Four liberal members of Congress, claiming that Sunday morning TV talk shows favor conservative guests, want network execs to provide equal time.
The Democrat lawmakers cited a report from the heavily Left-leaning watchdog group Media Matters for America, which concluded that liberals get about half the face time as their conservative counterparts on shows like NBC’s Meet the Press, ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, CBS’s Face the Nation, and Fox News Sunday.
Study author Paul Waldman said the lopsidedness has been evident for two years.
“What we found,” he told Family News in Focus, “was that the Republicans and conservatives had a consistent advantage – depending on what measure you’re using – by as much as 2-to-1.”
The report found that during President Bush’s first term, the news shows favored GOP guests over Democrats 60 to 39 percent. Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media said that’s a pyrrhic victory, considering the grilling conservatives often endure on the shows.
“When [Media Matters] analyzes so-called conservative bias,” he said, “it completely ignores the fact that the program is hosted by a liberal journalist.”
Gary Schneeberger, media liaison for Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson, agreed.
“I get plenty of phone calls from journalists who want Dr. Dobson to appear on one these shows – but it’s never to give him an open mic to talk about how our ministry helps families stay together,” Schneeberger said. “They want him to talk about some contentious political issue – and there’s little doubt about the kinds of questions they want to ask or the disapproving tone with which they would ask them.”
