REPORT: Gender Diversity On The 2013 Sunday Morning Political Talk Shows

Male guests vastly outnumbered female ones on the Sunday morning broadcast and CNN political talk shows in 2013, according to a Media Matters review. MSNBC's programs gave women a significantly greater opportunity to voice their opinions.

Throughout 2013, Media Matters has analyzed guest appearances on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, CBS' Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer, Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, NBC's Meet the Press with David Gregory, CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley, and MSNBC's Up with Steve Kornacki and Melissa Harris-Perry, political talk shows that often set the media and political agenda. Media Matters has previously released analyses of the firstsecond, and third quarters of the year and an overview analysis of the whole year.

This report examines the gender breakdown of guests in a more detailed manner.

Men Overwhelmingly Outnumbered Women On Sunday Broadcast, CNN Shows In 2013

More Than Seven In Ten Broadcast, CNN Guests Were Men. On broadcast and CNN in 2013, men were hosted at significantly higher rates than women; 75 percent of guests were men on broadcast, and 71 percent of guests were men on CNN. MSNBC, which hosted men and women closer to parity, still gave men a slight edge.

Gender Diversity Among Guests Showed No Improvement Throughout 2013. Broadcast, CNN, and MSNBC each ended up about where they started at the beginning of the year. Men outnumbered women 3-to-1 on broadcast virtually throughout the year with little deviation. Men held a significant lead over women on CNN as well, hovering close to 70 percent of guests every quarter of 2013. While MSNBC fared better, men were still more likely to be hosted than women in every quarter.

Melissa Harris-Perry Leads The Sunday Shows In Gender Diversity. MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry was the most diverse show in this measure, with 53 percent of guests being men and 47 percent being women. MSNBC's Up with Steve Kornacki, was a close second, hosting men 60 percent of the time. Every broadcast Sunday show as well as CNN's program (the only one of the group to be moderated by a woman, Candy Crowley) hosted men at least 71 percent of the time. 

Nearly 90 Percent Of Solo Interview Time On Broadcast And CNN Went To Men. On broadcast and CNN, men accounted for at least 85 percent or more of the time devoted to one-on-one interviews with a show's host. Only Melissa Harris-Perry came close to parity between men and women, with women making up 47 percent of all solo interview time. Up did not conduct enough solo interviews during the period studied to be included in the chart.

Methodology

We reviewed every edition of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, CBS' Face The Nation with Bob Schieffer, NBC's Meet The Press with David Gregory, Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday, CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley, and the Sunday editions of MSNBC's Up with Steve Kornacki (previously Up with Chris Hayes prior to April 13, 2013) and Melissa Harris-Perry during 2013. Guest appearances for all seven programs were coded for gender. Not all percentages add up to 100 due to rounding.

Charts by Oliver Willis and Ben Dimiero. Hannah Groch-Begley contributed research to this report.