{"id":90701,"date":"2007-07-26T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2007-07-26T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2007\/07\/26\/pej-talk-show-index-july-15-20-2007\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:12:32","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:12:32","slug":"pej-talk-show-index-july-15-20-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/07\/26\/pej-talk-show-index-july-15-20-2007\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender Politics \u2013 Talk Show Style"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n\n

By now, Senator Hillary Clinton is probably accustomed to gender-related questions as she pursues the most serious White House bid ever launched by a woman. During the July 23 CNN\/YouTube debate, for example, she was asked to respond to the media\u2019s focus on the issue of her not being \u201csatisfactorily feminine.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

While basic campaign reporting certainly doesn\u2019t shy away from the implications of having a woman President, the talk show circuit tends to be even blunter (some might say cruder) about the subject. At least last week, that appeared to be the case as Clinton\u2019s place on the gender spectrum proved to be a ripe topic for debate. <\/p>\n\n

On the July 20 edition of \u201cHardball,\u201d the candidate\u2019s torso was a focus of attention as the show aired footage of Clinton wearing a mildly plunging top with a caption that read \u201cSenatorial Cleavage.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

In response to substitute host Mike Barnicle\u2019s question\u2014which stemmed from a July 20 Washington Post story about the Senator\u2019s neckline\u2014two guests tried to parse the cleavage conundrum. <\/p>\n\n

[but]<\/p>\n\n\n

Three nights earlier on MSNBC\u2019s Tucker Carlson show, the gender issue was raised in a quite different context. It was a follow-up to an interview with Salon.com in which Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic hopeful John Edwards, said Clinton is \u201cjust not as vocal a women’s advocate as I want to see. John is.” <\/p>\n\n

\u201cLet\u2019s take that critique seriously,\u201d said Carlson as he turned to his guests. \u201cIs Hillary Clinton too manly to be president?\u201d (A.B. Stoddard, associate editor of the Hill newspaper, dismissed the charge as \u201ca cheap shot.\u201d) <\/p>\n\n

[Hillary is]<\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m just very thankful to know that,\u201d retorted Hannity, with more than a hint of sarcasm. <\/p>\n\n

With Senator Clinton\u2014and her femininity\u2014featured as a story line, the Presidential campaign filled 13% of the airtime and was the second most-popular talk topic on radio and cable, according to PEJ\u2019s Talk Show Index from July 15-20. (Cable shows paid far more attention to the campaign than the radio talkers did.) The one subject that commanded more attention last week than the Presidential race was the renewed debate over U.S. strategy in Iraq. Driven by the July 17 Senate all-nighter that ended with the defeat of a Democratic attempt to set withdrawal deadlines, the policy debate filled 19% of the talk menu, with some hosts decrying the all-nighter as a ploy or stunt and others seeing it as crucial moment in the Iraq argument. <\/p>\n\n

The third-biggest talk topic was U.S. domestic efforts against terrorism (10%), a subject fueled by the release of a national intelligence report warning of a strengthened Al-Qaeda threat. And although the three most popular talk topics last week matched the top three stories in the general news Index, the talk shows went their own way on topics # 4 and #5. The fourth-biggest subject, immigration (6%), has been a favorite of a number of talk hosts, most notably CNN\u2019s Lou Dobbs. And the fifth story is the controversy over a potential reprise of the Fairness Doctrine (5%), which could have major implications for talk radio. <\/p>\n\n

The Talk Show Index, released each week, is designed to provide news consumers, journalists and researchers with hard data about what stories and topics are most frequently dissected and discussed in the media universe of talk and opinion\u2014a segment of the media that spans across both prime time cable and radio. (See About the Talk Show Index.)<\/a> PEJ\u2019s Talk Show Index includes seven prime time cable shows and five radio talk hosts and is a subset of our News Coverage Index<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

The discussion about reinstating the Fairness Doctrine\u2014an FCC rule mandating balanced coverage of controversial issues that was repealed 20 years ago\u2014has made the list of top-10 talk topics a few times in recent weeks. But in reality, it\u2019s less of a debate over the virtues or shortcomings of the Fairness Doctrine (it\u2019s hard to find a Fairness Doctrine supporter in the media) than a debate about whether reinstatement is a real possibility or a threat invented for ideological purposes. <\/p>\n\n

