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August 12, 2016 01:42 PM UTC

Who gets to be on Colorado political television?

  • 24 Comments
  • by: ProgressNow Colorado

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

ProgressNow Colorado is always interested in the voices that speak for us. Those voices most commonly are the ones elected to represent us, but they can also include those in the media. In this case, we took a look at the media and at political punditry in Colorado in a project we are calling the Colorado Pundit Project.

The project outlines the results of the project and what we found after documenting all of the appearances on Colorado television and radio by political pundits over the last couple of years as well as looking at their demographics.

The study examines the demographics of pundits appearing on Colorado political media through the lenses of race, gender, age, political party, highest level of education attained, and occupation.

Even we were surprised by the results. Check out the full infographic below to see what we found.

Comments

24 thoughts on “Who gets to be on Colorado political television?

  1. I am shocked that most pundits are highly educated and experienced.  Quite unlike brain surgeons, who are overwhelmingly 20-something migrant workers and homeless veterans.

  2. The U.S. census says Colorado is 82.8 percent white.  I'd say the 2.2 percent overrepresentation of white punditry is proof of racist conspiracy somewhere.  I wonder what share of progress Now members are white.  Or farm workers.  Or just people with nothing to do with their time.

    1. V, I'll grant you that there's no great disparity between the percentage of white people and of white pundits. Also you don't get to be a pundit without a certain level of education and professional accomplishment which generally comes with a bit of age so those are silly thing to list as evidence of some kind of failure to represent people. We're not going to be looking to a High School drop out who works at the car wash for analysis of economic policy or international treaties so it stands to reason pundits aren’t going to “represent” people like that. I don’t need a pundit to be just like me. There are lots of things someone just like me doesn’t much about. I want to hear from someone who knows more. That’s kind of the point.

      But what about the Republican and male part? A little top heavy in those areas, wouldn't you say?

      1. Agreed the list is too republican and too male.  But by raging against college and graduate education and expecting large numbers of experts to be in their twenties, these idiots lose all credibility.   It is simply stupid to expect acknowledged experts not to be older and better educated than the public in general.  Somehow, I doubt many teenagers are knowledable about the federal reserves quantatative easing policy.  This may not be the stupidest study I ever saw but it would be in the top five.  What next _ an expose of the shortage of Quakers at West Point?

        1. I'll regret responding to you,V, but here goes.

          1. Pointing out a lack of diversity in political broadcasting  is not the same thing as "raging against" college or graduate education.

          2. Not seeing any call for "large numbers of experts to be in their twenties". The article merely points out that we're getting only a narrow slice of perspective on the problems of the day.

          3. Perhaps you can point to an advocacy for "All white males are scum". I'm not seeing it except in your post.

          4. Colorado census quickfacts lists only 68% of whites in Colorado with no Latino or Hispanic ancestry. About 21% Hispanic or Latino (no white), 4% African american, Asian, Indian, foreign, 2 or more races, all come in between 1 – 5%.

          5. We are missing the voices and perspectives of people who do not match the "pundit profile", and it is a real loss.  Even those callow young people may have good ideas. Our problems are complex enough that we need to get input from all sides.

          6. As much as  demographic diversity, we need political diversity in the political talking heads world. The wallaby-totin' Maher will, for the most part, regurgitate the same Fox talking points as most of the white male Republican pundits. Just changing the faces alone is not a solution to the problem. 

          1. By their own definition, mj, "pundits" are experts.  They then whine that they are older and more highlybeducated than nonexperts.  And yes, the Census lists 82.8 percent of Coloradans as white.  It is stupid beyond belief to demand a proprtionate share of high school dropouts among experts in any field.  Should I insist my highly educated dentist trade in her degree for a carpenter's job.   Very stupid study reaching predetermed result.  But why should my opinion matter_ I have three college degrees, ergo I am scum to these faux populists.

            1. I could argue and type and post links until my fingers are blue, and you'd persist in seeing this argumant for diversity of perspectives as an attack on you as a white, highly educated male.

              So have a good day, sir…I'll be at the Colorado Rural Dems meeting.

              1. http://www.infoplease.com/us/census/data/colorado/demographic.html

                As the above link demonstrates, the Census shows Colorado to be 82,8 percent white.   Your mistake is overlooking the fact that many Hispanics are classified as white.   Progress Now sets out to bash "white" people, not "non-Hispanic whites" so I used the same classification they do,

                The result, 85 percent of the "pundits" in an 82.8 percent white state are white.

                The horror, the horror.

                Good luck with trying to find very young, poorly educated "experts."   This was simply a stupid study, whining that highly educated and highly experienced people dominate an elect group of experts dubbed "pundits."

