Study Finds Lack of Balance, Diversity at PBS NewsHour

[Robbien]

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, PBS's flagship news program, touts its "signature style—low-key, evenhanded, inclusive of all perspectives"; Corporation for Public Broadcasting ombud Ken Bode called it "the mother ship of balance." But a new FAIR study finds that the NewsHour fails to provide either balance or diversity of perspectives—or a true public-minded alternative to its corporate competition.

To evaluate the NewsHour's evenhandedness and commitment to the public interest, Extra! studied its guestlist during the six-month period spanning October 2005 through March 2006.

Among the most prominent findings:


. . .

# 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. . .

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.

PBS's editorial guidelines emphasize that "the surest road to intellectual stagnation and social isolation is to stifle the expression of uncommon ideas." With at least 15 years on that road, the NewsHour has utterly failed the public it exists to serve.

ACTION: Tell the NewsHour to diversify its guestlist and include more public interest voices.

CONTACT:
PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
Phone: [phone]
[e-mail]

Michael Getler
PBS Ombudsman
Phone: [phone]
Web form: http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/feedback.html

[EST]

1. Can you provide a link to the actual study?

Would make it a little easier to reference in my letters to PBS.
I've been accusing them of this all along, but they refuse to acknowledge any of my input.

[Robbien]

2. Sure

Link to Fair's study
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2967

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. What a shame

that this doesn't surprise me at all.

[Mountainman]

11. I stopped watching the News Hour when the repugs started to outnumber

everyone else. It was beginning to sound like right wing propaganda.

[gumby]

4. Haven't watched that piece-o-crap program for a long time.

NewsHour (and NPR) are worse than just their lopsided guests. They have been mainstreaming right-wing extremism. When they attempt "balance," it's something pitting David Brooks against Mark Shields. Phooey.

Bush buddy, Jim Lehrer, despises unions and others outside the Ruling Class. He calls them (me) 'whiners,' I believe.

NewsHour should move to Faux News.

[Poiuyt]

5. Are we seeing the effects of Ken Tomlinson?

I know he's no longer there, but I'm guessing that his editorial views will be with them for some time.

[Subdivisions]

6. Kicked and rec'd!!! The fascist plot gets nakeder and nakeder...

[Infinite Hope]

7. I like NewsHour

I've enjoyed that program because it is more objective than other sources and Jim does a good job of questioning guests as do most of the others. And Sheilds/Brooks is a great segment as well.

[Robbien]

9. Fox News is more objective

because Fox does not try to hide their GOP bias. NewsHour on the other hand tries to say it provides an alternative to the other news but as this study shows, it is MORE biased than other news.

If you like NewsHour, than you must like listening to the GOP viewpoint and like having yourself called a whiney liberal.

[Supersedeas]

8. I've stopped watching and can't stand Gwen Iffil's weekly shoe either

[madmusic]

10. Well, that's why neocons wanted control of PBS.

Anyone surprised?