PBS NewsHour's affirmative action program for white male Repugs....

[marmar]

'NewsHour' faulted for lack of diversity

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer Tue Oct 3, 6:01 PM ET

NEW YORK - PBS' "NewsHour" tilts too heavily toward Republican white men in its sources and needs to do a better job promoting diverse points of view, a watchdog group said in a report issued on Tuesday.

Two-thirds of the partisan sources appearing on Jim Lehrer's nightly newscasts between October 2005 and March 2006 were Republican, and 82 percent were men, said the liberal advocacy organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.

The show works hard to reflect diversity, PBS spokesman Rob Flynn said. But with Republicans in power in both the White House and Congress, it's only natural that they will be seen more in a news program, he said.

For instance, FAIR's report lists former White House press secretary Scott McClellan as a source who appeared on the show 25 times. For most of those, it was probably just a film of McClellan commenting on a news story from his White House podium, Flynn said.

"You may have an argument for 7 or 8 percent more Republicans, but you don't have an argument for two-to-one," said FAIR's Steve Rendall, senior analyst and co-author of the report.

The rest is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061003/ap_en_tv/tv_newshour

[survivor999]

1. The NewsHour has sucked for a long time.

I used to watch it. Jim is so incapable of stickig to his guns. He may ask occasional sharp questions, but if the interviewee evades it he simply does not point that out.

[leftofthedial]

2. "...with Republicans in power in both the White House...

"and Congress, it's only natural that they will be seen more in a news program..."

I call bullshit. Any legitimate news operation would ALWAYS seek alternative views.

[Demit]

3. If Newshour were really an hour of news I'd buy the "only natural" defense

Since a huge chunk of it is commentary & debate, I think the criticism stands up.

[leveymg]

4. That is an underrepresented group inside the federal prisons.

Let's help to right that historical imbalance. Arrest the entire Bush-Cheney Administration.

Try them here or the Hague!

[marmar]

5. LOL....

Then they can have all the sex they're apparently not getting now. Cheney can be some Eastern European warlord's bitch in an international priison.

[TheBaldyMan]

6. reminded me of a post I read on WFMU's blog back in June '06

A NJ listener supported radio station WFMU has quite a good resourse for FCC shenanigans.

The radio related section of http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/radio/index.html">WFMU's 'Beware of the Blog' has been monitoring proceedings at the FCC. Everything from indecency fines, the woes of AAR, to packing the FCC board with right-wing sympathisers.
This is from entry from June 1st, 2006

FCC Fills Out
After months of manipulating him as a political pawn, the Senate finally http://www.fmqb.com/Article.asp?id=223574">confirmed Robert McDowell as the 5th and final FCC commissioner. McDowell, a republican, used to work as a telecom lobbyist and helped GWB's presidential campaign in 2000, but we have no idea where he stands on broadcast-related issues. The FCC was left with an empty seat when Michael Powell stepped down early last year, and the addition of McDowell means a full commission with a score of 3-2, favoring republicans. Chairman Martin will use the republican majority to his advantage; he's looking to http://www.freepress.net/news/15765">relax media ownership rules so that one company can own TV stations, a newspaper, and radio stations in the same market, ultimately ending in Total Murdochian Domination. Ok, so I lied about that last part. I think.

IIRC from even earlier posts the government was trying for a clean sweep of republican support on the board having sacked left-leaning or non-partisan members who had been percieved as not administration-friendly enough.