Polilogue

By Steidle-Soto

What's Polilogue about?

Polilogue dives into the conversations that dominate the Sunday morning political shows.  We look at the policymaker, the politician, and the journalist—because each is critical and each demands criticism.  With extensive audio clips from the Sunday shows, Polilogue is released in time for your Monday commute.

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LAST EPISODE

Episode 257: The Voting Rig...

01.17.2022

The Biden administration has tabled their Build Back Better efforts and is onto another legislative priority: voting rights. Today on Polilogue, we discuss whether the Sunday shows succeed in explaining where the bill is in the legislative process and/or if ...

Polilogue episodes:

01.17.2022 Episode 257: The Voting Rights Debate The Biden administration has tabled their Build Back Better efforts and is onto another legislative priority: voting rights. Today on Polilogue, we discuss whether the Sunday shows succeed in explaining where the bill is in the legislative process and/or if ...
01.10.2022 Episode 256: A Surge of Critical Questions On our first post-COVID (but not post-pandemic) episode, we discuss…you guessed it…COVID! But today’s Sunday shows provided a series of fascinating examples of new issues in journalism. First, we dissect two interviews with new NYC Mayor Eric Adams and ask ...
01.03.2022 Episode 255: New Year Old News Happy New Year! And welcome to 2022! It’s a new year—but we are faced with a lot of old news, particularly on the COVID front. In this short episode, we discuss COVID from a more personal perspective. Resources and LinksExcellent ...
12.27.2021 Episode 254: The Last Shows of the Year For their last episode of 2021, the Sunday political shows used an array of journalistic styles to explore often under-told stories. Today on Polilogue, we go through each show and discuss the noteworthy — and problematic— attempts. Shows discussed State ...
12.20.2021 Episode 253: Manchin blows up BBB Manchin is a “no.” We know this because he told us so—on the first episode of Fox News Sunday without the venerated Chris Wallace. On today’s Polilogue, we dissect the Manchin interview and the reactions to it from progressives like ...
12.13.2021 Episode 252: One Story, Two Editorial Decisions Today on Polilogue, we go back to some of our show roots: comparisons of shows and editorial decisions! Both This Week and Meet the Press examined the escalating tensions of US-Russia relations. This Week took the approach of utilizing foreign ...
12.06.2021 Episode 251: Missing Rigor in Abortion Coverage Today on Polilogue, we examine the coverage and interviews that focused on the Supreme Court abortion case. This Week stands out as a show that brought in the relevant experts and facts to have a robust conversation. Other shows like ...
11.29.2021 Episode 250: Omicron on the Chyron Today we look at the new story of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Is the sense of panic in the headlines warranted? How can we have responsible coverage on the Sunday shows of this and other issues? We also ...
11.29.2021 Episode 248: Inflation Concerns Plague Biden Administration On today’s episode, we focus in on one Sunday show—Meet the Press—and try to understand how the coverage of the economic situation serves the dual roles of informing the public and holding the Biden Administration accountable for taking action. We ...
11.22.2021 Episode 249: Inflation and Gun Violence Today on the Sunday shows we look at the Fox News Sunday interview with Brian Deese and the continued dialogue on inflation. We also do a side by side comparison with This Week and Meet the Press on how they ...
11.08.2021 Episode 247: What Does Being Woke Actually Mean? Today on Polilogue, we look at the shows’ decision to analyze the Virginia gubernatorial race. A few questions popped up multiple times:Why did they only look at Virginia? Where is the analysis on New Jersey? Where is the DATA?What do ...
11.01.2021 Episode 246: Undeveloped Narratives Today on Polilogue, we look at the choices that journalists and show hosts make to define a story narrative. There are dozens of small and large decisions hosts and show producers make every week to define a story narrative. It ...
10.25.2021 Episode 245: Bad Agendas, Bad Conversations Today on Polilogue, we put a magnifying glass to bad agendas. On Meet the Press, shallow conversations about the new billionaire tax to potentially pay for the Build Back Better plan. On This Week, an insistence that the Virginia gubernatorial ...
10.18.2021 Episode 244: Explaining the State of the Economy Today on Polilogue, we have two very different segments.In the first segment, we look at how This Week and Fox News Sunday explained the various economic factors that are raising costs, slowing down deliveries, and impacting the labor force across ...