Conservative radio hosts such as Hannity and Rush Limbaugh have been pointing out that Democratic lawmakers are interested in reprising the rules to silence the voices on the right, which dominate talk radio. On Hannity\u2019s July 19 Fox News Channel show, conservative host Laura Ingraham warned against its return, declaring, \u201cI always thought that liberals were for free speech.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

On the same show, Hannity\u2019s liberal co-host Alan Colmes, downplayed the idea of a new Fairness Doctrine. \u201cI don\u2019t know where this is getting traction in Congress,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t see enough of a push for this that is really is going to be an issue in Congress.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

On his July 20 program, liberal radio host Ed Schultz characterized talk of a reinstated Fairness Doctrine as a \u201cstraw man\u201d invented by conservatives. \u201cThey have 450 right-wing talkers in America,\u201d he said. \u201cThey all read off the same talking points.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n

The discussions of immigration were a return to a subject that united a number of talk hosts, most of them conservative. Limbaugh, Hannity, Michael Savage and the most vocal of them all, Lou Dobbs, had energetically campaigned against the immigration bill (what they often called an \u201camnesty\u201d bill). And in some quarters, they were credited or blamed (depending on your view) for a major role in its defeat on June 28. <\/p>\n\n

Last week Dobbs, who is a tireless advocate of tougher immigration enforcement, turned to another of his favorite subjects\u2014the controversial jailing of to two former border agents for wrongdoing in an incident in which they shot a drug smuggler on the Mexican border. <\/p>\n\n

On his July 17 show, Dobbs reported on the beginning of Senate hearings on the case, saying, \u201cI\u2019ve been calling for Congressional hearings over the prosecution of former border patrol agents\u2026for almost a year.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

[agents]<\/p>\n\n\n

Mark Jurkowitz of PEJ<\/em> <\/p>\n\n

\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n

Top Ten Stories in the Talk Show Index<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

1. Iraq Policy Debate – 19% <\/address>\n\n
2. 2008 Campaign – 13%
<\/address>\n\n
3. US Domestic Terror Threat – 10%<\/address>\n\n
4. Immigration – 6% <\/address>\n\n
5. Fairness Doctrine – 5%<\/address>\n\n
6. Brazilian Plane Crash – 3%
<\/address>\n\n
7. DC Escort Scandal – 3% <\/address>\n\n
8. Events in Iraq – 2%<\/address>\n\n
9. FDA\/Imported Food Safety – 2%<\/address>\n\n
10. NYC Steam Pipe Blast – 2% <\/address>\n\n\n <\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Top Ten Stories in the broader News Coverage Index<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n

1. Iraq Policy Debate – 14% <\/address>\n\n
2. 2008 Campaign – 9%<\/address>\n\n
3. US Domestic Terror Threat – 6%
<\/address>\n\n
4. Events in Iraq – 6%<\/address>\n\n
5. Pakistan – 3%<\/address>\n\n
6. Brazilian Plane Crash – 3%<\/address>\n\n
7. NYC Steam Pipe Blast – 3%<\/address>\n\n
8. Immigration – 2%<\/address>\n\n
9. Japanese Earthquake – 2%<\/address>\n\n
10. North Korea – 2%<\/address>\n\n

Click here<\/a> to read the methodology behind the Talk Show Index. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senate slumber party\/Iraq strategy showdown made the debate over the war the leading talk show subject last week. But the conversation about the 2008 presidential race, the second most popular topic, was driven by some pretty personal questions about the one woman in the race. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"PEJ Talk Show Index July 15 - 20, 2007","sub_title":"PEJ Talk Show Index July 15 - 20, 2007","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_api_pending":"","apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_hidden":false,"relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[],"tags":[],"bylines":[],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[],"research-teams":[527],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-90701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","formats-report","research-teams-journalism"],"label":false,"post_parent":0,"word_count":1065,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/journalism\/2007\/07\/26\/pej-talk-show-index-july-15-20-2007\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"report_materials":"","report_pagination":{"current_post":null,"next_post":null,"previous_post":null,"pagination_items":[]},"parent_info":{"parent_title":"Gender Politics \u2013 Talk Show Style","parent_id":90701},"materialsOrdered":[],"chaptersOrdered":[],"partsOrdered":[],"partsEnabled":false,"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Gender Politics \u2013 Talk Show Style","description":"The Senate slumber party\/Iraq strategy showdown made the debate over the war the leading talk show subject last week. 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