 3% 5% +2


Person Ideology Solo Interviews Total Appearances

Rogers, Mike Republican 25 29

McCaul, Michael Republican 12 20

McCain, John Republican 14 15

Graham, Lindsey Republican 8 13

King, Peter Republican 7 13

Paul, Rand Republican 10 11

Kinzinger, Adam Republican 2 11

Kerry, John Democrat 10 10

Feinstein, Dianne Democrat 7 10

Durbin, Richard Democrat 6 10

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/about/directors/biography/pages/biography.aspx



Ideology: Journalists

Journalists -- a category that includes reporters for news publications and political pundits -- are an

even larger group on the five Sunday shows; in 2014, 42 percent of all guests were journalists.

Although the vast majority of journalists are coded neutral, when journalists do have identifiable

ideological leanings, those are more likely to be conservative than progressive. This has held true

year-over-year between 2013 and 2014.

Fox News Sunday was the most imbalanced, with 46 percent of journalists being conservative -- an

increase over the prior year -- and only 17 percent being progressive -- a decrease from 2013. As we

discovered in past Sunday show analyses, this disparity can largely be attributed to Fox News

Sunday 's tendency to host roundtables consisting of two conservative journalists, one progressive

journalist, and one neutral journalist.

State of the Union similarly increased its proportion of conservative journalists -- from 24 to 28

percent -- and decreased its proportion of progressive journalists -- from 20 to 18 percent -- in 2014.

Conservative advantages held on the other three shows as well; though, the proportion of progressive

journalists increased on This Week and Face the Nation. Meet the Press saw a substantial increase in

neutral journalists from 2013 to 2014 -- 58 to 72 percent, respectively.

Journalists On The Sunday Shows


Progressives Conservatives Neutral

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014

http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/pdf/if-its-sunday-its-still-conservative.pdf



While neutral journalists taken together were a majority of journalists on four networks, the most

frequent journalist guests tended to be ideological -- and conservative. Of the top five journalists by

total appearances , three were conservative and two were progressive. Conservative columnist and2

Fox News contributor George Will took the top spot with 35 appearances -- much more than anyother journalist.

This disparity cannot be explained away by whoever happens to hold political power at the moment

-- we expect that producers would attempt to balance out journalists and pundits regardless of who

is in the White House or who holds a majority in Congress.

Left Right Neutral


This Week 55% 53% -2 45% 41% -4 0% 6% +6

Face The

Nation

46% 45% -1 53% 50% -3 1% 5% +4

Fox NewsSunday

36% 36% No

Change 64% 60% -4 0% 5% +5

Meet ThePress

50% 60% +10 48% 34% -14 2% 6% +4

State of theUnion

50% 54% +4 47% 40% -7 3% 5% +2

Journalists, 2014

Person Ideology Solo Interviews Total Appearances

Will, George F. Conservative 0 35

Brazile, Donna Progressive 0 26

Williams, Juan Progressive 0 25

Hume, Brit Conservative 0 23

Kristol, William Conservative 0 22

Dowd, Matthew Neutral 0 19

Ganyard, Steve Neutral 4 18

Noonan, Peggy Conservative 0 17

Ignatius, David Neutral 1 15

Todd, Chuck Neutral 2 14

Mitchell, Andrea Neutral 0 14

Pace, Julie Neutral 0 14

Our “top 10” journalists list includes 12 because Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, MSNBC reporter Andrea2

Mitchell, and Associated Press Correspondent Julie Pace tied for the 10th spot with 14 appearances each.



Cross-section: Gender, Ethnicity, and Ideology

Breaking down ideologically coded guests on the five Sunday shows demonstrated that white men,

regardless of their political background, held a significantly higher proportion of total guest

appearances.

White men were a plurality of Republican and conservative, Democratic and progressive, and neutral

guests in both 2013 and 2014. The proportion of right-wing and left-wing white men fell while neutral

white men increased in 2014; however, right-wing white men still held an advantage over left-wing

white men. White women in 2014 had a similar dynamic to 2013 between left and right guests,

including a slight increase in the proportion of neutral white women.

Of African-American guests, Democrats and progressives represented a larger proportion than

Republicans and conservatives in both 2013 and 2014 -- seven to 0.6 percent, respectively.

Gender, Ethncity, And Ideology Of Guests On The Sunday Shows

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Left Right Neutral

White

WomenWhite

Men

African-

American

Men

African-

American

Women

Latino

Men

Latino

WomenAsian-

American

Men

Asian-

American

Women

Middle

Eastern

Men

Middle

Eastern

Women

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014



Latino, Asian-American, and Middle Eastern men and women still represented extremely small

proportions of total guests in 2014, and in some cases, these small numbers can largely be attributed

to a handful of guests -- or even just one. Eight of the 13 appearances by Asian-American women

were by Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden. Of the smallest group, Middle Eastern

guests, representing just 0.5 percent of total guests, five of the 11 guest appearances were by

Republican Representative Darrell Issa of California. Malala Fund founder Shiza Shahid was the only

Middle Eastern woman hosted during the entirety of 2014 on all five Sunday shows.

