FAIR Study: PBS is Awfully White, Male and Republican These Days
A study released yesterday by media watchdogs Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting revealed that the PBS network’s marquee news program NewsHour, formerly the McNeil/Leher NewsHour, continues to favor sources that are white, male and powerful. 82 percent of guests on the program were non-Hispanic white, while 80 percent were male. Hispanics only made up 1 percent of the sources used on the program. The study also found that Republicans outnumbered Democratic guests 3 to 2.
More from FAIR:
Public interest advocates—sources representing civil rights, labor, consumer, environmental and other citizen-based advocacy groups—provided just 4 percent of the NewsHour’s guests (43 appearances). Despite their comparatively few numbers, these sources represented a range of perspectives, from environmental groups like the National Wildlife Federation, international NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and conservative advocacy organizations including Freedom Works and the National Rifle Association. With 13 sources, human rights/humanitarian groups were the largest subset of public interest groups. Representatives of environmental organizations were the next largest subset, with 10 appearances.
The public interest representatives who might best serve as a counterweight to the 10 percent of NewsHour sources who were corporate voices—sources representing labor, environmental groups and consumer rights organizations—combined for only 2 percent of the NewsHour’s guestlist with 16 appearances. Three sources were labor representatives, one of whom was a member of a union in Greece.
H/T The eXiled
