Newshour and Diversity

When people say they watch PBS’s Newshour a little glimmer of superiority echoes in their voice. The program touts itself as fair and objective unlike its competitors on broadcast and cable news. However, everything is not always what it appears to be. In 2006, Extra! published a study on Newshour’s guests between October 2005 and March 2006. That study unmasked a truth that is not fair.

FAIR released the study along with analyzing the data. The data showed that the program was giving a platform for those in power or have a hierarchy in society.

Newshour relied on current and former government and military officials riled heavily as sources. It totaled 50 percent.  This is concerning as these people are just a mouthpiece for the government and will push the agenda and viewpoint of the government. Those in power do not always represent what the citizens of their country think. Newshour only used public interest’s groups for 4 percent of their guests and the general public for 14 percent of their sources. By doing this they are doing a disservice to their audience who would want to hear viewpoints and struggles of the public.

On the political spectrum, Republicans outnumbered Democrats by 2-to-1 when they appeared on the show. Not to sound like a broken record but this is in no way objective. Viewers are only hearing from on viewpoint which does a disservice to its viewers. They could have just called themselves FOX News at the time.

Another alarming revelation found in the study was the lack of diversity on Newshour.  Only 15 percent of their sources were People of Color. This does not represent a fair number of the diverse voices in this county. If an alien were watching Newshour at this time they could believe that everyone was all white.


Now not to sound cheesy but a program such as Newshour should be highlighting those in the dark and giving a voice to the voiceless. Not the powerful. Isn’t that a major component of journalism?

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