Lack of balance and diversity on PBS's 'NewsHour'

"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 study from Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) 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 program's evenhandedness and commitment to the public interest, the magazine Extra! studied the "NewsHour" guestlist during the six-month period spanning October 2005 through March 2006. Among the most prominent findings: * Public interest groups accounted for just four percent of total sources. General public–"person in the street," workers, students–accounted for only 14 percent, while current and former government and military officials totaled 50 percent of all sources. * Male sources outnumbered women by more than four-to-one (82 percent to 18 percent). Moreover, 72 percent of US guests were white males, while just 6 percent were women of color. * People of color made up only 15 percent of US sources. African-Americans made up nine percent, Latinos two percent, and Asian-Americans and people of Mideastern descent made up one percent each. Alberto Gonzales accounted for more than 30 percent of Latino sources, while Condoleezza Rice accounted for nearly 13 percent of African-American sources. * Among partisan sources, Republicans outnumbered Democrats on the "NewsHour" by two-to-one (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 US public already favored withdrawal from Iraq, "stay the course" sources outnumbered pro-withdrawal sources more than five-to-one. 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: In segments on the human impact of the storm, African-Americans made up 51 percent of sources, but in reconstruction segments, whites dominated with 72 percent of sources; 59 percent of all African-American sources across Katrina segments were general public sources. 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.