Reply #7: Interesting aside-Wikipedia on CSPAN

[EstimatedProphet]

There was a section in the CSPAN entry on Wikipedia about allegations of bias that has completely disappeared. Here is the original text:
Allegations of bias

Despite its stated commitment to providing politically balanced programming, the channels have been accused of having a conservative bias. These typically center on such shows as Washington Journal, Booknotes, Q & A, and Afterwords.

The group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) released a study of C-SPAN's morning call-in show Washington Journal, revealing that Republicans were favored over Democrats by a two-to-one margin within a six month time span. The report also claims that people of color are underrepresented as guests on the program. <1>

Other complaints have been raised about the shows "Booknotes" and "Afterwords". Critics charge that the shows highlight more conservative authors than liberal ones, and also more obscure ones, without hosting similarly obscure liberal authors. For example, on "Booknotes", which is no longer produced, reporters from the right-wing Washington Times appeared when they published conservative books while reporters from larger papers who wrote better selling and less biased works did not. Also, on "Afterwords", liberal authors are paired with hostile interviewers while conservative ones are paired with neutral or sympathetic ones. In one example, the editor of The Nation was interviewed by conservative writer David Frum, while the next week Rick Santorum was interviewed by a reporter from Congressional Quarterly. In another example, former CBS producer Mary Mapes, who was part of the so-called "Rathergate" scandal, was interviewed by conservative columnist Brent Bozell, while Republican John Linder was to be interviewed by reporter David Wessel, a reporter with the conservative-leaning Wall Street Journal.

The new interview show Q & A, according to critics, also exhibits the same biases by implicitly equating two unequal ideological positions. This occurs, according to critics, when right-wing Republican op-ed writers are 'balanced' with center-left mainstream Democrats, or with non-ideological guests, or even not balanced at all. For example, conservative Fox News head Roger Ailes was interviewed about the news network, and the next week NBC's Brian Williams appeared. In another example, New York Times Baghdad correspondent Dexter Filkins appeared sandwiched between Charles Krauthammer and Thomas Sowell, two conservative columnists. Ousted CPB head Kenneth Tomlinson, a professed conservative, was a guest, while in the weeks preceding and following him the guests were two Los Angeles metro reporters and the head of an international graduate school.

C-Span's twenty-fifth anniversary show continued this unequal pattern. Far right, conservative writers appeared alone, "balanced" with non-ideological reporters and academics or with liberals paired with yet more conservatives. Conservatives who appeared alone included Mona Charen, Matt Drudge, Pat Buchanan, Tony Blankley, Jim Pinkerton, Gerald Reynolds, and Reason magazine's Nick Gillespie. Only John Podesta and (arguably) Christopher Hitchens appeared as solo liberals. The non-ideological segments included reporters discussing presidential scandals and Supreme Court nominations, Washington Post writer Sally Quinn discussing Washington social life, and others on international terrorism and corporate scandals. Liberals paired with conservatives included Tom Foley (with Robert Walker), Randi Rhodes (with Janet Parshall), and Frank Rich (with Bill Kristol). During Rhodes' segment, the host noted it was the long-time radio host's first time appearing on C-Span, while Ms. Parshall had appeared over 10 times in her career.

This is now completely disappeared. I expect the Freepers have been active again.