Sunday Political Shows Ignore Corporate Power

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The Sunday morning political talk shows shut out issues related to corporate power. That is the primary conclusion of a new report issued by Essential Information, a Ralph Nader founded organization based in Washington, DC. A quantitative analysis of transcripts broadcast over a period of eighteen months from four talk shows -- The McLaughlin Group, Meet the Press, Face the Nation, This Week -- found that topics related to corporate power -- such as the environment, corporate welfare, and free trade -- make up less than 4% of the shows' discussion topics. The report also uncovered that the overwhelming majority of invited guests on the shows are lawmakers, government officials, and politicians -- a skew that tends to reinforce narrow parameters of discussion and exclude issues of corporate power.