SUNDAY TALK SHOWS HAVE STRONG CONSERVATIVE BIAS

MEDIA MATTERS - Republicans and conservatives dramatically outnumbered Democrats and progressives on the Sunday shows in 2005 and 2006, by a margin of 44 percent to 27 percent (the remainder were neutral or nonpartisan figures).

Counting only elected officials and administration representatives, Republicans had a stark advantage over Democrats, 62 percent to 37 percent.

Fox News Sunday's journalist panels are the most lopsided, with a typical lineup consisting of two or even three conservatives, one neutral reporter, and one progressive. But even on ABC, NBC, and CBS, conservative journalists were nearly twice as likely as their progressive counterparts to appear on the Sunday shows.

The most frequent guests on the Sunday shows during the past two years were Sen. Joseph R Biden Jr. (D-DE), with 38 appearances, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, with 30 appearances, and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), also with 30 appearances. And, unlike most elected officials, McCain is almost always given a solo interview rather than being paired with a colleague from the opposing party.

The Sunday shows granted far more solo interviews to Republicans and conservatives than to Democrats and progressives. The top two Republicans to be interviewed solo, Rice and McCain, together were interviewed solo twice as often as the top two Democrats to be interviewed solo, Biden and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.