                Shocked I am.  The next time I need an expert on international monetary policy, I'll try to get a 16 year-old drug dealer out of juvenile hall to interview.   Janet Yellen would never  do, the wretch has several college degrees and is over 30..

                But why should I agree with you?  You are over 40 and have a college degree, which means your ideas almost  as worthless as mine, though you are spared the ultimate sin of being male.  But educated and experienced: two out of three are bad, you oppressor.

                The race to the bottom is a merciless one but as long as the Thought Police from Progress Now are on the job, the callow and uneducated will be heard in the corridors of power!

        2. Agree. They should have stuck more with the male Republican angle.

          I do think ethnic and racial diversity is a good in itself but matching percentages aren’t proof of bias so much as a lack of effort to go the extra mile. Worth pointing out but not proof of bias. More proof of laziness.

          1. well said.  Where PN blundered was in confusing diversity with random samples.   This isn't a poll, it's a list of experts.  Of course they will have more experience in their fields , have advanced degrees, and be older and, for politics, come from fields like political science, journalism, law, etc.   There are tons of cooking shows and fix your house shows and, guess what,  they are hosted by cooks and carpenters, not lawyers or professors.   But we don't call the hosts "pundits."

            Interestingly. PN shows about the same percentage of black and latino pundits — although Colorado has almost four times as many Latinos as blacks.  I've long noted that imbalance.  Partly, it reflects eastern seaboard thinking, where there are more blacks than Latinos and newcomers tend to think more in terms of blacks for "diversity."  But part reflects the fact that African Americans are better organized politically than Latinos and punch above their weight.   A city withnlots more Latinos than blacks has had two black mayors vs. one Latino.   Plus, at least some Latinos have poor English skills that respricttheir ability to be pundits on English language stations.   I suspect Progress Now didn't even check some of the Spanish outlets, of which there are many on cable.

             

    1. Is the woman in the photo dying her hair? Bottle-feeding a baby wombat? WTF, Psue? Political TV does pretty much look like what the article describes, or like the wombat-feeding blonde. Is she supposed to be a pundit?

      Progressives have abandoned the Denver air waves with the demise of Air America and AM760.

      Colorado public radio has diverse political "pundits" of a sort…but they seem to be afraid to take a leftist stand. There is a funding issue – someone can fill in the blanks on that.

      Moderatus should be happy with the radio line-up. Jason reports on it often.

      There is more diversity  in print and online media, of course, Patty Calhoun's "Westword" ventures into political waters, and she occasionally gets on a televised panel and represents.  I can't remember the last time I saw a local person of color discussing politics in front of a TV camera. 

      1. That's Kelly Maher, and she is, in fact, a pundit.  As 9News notes on her page for them:

        Kelly Maher is a nationally recognized Republican commentator and executive director for Compass Colorado, a center-right, free-market advocacy organization based in Denver.

        This is a screen cap from her appearance with her emotional support wallaby, Welby.  She picked him up after the rise of TRUMP™.  She's well-known around Colorado.  She's been on a Daily Show segment (can't remember which topic the piece was on).

        1. I want to know how much emotional support she gets when the cute lil wallaby grows into a freaking 5' kangaroo that  can disembowel a human with a swipe of a claw.. or maybe that's raptors. Anyway, does she discreetly dispose of the wallaby when it's grown? Kelly, you're making female pundits look silly, FYI.

           

  3. I went to the white paper to find a coherent statement of the stations and programs covered. It lists the following:

      SHOW      BROADCAST ON:

    • The Aaron Harber Show: Colorado Business News  KCDO TV Channel 3; Online
    • The Aaron Harber Show: Colorado NOW!  KCDO TV Channel 3; Online
    • The Aaron Harber Show: 2014 Colorado Republican Governor's Race  KCDO-TV Channel 3; Online
    • Aspen Institute  Grassroots (Channel 12)
    • Balance of Power  9News (KUSA)
    • Deliberate Conversations   Boulder8
    • Devil’s Advocate By the Independence Institute,  CPT12
    • None of the Above  Grassroots (Channel 12)
    • Politics Unplugged  Denver7

    Even as a Denver monolingual, it seems the list may be incomplete. For those with wider experience, is there no political television in Colorado Springs or Pueblo? on the Western Slope? in the mountain counties? Are there no shows on any of the stations broadcasting in Spanish?

    1. A cursory overview of the programs you listed shows most are conservative talk shows, except for Aspen Institute, Boulder's "Deliberate Conversations", and the Balance of Power tries to have diverse viewpoints in at least its panel discussions.

      I just cut the cord on my cable, looking to do Roku or Apple Tv instead, so can't investigate programming easily. I know that the Denver market has Spanish language news programs. Some of the college stations put out radio programs – I'm not aware of any TV. Again, my point is that we need diverse perspectives on problems, whether they are global "experts" or not…Panel discussions work.

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