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Graphic Evidence of Media Preferences
The Sunday morning talks shows are fairly influential, in
part because even when viewers turn them off the participants still make news in the print
and internet areas. And of course
Republicans are much
more likely to be on these shows than Democrats.
The
general impression is rooted in fact: the Sunday shows love Republicans. “Meet
the Press,” “Face the Nation,” “This Week,” “State of the Union,” and “Fox News
Sunday,” hoping to reflect and help shape the conventional wisdom for the
political world, collectively favor GOP guests over Democratic guests every
year, but who were the big winners in 2013?
The
above chart shows every political figure who made 10 or more Sunday show
appearances this year, with red columns representing Republicans and blue columns
representing Democrats. For 2013, the race wasn’t especially close – House
Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) easily came out on top,
making 27 appearances this year. That works out to an average of one appearance
every 1.9 weeks (or 2.25 Sunday show appearances a month, every month for a
year).
Sen.
John McCain (R-Ariz.), who led the race for much of the year, ended up in
second place with 24 appearances over 52 weeks. As a consolation prize, it’s
worth noting that McCain made 21 Sunday show appearances in 2012, so while he
couldn’t match Rogers ’ 2013 tally, at least the Arizona
Former
House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R), who hasn’t served in public office since
resigning in disgrace 15 years ago, was tied for third place with Senate
Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), one of only a few Democrats to make the cut.
In
all, 10 of the top 13 are Republicans, as are six of the top seven.
So what to expect in 2014.
Well Republicans will charge that the networks are biased because they
let a few Democrats on, because as everyone knows bias to Republicans is
letting anyone other than a Republican express their views.
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