Turning to cable news for political, corporate recruitment

The number of guest panelists on Fox News, as well as MSNBC, who plan to run for office is a bit alarming, the New York Times finds. This follows a story in the Nation about the number of panelists with outside contracts - lobbyists, corporate ties, PR consultants - who appear as pundits on cable news shows.

Cable news goes right

In covering the debate over the stimulus bill, cable news shows booked twice as many Republican lawmakers as Democratic lawmakers, a survey by Think Progress found.

Before anyone blames the imbalance on a right-wing bias, first consider this is cable news, which has a bias toward ratings. Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic reasons that cable news bookers are looking to the White House, not Congress, to supply the Democratic response. While I'm sure there's some truth to that, I don't think it fully explains the disparity.

In the absence of reporting, the easiest way to appear like you're explaining something is to talk to the opposition. Not only do you get them to do the work of analyzing a complicated issue you don't really understand, but you look like you're holding someone accountable.

Of course, there's also an anti-bias bias at play - accuse the media of leaning left (and loving Obama) for long enough and they'll be sure to lean right just to prove you wrong.

Iraq, uncovered

The Project for Excellence in Journalism did a study back in May that found coverage of the Iraq war accounted for only three percent of what American newspapers and broadcasters produced in the first months of 2008.

Now the New York Times reports that the major networks have "quietly" decided to stop sending full-time reporters to Iraq. From the story:

In Baghdad, ABC, CBS and NBC still maintain skeleton bureaus in heavily fortified compounds. Correspondents rotate in and out when stories warrant, and with producers and Iraqi employees remaining in Baghdad, the networks can still react to breaking news. But employees who are familiar with the staffing pressures of the networks say the bureaus are a shadow of what they used to be. Some of the offices have only one Western staff member.

The staff cuts appear to be the latest evidence of budget pressures at the networks. And those pressures are not unique to television: many newspapers and magazines have also curtailed their presence in Baghdad. As a consequence, the war is gradually fading from television screens, newspapers and, some worry, the consciousness of the American public.

As network and cable news outlets cut back in one war zone, there has been no corresponding increase in coverage of our other war zone - the one that's supposed to be the real frontline in the war on terror. Until CNN recently sent a full-time reporter to Afghanistan, no major television or cable news outlet had a full-time bureau there.

(via Romensko)

Being for it and against it

The Daily Show has managed to mine mints full of gold from a simple premise: political pundits often contradict themselves and it is highly satisfying to catch them in the act. The latest effort, seen here, has to do with the Republican-leaning pundits playing the sexism card to shield Sarah Palin from criticism.

Watching these self-serving contradictory statements is clearly compelling, even without the funnyman. It's also news. So why don't cable news outlets run through their archives to out hypocrisy in the chattering class? Could it be that they depend on these pundits to fill their talk shows and 24-hour news cycles and so choose not to hold them to account?

Opinion-makers are highly influential people this country. The Daily Show can't police them all. If Youtube ever had a call to arms, here it is.