Lionhearted
10/10/06, 01:27 pm
More specifically the program NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. The program, formerly known as the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour has been cited by many (including the 1987 National Conservative Political Action Conference) as a "beacon of balance" (Kenneth Tomlinson, the rather conservative chair of the "Corporation" for Public Broadcasting) and "the mothership of balance" (Ken Bode, PBS ombud and fellow at the Hudson Institute (http://www.hudson.org/learn/index.cfm?fuseaction=mission_statement)). According to a recent study (http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2967) by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) such is not the case.
The study, which was conducted over a six month period spanning from October 2005 through March 2006 found that:
Public interest groups accounted for just 4 percent of total sources. General public—"person in the street," workers, students—accounted for only 14 percent, while current and former government and military officials totaled 50 percent of all sources.
Male sources outnumbered women by more than 4-to-1 (82 percent to 18 percent). Moreover, 72 percent of U.S. guests were white males, while jU.S.t 6 percent were women of color.
People of color made up only 15 percent of U.S. sources. African-Americans made up 9 percent, Latinos 2 percent, and Asian-Americans and people of Mideastern descent made up one percent each. Alberto Gonzales accounted for more than 30 percent of Latino sources, while Condoleeza Rice accounted for nearly 13 percent of African-American sources.
Among partisan sources, Republicans outnumbered Democrats on the NewsHour by 2-to-1 (66 percent vs. 33 percent). Only one representative of a third party appeared during the study period.
At a time when a large proportion of the U.S. public already favored withdrawal from Iraq, "stay the course" sources outnumbered pro-withdrawal sources more than 5-to-1. In the entire six months studied, not a single peace activist was heard on the NewsHour on the subject of Iraq.
Segments on Hurricane Katrina accounted for less than 10 percent of all sources, but provided nearly half (46 percent) of all African-American sources during the study period. Those African-Americans were largely presented as victims rather than leaders or experts: In segments on the human impact of the storm, African-Americans made up 51 percent of sources, but in reconstruction segments, whites dominated with 72 percent of sources; 59 percent of all African-American sources across Katrina segments were general public sources.
The findings confirmed the results of FAIR's 1990 study of the NewsHour, which found that the PBS news program offered less diversity than ABC's Nightline.
Hate to say it but I would venture that Faux News is at least this diverse.
Here (http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2006/10/a_fair_analysis.html) is what NewsHour executive producer Linda Winslow and current ombud Michael Getler have to say about FAIR's assessment followed by PBS's Editorial Guidelines (http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/aboutpbs_standards.html)which seem like a rather sad joke these days.
It would seem that the keywords are now Corporation for Public Broadcast and Public Broadcast Service of which there seems to no longer be any.
The study, which was conducted over a six month period spanning from October 2005 through March 2006 found that:
Public interest groups accounted for just 4 percent of total sources. General public—"person in the street," workers, students—accounted for only 14 percent, while current and former government and military officials totaled 50 percent of all sources.
Male sources outnumbered women by more than 4-to-1 (82 percent to 18 percent). Moreover, 72 percent of U.S. guests were white males, while jU.S.t 6 percent were women of color.
People of color made up only 15 percent of U.S. sources. African-Americans made up 9 percent, Latinos 2 percent, and Asian-Americans and people of Mideastern descent made up one percent each. Alberto Gonzales accounted for more than 30 percent of Latino sources, while Condoleeza Rice accounted for nearly 13 percent of African-American sources.
Among partisan sources, Republicans outnumbered Democrats on the NewsHour by 2-to-1 (66 percent vs. 33 percent). Only one representative of a third party appeared during the study period.
At a time when a large proportion of the U.S. public already favored withdrawal from Iraq, "stay the course" sources outnumbered pro-withdrawal sources more than 5-to-1. In the entire six months studied, not a single peace activist was heard on the NewsHour on the subject of Iraq.
Segments on Hurricane Katrina accounted for less than 10 percent of all sources, but provided nearly half (46 percent) of all African-American sources during the study period. Those African-Americans were largely presented as victims rather than leaders or experts: In segments on the human impact of the storm, African-Americans made up 51 percent of sources, but in reconstruction segments, whites dominated with 72 percent of sources; 59 percent of all African-American sources across Katrina segments were general public sources.
The findings confirmed the results of FAIR's 1990 study of the NewsHour, which found that the PBS news program offered less diversity than ABC's Nightline.
Hate to say it but I would venture that Faux News is at least this diverse.
Here (http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2006/10/a_fair_analysis.html) is what NewsHour executive producer Linda Winslow and current ombud Michael Getler have to say about FAIR's assessment followed by PBS's Editorial Guidelines (http://www.pbs.org/aboutpbs/aboutpbs_standards.html)which seem like a rather sad joke these days.
It would seem that the keywords are now Corporation for Public Broadcast and Public Broadcast Service of which there seems to no longer be any.