If It's Sunday, It's Conservative
Today, Media Matters for America released the findings of its first in-depth study, which indicates that conservative voices have significantly outnumbered progressive voices on the Sunday shows throughout former President Bill Clinton's second term (1997-2000), President George W. Bush's first term (2001-2004), and 2005.
The report -- titled If It's Sunday, It's Conservative -- includes content analysis of NBC's Meet the Press, CBS' Face the Nation, and ABC's This Week, classifying each one of the nearly 7,000 guests who appeared during the 1997-2005 period as either Democrat, Republican, conservative, progressive, or neutral.
"There is strong evidence indicating Democrats and progressives have been systematically underrepresented on the Sunday talk shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC no matter what party has occupied the White House," said Paul Waldman, Senior Fellow at Media Matters and author of the study. "With a combined audience of nearly 10 million households every week, the networks have given conservatives and Republicans significantly more opportunities to shape public debate and influence public opinion."
Among the study's key findings: