# Potential for Bias on Sunday Political Shows **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 13, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767 "2012-05-13T12:52:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/21 "2012-05-14T14:27:03Z")
Why is this in the Elections forum? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/22 "2012-05-14T15:21:13Z")
It seems to me that there is generally a balance in the guests. What galls me is that whenever the camera is turned onto the Republican, the FIRST thing they do is start going through their prepared talking points, regardless of what the question was. Kelly Ayotte was a perfect example of this a week ago. Christ what a perfectly programmed little bitch, auditioning for the veep slot. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/23 "2012-05-14T15:28:59Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > Coming back from a break they ran two commercials. The first was an Obama the economy is coming back feel good commercial. The second was a Romney commercial with quotes of Obama surrogates dissing mothers. > > One positive although questionable; the other negative with facts. I’ll bet the Obama campaign was pleased with the choice… I’d bet that the Romney campaign might have found one that they preferred had been used. > > What do you think? Do you think that the ads aren’t representative of what the two campaigns are actually running? If they _are_ representative, then the Romney campaign has nothing to cry about. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/24 "2012-05-14T17:37:27Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > CONNECT THE DOTS, PEOPLE! Patterns! Just last week I saw this kid in my yard looking up in a tree, he said I’m looking for my burro owl, I said JUMPIN JESUS ON A POGO STICK, everyone knows that a burrow owl lives in a hole in the ground. Do you think a kid like that will know what the Democrats are doing to our talk shows? Do you KNOW what the QUEERS are DOING to the SOIL!!! Ludovic, I like you. You’re not like the other people… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/25 "2012-05-14T17:51:11Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > The question askers are the key. The key is what questions get asked. If you have a good interviewer, they can ask the important questions of anybody regardless of whatever party affiliations may be involved. Chris Matthews has a background in Democratic Party politics and he’s a moron - loud, obnoxious, in love with the sound of his own voice, excitable, shallow, fascinated by the useless parts of politics and incapable of real analysis. Tim Russert had a background in Democratic Party politics and most people felt he became a serious journalist and a good interviewer. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/26 "2012-05-14T18:02:35Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > Thanks…anybody see a pattern there? Yes. Except for Crowley and Zakaria, they’re all older white guys. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/27 "2012-05-14T22:09:57Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why is this in the Elections forum? Dunno; the mods didn’t want to move it for fear that he’d open another ATMB thread about the move, and they don’t want him overexposed in that forum? ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/28 "2012-05-15T00:29:56Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Dunno; the mods didn’t want to move it for fear that he’d open another ATMB thread about the move, and they don’t want him overexposed in that forum? Because until Election Day on Tuesday, November 6th, _every_ Sunday, and by extension every Sunday morning talk show, will involve the 2012 election. > [@BobLibDem](#): > > What galls me is that whenever the camera is turned onto the Republican, the FIRST thing they do is start going through their prepared talking points, regardless of what the question was. Because they want to be quoted in the Monday paper the next day. > [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > Serious people get their news from the printed word. Pseudo-serious people watch the Sunday morning talking heads. Yes. Just like during the week, Monday thorugh Friday, semi-serious people watch Good Morning America while serious people _finish_ getting their news when Good Morning Ameirca _begins_. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/29 "2012-05-15T03:16:34Z")
Interestingly, one way to make yourself suddenly less popular with the Sunday shows is to be pushing a book claiming that no, both parties aren’t actually equally to blame, and the media’s insistence that they are is part of the problem. As Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann [seem to be finding out](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/only-one-partys-to-blame-dont-tell-the-sunday-shows/2012/05/14/gIQAXOcPPU_blog.html). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/30 "2012-05-15T03:46:34Z")
> [@waterj2](#): > > Interestingly, one way to make yourself suddenly less popular with the Sunday shows is to be pushing a book claiming that no, both parties aren’t actually equally to blame, and the media’s insistence that they are is part of the problem. As Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann [seem to be finding out](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/only-one-partys-to-blame-dont-tell-the-sunday-shows/2012/05/14/gIQAXOcPPU_blog.html). Most telling: > [@](#): > > Ornstein also noted another interesting point. Their thesis takes on the media for falling into a false equivalence mindset and maintaining the pretense that both sides are equally to blame. Yet despite the frequent self-obsession of the media, even that angle has failed to generate any interest. What’s more, some reporters have privately indicated their frustration with their editorial overlords’ apparent deafness to this idea. > > “The piece focused on press culpability — it would be hard to find a more sensitive issue for the media than the question of whether they’re doing their job,” Ornstein said. “We got tons of emails from some of the biggest reporters in the business, saying, `We’ve raised this in the newsroom, and editors just brush it aside.’” Here’s your answer, **What.** The bias comes from the editors. But it ain’t LW bias, it’s “Fair and Balanced” bias. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/31 "2012-05-15T04:29:38Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Dunno; the mods didn’t want to move it for fear that he’d open another ATMB thread about the move, and they don’t want him overexposed in that forum? From where I sit, it’s not a Great Debate and it’s not an IMHO topic. It doesn’t fit perfectly into this forum either, but it may as well stay here as far as I’m concerned. It does relate to “political news, and politicians and public figures.” ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/32 "2012-05-15T04:38:30Z")
> [@waterj2](#): > > Interestingly, one way to make yourself suddenly less popular with the Sunday shows is to be pushing a book claiming that no, both parties aren’t actually equally to blame, and the media’s insistence that they are is part of the problem. As Norman Ornstein and Thomas Mann [seem to be finding out](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/only-one-partys-to-blame-dont-tell-the-sunday-shows/2012/05/14/gIQAXOcPPU_blog.html). Let’s be clear about what just happened. Norman Ornstein is from a right wing think tank -AEI. Thomas Mann is from a centrist think tank - Brookings.[1] Ornstein is a popular talking head. They just wrote a book which is getting unusually popular relative to their typical stuff - 200,000 hits at Facebook. Reporters are aware of the problem they face. And yet… radio silence. No bookings on _any_ Sunday talk show. It’s too hot to handle, too disturbing for modern conservative mentality. Editors know that they would face intense hissy fits if they …report the facts. > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Here’s your answer, **What.** The bias comes from the editors. But it ain’t LW bias, it’s “Fair and Balanced” bias. :rolleyes: The editors know their market: American liberals are simply made of sturdier stuff on average than conservatives. Conservative news consumers seek reassurance: they are puerile in that way. Liberals just want the hard-hitting facts. I have a copy of the book with me. It looks pretty good: it has a blurb by Paul Volker in the back. It opens with a Jan 26, 2010 vote on a resolution to create an 18 member deficit reduction task force. Earlier it had gotten bipartisan support, working up to the top to John McCain and Mitch McConnell. And yet the Republicans filibustered the resolution that day: the Dems couldn’t garner a single Republican vote that would allow debate to be stopped. That’s right. John McCain plus 6 republican co-sponsors filibustered their own bill. Don’t want to give Obama a victory, you see. But don’t expect to learn that on the TV. News editors have to tip-toe around the delicate feelings of the modern conservative. Heck, some of them even tear up with regards to the bias of Sunday talk shows. The name of the book is [_It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism_](http://www.amazon.com/Even-Worse-Than-Looks-Constitutional/dp/0465031331/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337056456&sr=8-1). It’s ranked number 8 among political books and number 77 overall at Amazon. [1] Calling Brookings ultra-liberal would be pretty silly given their advocacy of the Iraq War. ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/33 "2012-05-15T05:24:02Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > Coming back from a break they ran two commercials. The first was an Obama the economy is coming back feel good commercial. The second was a Romney commercial with quotes of Obama surrogates dissing mothers. > > One positive although questionable; the other negative with facts. I’ll bet the Obama campaign was pleased with the choice… I’d bet that the Romney campaign might have found one that they preferred had been used. > > What do you think? Advertisers buy advertising time and choose the ads they wish to run. Do you think that the Romney campaign wanted to run a different ad and the network insisted on this one instead? ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/34 "2012-05-15T05:25:07Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > Thanks…anybody see a pattern there? I don’t think anyone does, but you seem to. Do tell. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/35 "2012-05-15T06:18:14Z")
> [@Kyomara](#): > > I don’t think anyone does, but you seem to. Do tell. Stare at it long enough and you **will** see the sailboat! ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/36 "2012-05-15T12:07:47Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The key is what questions get asked. If you have a good interviewer, they can ask the important questions of anybody regardless of whatever party affiliations may be involved. Chris Matthews has a background in Democratic Party politics and he’s a moron - loud, obnoxious, in love with the sound of his own voice, excitable, shallow, fascinated by the useless parts of politics and incapable of real analysis. Tim Russert had a background in Democratic Party politics and most people felt he became a serious journalist and a good interviewer. Agreed… I liked Tim Russert. Chris Matthews doesn’t belong hosting anywhere other than MSNBC. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/37 "2012-05-15T12:09:11Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Why is this in the Elections forum? Politics… Sunday Morning Political Shows… Democrats/Republicans …get it? Where does it belong The Pit? ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/38 "2012-05-15T12:11:19Z")
> [@Kozmik](#): > > Because until Election Day on Tuesday, November 6th, _every_ Sunday, and by extension every Sunday morning talk show, will involve the 2012 election. > > Because they want to be quoted in the Monday paper the next day. > > Yes. Just like during the week, Monday thorugh Friday, semi-serious people watch Good Morning America while serious people _finish_ getting their news when Good Morning Ameirca _begins_. And not very serious people at all keep tuned in for The View. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/39 "2012-05-15T12:18:01Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Here’s your answer, **What.** The bias comes from the editors. But it ain’t LW bias, it’s “Fair and Balanced” bias. :rolleyes: That would apply to the campaign commercials they pick but not to the way hosts ask questions and the way they follow up… or not. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767/40 "2012-05-15T12:21:43Z")
> [@Kyomara](#): > > Advertisers buy advertising time and choose the ads they wish to run. Do you think that the Romney campaign wanted to run a different ad and the network insisted on this one instead? The show picked the “commercials” as lead-ins to the segment… they weren’t run as commercials as such. One was a feel good spot… the other was just a tad nasty although 100% true. Something a bully would run. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/potential-for-bias-on-sunday-political-shows/621767.md?page=3)