Last night on MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews addressed the firestorm sparked by his comment that "the reason [Hillary Clinton is] a U.S. senator, the reason she's a candidate for president, the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around. That's how she got to be senator from New York. We keep forgetting it. She didn't win there on her merit."

He addressed the controversy after more than a week of intense pressure from Media Matters, several major national women's organizations, and thousands of people just like you.

Sen. Hillary Clinton: "I don't know what to do with men who are obsessed with me. I honestly have never understood it."

[...]

Chris Matthews: "It's not obsession."

If you have ever watched an episode of Hardball on MSNBC, you may find Chris Matthews' above statement a bit suspect...

Cross posted at DailyKos.

When reading the op-ed pages in your local daily newspaper, have you noticed column after column written by conservatives? A new report released today by Media Matters for America confirms what many have suspected -- that for the majority of daily newspapers across the country, conservatives dominate the op-ed page.

Our new report, "Black and White and Re(a)d All Over: The Conservative Advantage in Syndicated Op-Ed Columns," is a comprehensive and unprecedented analysis of nationally syndicated columnists from nearly 1,400 newspapers -- or 96 percent of English-language daily U.S. newspapers.

Media coverage of religion has increased significantly since the 2004 elections. Unfortunately, the coverage has presented a skewed picture of religion in America -- one in which religious conservatives are the experts on mainstream issues. I'm sure you agree this is a far cry from reality. The fact is we live in a country in which 90 percent of our people identify themselves as religious, with conservatives representing only a small portion of that large religious community.

In a new Media Matters for America report -- "Left Behind: The Skewed Representation of Religion in Major News Media" -- we document the media's coverage of religion since the 2004 elections. What we found was a dramatic oversimplification of the public debate and a consistent skewing of coverage in favor of conservatives....

Crossposted at DailyKos

Today, Media Matters for America released an eye-opening report, "Sunday Shutout: The Lack of Gender & Ethnic Diversity on the Sunday Morning Talk Shows." The report, which focused on the important Sunday morning political talk shows, follows last week's study, "Locked Out: The Lack of Gender & Ethnic Diversity on Cable News Continues."

Our findings may surprise you....

Crossposted at DailyKos.

On April 23, Bill O'Reilly, in a bizarre rant worthy of the most paranoid of conspiracy theorists, devoted an entire segment to what he sees as a devious collaboration of progressive donors and nonprofit groups.

Referring to us as "the vile propaganda outfit Media Matters, which specializes in distorting comments made by politicians, pundits, and media people," O'Reilly placed Media Matters for America at the center of a sinister web of organizations out to "impose a radical left agenda on America," while failing to identify a single instance when Media Matters has distorted his words or those of others.

We certainly got his attention. And it isn't just Bill O'Reilly. In just the past few weeks, Media Matters has been attacked by a veritable who's who of right-wing media and political figures:

Cross posted at DailKos

I wanted to update everyone on our new report -- "If It's Sunday, It's Still Conservative."  If you haven't had a chance to view it, now is the time. The report documents how the right continues to dominate the Sunday talk shows.

Since the report's release we've seen a great response.  We've had many reputable blogs such as DailyKos, Huffington Post, and MyDD highlight our findings.  We've had Paul Waldman, our report's principal author, on radio shows like The Peter B. Collins Show, The Young Turks, and The Rachel Maddow Show to name a few.

On the Sunday after the midterm elections, in which Democrats took control of Congress for the first time in a dozen years, viewers tuned in to NBC's Meet the Press to hear what the Democratic win meant for the country -- only to discover that host Tim Russert did not have any Democrats on at all. Instead, Russert's guests were Republican Sen. John McCain (AZ) and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (CT), who ran in the general election as an Independent after losing the Democratic primary. And after an election in which the public's opposition to the Iraq war was a central issue, Meet the Press hosted two guests who support the war.

http://www.SundayShowReport.com

But that incident is hardly an aberration. In a new report by Media Matters for America -- If It's Sunday, It's Still Conservative: How the Right Continues to Dominate the Sunday Talk Shows, we show that the Sunday shows -- Meet the Press, ABC's This Week, CBS' Face the Nation, and Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday -- have consistently given Republicans and conservatives an edge over their Democratic and progressive counterparts in the last two years, the period of the 109th Congress. And, as our analysis shows, the recent shift in power in Washington has yielded mixed results, at best.

OUR KEY FINDINGS:

Despite previous network claims that a conservative advantage existed on the Sunday shows simply because Republicans controlled Congress and the White House, only one show, ABC's This Week, has been roughly balanced between both sides overall since the congressional majority switched hands in the 2006 midterm elections.

Since the 2006 midterm elections, NBC's Meet the Press and CBS' Face the Nation have provided less balance between Republican and Democratic officials than Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox New Sunday despite the fact that Fox News Sunday remains the most unbalanced broadcast overall both before and after the election.

During the 109th Congress (2005 and 2006), Republicans and conservatives held the advantage on every show, in every category measured. All four shows interviewed more Republicans and conservatives than Democrats and progressives overall, interviewed more Republican elected and administration officials than Democratic officials, hosted more conservative journalists than progressive journalists, held more panels that tilted right than tilted left, and gave more solo interviews to Republicans and conservatives.

Now that Congress has switched hands, one would reasonably expect Democrats and progressives to be represented at least as often as Republicans and conservatives on the Sunday shows. Yet our findings for the months since the midterm elections show that the networks have barely changed their practices. Only one show - ABC's This Week - has shown significant improvement, having as many Democrats and progressives as Republicans and conservatives on since the election. On the other three programs, Republicans and conservatives continue to get more airtime and exposure.

In the months ahead, will the networks address the imbalance in their guest lineups? Or will they continue with business as usual?

We urge you to read the report and take action.  Tell the networks to address our findings and consider whether the Sunday shows serve the public interest by continuing to give conservatives the edge in setting the terms of the national debate.