Where do you get your News from?

FAIR study

In October 2006, the progressive media criticism group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) accused The NewsHour of lacking balance, diversity, and viewpoints of the general public, in favor of Republican Party and corporate viewpoints.^[9] FAIR studied the NewsHour's guest list for 6 months, from October 2005 to March 2006. Republicans outnumbered Democrats 2:1 (66% to 33%), and people of color made up only 15% of U.S.-based sources. Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales accounted for 30% of Latino sources, while former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accounted for 13% of African-American sources. Additionally, Hurricane Katrina victims made up 46% of all African-American sources. Public interest groups made up 4% of sources. Current and former government and military officials made up 50% of sources. Regarding the Iraq War, sources that supported an extended occupation outnumbered pro-withdrawal sources 5:1, and this ratio continued even after polls favored a withdrawal from Iraq. During this time, not a single peace activist appeared.^[9] PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler agreed with FAIR's report. These are "perilous times," wrote Getler in his Ombudsman column. "As a viewer and journalist, I find the program occasionally frustrating; sometimes too polite, too balanced when issues are not really balanced, and too many political and emotion-laden statements pass without factual challenges from the interviewer."^[10] FAIR also protested in 1995 when Liberty Media purchased a majority of the program, citing Liberty's majority owner, John Malone, for his "Machiavellian business tactics" and right-wing sentiments.^[11]