Guests by gender and ethnicity, 2014

Gender Ethnicity Left Right Neutral

Men White 314 510 524

Women White 105 117 220

Men African-American 113 10 78

Women African-American 47 3 42

Men Latino 60 22 5

Women Latino 4 13 8

Men Asian-American 2 12 5

Women Asian-American 11 0 2

Men Middle Eastern 0 7 3

Women Middle Eastern 0 0 1



Cross-section: Gender, Ethnicity, and Ideology

Solo Interviews

To an even greater degree than among all guest appearances, the breakdown of solo interviews by

gender, ethnicity, and ideology demonstrated that white men of all political stripes are given this

opportunity at much higher rates than any other group.

In 2014, conservative white men accounted for 29 percent of all solo interviews on the five Sunday

shows. Despite this being a decrease from the year prior -- conservative white men in 2013 received

36 percent of all solo interviews -- this groups still held the largest proportion of solo interviews.

Progressive and neutral white men both increased their proportions of solo interviews from 2013 to

2014, with neutral white men receiving the largest gain of the two, from 14 to 20 percent.

Gender, Ethncity, And Ideology Of Guests On The Sunday Shows

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Left Right Neutral

White

Women

White

MenAfrican-

American

Men

African-

American

Women

Latino

Men

Latino

WomenAsian-

American

Men

Asian-

American

Women

Middle

Eastern

Men

Middle

Eastern

Women

Jan. 5 - Dec. 28, 2014



By contrast, all other groups’ proportions of solo interviews in 2014 were in the single digits year-

over-year. And Latino, Asian-American, and Middle Eastern men and women received the fewest raw

number of solo interviews of all groups, regardless of political background. On the conservative side,

the numbers can be attributed to a handful of the same individuals: Of the 17 solo interviews with

conservative Latino men, Republican Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio account for 15. Republican

Representative Darrell Issa accounts for all five of the solo interviews given to conservative Middle

Eastern men. In contrast, progressive Latino men included Democratic Representatives Xavier

Becerra, Joaquin Castro, and Luis Gutierrez; Federal Aviation Administration Administrator MichaelHuerta; Democratic Senator Robert Menendez; and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor -- who

together made up eight of the 10 appearances of progressive Latinos.

Solo interviews by gender and ethnicity, 2014

Gender Ethnicity Left Right Neutral

Men White 144 172 122

Women White 37 8 23

Men African-American 27 2 16

Women African-American 6 0 3

Men Latino 9 17 1

Women Latino 1 0 1

Men Asian-American 0 3 1

Women Asian-American 0 0 1

Men Middle Eastern 0 5 1

Women Middle Eastern 0 0 0



Methodology

We reviewed every edition of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, CBS'

Face The Nation with Bob

Schieffer , NBC's Meet The Press with Chuck Todd (Previously Meet the Press with David Gregory prior to

September 7, 2014), Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, CNN's State of the Union with

Candy Crowley , and MSNBC's Up with Steve Kornacki (previously Up with Chris Hayes prior to April 13, 2013)

and Melissa Harris-Perry . Guest appearances for the four broadcast and CNN programs were coded for gender;

ethnicity; whether guests appeared in solo interviews; whether they were journalists, administration officials,

or elected officials; and for their partisanship or ideology. Guests on the two MSNBC shows were coded for were

coded for gender; ethnicity; whether guests appeared in solo interviews; and whether they were journalists,

administration officials, or elected officials.

Not all percentages add up to 100 due to rounding, that some guests' ethnicity could not be satisfactorily

identified, and that some guests identify with more than one ethnicity. U.S. Census data comes from the most

recent 2013 estimates and adds up to more than 100 percent due to respondents selecting more than one race

in surveys. Census data for Middle Eastern guests could not be found as the Census does not provide that

category in its reports.

These classifications do not represent an analysis of what guests actually said when they appeared on a show

on a given date. Coding each guest's comments for their ideological slant would have introduced enormousdifficulties and opportunities for subjectivity. Instead, we simply classified guests based on their own

ideological self-identification or public affiliation with an openly partisan or ideological organization or

institution.

In the vast majority of cases, guests are clearly identifiable by their party or ideology (or as having none). Of

course, in a few instances, these decisions were not as simple to make. We therefore constructed rules that

could be applied as strictly as possible. Where a guest's identification was in question,

Media Matters

chose to

err on the side of listing that guest toward the left.

Following are some of the principal rules coders employed in classifying guests:

• The party designations (Democratic and Republican) are reserved for current and former officeholders,

candidates, campaign staff, political consultants associated with one party or the other, and

administration officials. All others are labeled conservative, progressive, or neutral.

• The neutral category does not necessarily imply strict ideological neutrality but, rather, might better

be understood as neutral/centrist/nonpartisan -- we use the term "neutral" for the sake of brevity.

• When guests served in both Republican and Democratic administrations in the past, they were coded as

neutral barring any compelling reason to do otherwise. In a few cases, however, a former official who

had served under presidents from both parties became clearly identified with one ideology and were

coded accordingly.

• Our "Journalist" classification applies not only to daily reporters but also to opinion columnists,

magazine writers, etc.

• In the case of foreign officials and journalists, we labeled all as neutral -- even though the political

ideology of some might be identifiable -- to avoid the need to analyze the politics of other countries.

Foreign nationals were also excluded from the diversity analysis.

• Active duty members of the armed forces were classified as members of the Obama administration.

Retired officers were coded as neutral absent any other affiliation.

2014 sunday show study

Documents