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Saturday, February 8, 2014

Meet the Press: Overwhelmingly white, male and conservative.

Americans of all races and parties are politically engaged and working to lead our nation into a better future, but you wouldn't know that by watching Sunday talk shows on the major TV networks.
A recent report by progressive media watchdog Media Matters for America found that Sunday morning political talk shows on major TV networks are mostly white, male and conservative.¹ According to the report a majority of the Sunday morning national political news shows hosted white male guests at a significantly higher rate than their 31 percent proportion of the population. Viewers of NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday show saw white male guests over 62% of the time throughout 2013.
While it's no surprise that an extreme right-wing network like Fox News would exclude guests who refuse to parrot Republican talking points and marginalize people of color, the willingness of other networks to follow suit is a disturbing trend. That's why I launched a petition on CREDOMobilize.com, targeting the executives of ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and CNN. The petition reads:

Your viewers deserve and demand to hear a diverse set of opinions from a diverse calendar of guests -- not just those of white conservatives. It's time for producers of your Sunday morning talk shows to schedule guests and hire hosts of races and political backgrounds that match the general population.

Tell TV network news executives: Stop shutting out progressives and people of color on Sunday morning political shows.
Limiting the diversity of guests hosted on Sunday's national political shows to so thoroughly overrepresent one part of the population severely limits the diversity of views presented and does a serious disservice to viewers and our country as a whole.
Denying people of color and of differing opinions the opportunity to join these discussions involving influential decision-makers and elected officials can lead to their views being left out of discussions on the House and Senate floors.
Even worse than the fact that people of color and progressives are denied the opportunity to share their views, the lack of diversity on these programs sends a subtle suggestion that their opinions simply don't matter and won't be taken seriously.
With fierce competition among networks for viewers, the executives of major networks need any advantage they can find to attract a larger audience. Sign my petition and show executives at ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN that by scheduling a more diverse slate of guests and hosts that reflect the general population, their networks can attract a larger audience of politically engaged viewers like you.
Will you join me and add your name to my petition to executives of ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN urging them to stop shutting out progressives and people of color on Sunday morning talk shows?
Thank you for your support.
Karoli Kuns

REPORT: The Demographics Of The Sunday Morning Political Talk Shows", MediaMatters.org, January 30, 2014.

CREDO Mobilize helps activists like you make progressive change and fight regressive policies by creating online petitions. Click here to start a petition today.