I received this email today:
Shouldn't it be a rule during an economic crisis that they have at least one economist on every Sunday show?
The ONE day they leave out economists and instead bring in Karl Rove or Joe Scarborough, is the day they're discussing the budget, an issue that requires an economist to sort through the various accusations and republican talking points. Fox News did not even have a single Democrat on to debate the budget. Just 2 Republicans.
Another talks show Sunday without an economist on to help explain Obama's budget. What a shock. I wrote a piece on it during the stimulus package debate called:
Why aren't there hundreds of economists on my TV explaining the stimulus package?
Media Matters did a break down of the talk shows after I posed the question:
In the hour following President Obama's February 9 press conference -- during which he gave a brief address about the economic recovery legislation currently moving through Congress -- cable news programs featured guests and panelists to discuss Obama's remarks. But CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC did not bring on a single economist to discuss the plan. The absence of economists in the post-press conference discussion was consistent with the observation made by Crooksandliars.com founder John Amato in a February 4 article on The Huffington Post:
"I'm sure you've heard about the hundreds of economists that are either for or against President Obama's stimulus plan. My question to the media is: Where are they?" Indeed, a Media Matters for America review of the Sunday talk shows and 12 cable news programs from January 25 through February 8 found that during 139 1/2 hours of programming on Sunday mornings and weekday afternoons and evenings, of 460 total guest appearances in discussions about the economic recovery legislation and debate in Congress, only 25 were made by economists -- a mere 5 percent.
As President Obama's budget is discussed, I hope MM takes another survey on the networks. The media was asleep at the wheel during the run up to the Iraq war and are doing the same thing now.
