Bill Kristol is always wrong, yet he is always on the Sunday talk shows.
John McCain may be the king of the Sunday political talk shows, but it's not just his innate mavericky John McCain-ness that he's got working for him. First and foremost, he has the fundamental qualification of being a white man. And I do mean fundamental. Jill Filipovic previews a forthcoming Media Matters report on just
who gets to hold forth on the nation's televisions on Sunday mornings, and:
On Face the Nation and Fox News Sunday, 77 percent of guests in 2014 were men. On State of the Union, 74 percent were men. Meet the Press and This Week, 73 percent. MSNBC's Up With Steve Kornacki, 64 percent. Melissa Harris-Perry came the closest to gender parity, with 55 percent male guests.
Men also receive the lion's share of solo interviews on the Sunday talk shows. On Face the Nation, 89 percent of solo interviewees were men. Meet the Press and State of the Union were close behind in the Lone Man race, with 87 percent male solo guests. This Week had 86 percent, and Fox News Sunday, 84 percent.
Talk about a sausagefest.
Of the top 10 guests, just two were women. These numbers are staggering. As in, everyone associated with these shows—with the exception of Melissa Harris-Perry and possibly Steve Kornacki's shows—should be staggering away to hide in shame while they think about what they've done wrong. It is 2015, people. Women have been allowed to have opinions for a while now. Maybe it's time to let them have those opinions on the Very Serious Sunday Talk Shows.