10.11.2021 Episode 243: Missing the Larger Narrative Today on Polilogue, we applaud Face the Nation for framing a larger trend rather than covering a single moment. In this instance, Margaret Brennan didn’t just talk about a single Trump rally, but framed the rally and Senator Chuck Grassley’s ...
10.04.2021 Episode 242: Infrastructure Numbers and Messaging Today on Polilogue, we zero in on the Democratic messaging of the reconciliation bill, or the human infrastructure bill that is currently being negotiated. In particular, we examine the costs, the motivations, and what messaging are persuasive and what kind ...
09.27.2021 Episode 241: Is This Infrastructure Week? Today on Polilogue, we examine the focus of two interviews with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Jake Tapper had (another) conversation about morality. Whereas Chris Wallace questioned the number of Haitian migrants that are entering the United States and asked why ...
09.20.2021 Episode 240: Strong Booster Answers, Vague Afghanistan Questions Today on Polilogue, we look at the strong performance by Dr. Francis Collins of the National Institutes of Health in dispelling booster myths and headline buzz. We also look at the vague and unfocused questions by Margaret Brennan about Afghanistan ...
09.13.2021 Episode 239: Grilling Joe Manchin and Vivek Murthy Today on Polilogue, we go back to our old show roots and identify themes across shows for guests that were on multiple programs on the same day. US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia ...
09.06.2021 Episode 238: Abortion Bans & Climate Catastrophe Today on Polilogue, two very different segments with very feisty takes. Naomi looks at the lack of substantive dialogue about the Texas abortion ban. Brendan examines climate change conversations and wonders who should be answering which questions. Shows discussed State ...
08.30.2021 Episode 237: Good Cop, Bad Cop Today on Polilogue, Naomi and Brendan take on new roles as we discuss Afghanistan. Naomi is Good Cop as she acknowledges and praises good, noteworthy questions. Whereas Brendan finger wags and admonishes the bad questions on the Sunday morning shows. ...
08.23.2021 Episode 236: The Leading Voices on Afghanistan? In today’s episode of Polilogue, we examine and question the leading voices criticizing the Afghanistan withdrawal. With the exception of an excellent interview on This Week, almost all the shows relied on war hawks and other thought leaders that have ...
08.16.2021 Episode 235: The Insider Review In this special episode, we take a look at a movie that tops many lists of the best movies about journalism: 1999’s “The Insider.” Directed by Michael Mann and starring Russell Crowe and Al Pacino, the film closely follows the ...
08.09.2021 Episode 234: A Second Look Special Today on Polilogue, we look at important stories and segments that have been too easy to overlook in the last few weeks. We look at critically important issues like substance abuse, overdoses, and climate change that took a backseat to ...
08.02.2021 Episode 233: Understanding the New Variant Today on Polilogue, we discuss the takeaways and actionable information that was shared by public health officials about delta, the new Covid variant. We also discuss how Republicans are valuing (or not) the select committee to investigate the January 6 ...
07.26.2021 Episode 232: The Questions that Weren't Asked In too many ways, journalists are missing the opportunity to be rigorous in their questions. Today on Polilogue, we discuss Covid strategies and vaccine mandates. We also discuss the select committee to investigate the January 6 insurrection. Shows discussed State ...
07.19.2021 Episode 231: Variant Coverage Varies Today on Polilogue, we discuss military readiness , infrastructure talks, and space travel. We also examine the increase of COVID cases and how the media is dropping the ball by making this moment into a Facebook-White House argument moment. Shows ...
07.12.2021 Episode 230: The Afghanistan Long View Today on Polilogue, we cover a range of topics. Space travel. Vaccinate mandates. FDA regulations. The new (likely) New York City mayor. Afghanistan. After multiple weeks of feeling frustrated with the Afghanistan story framing, we finally see multiple questions that ...
07.05.2021 Episode 229: Policy and Human Connections This Independence Day, several shows were hosted by substitutes: Ed O’Keefe hosted Face the Nation, Martha Raddatz hosted This Week, and Michael Emanuel hosted Fox News Sunday. The new voices brought fresh perspective that sometimes worked — like Ed O’Keefe ...
06.28.2021 Episode 228: Dealing with the Infrastructure Deal The Biden Administration and a bipartisan group of senators have finally agreed on an infrastructure package. Therefore, the possibility of an actual physical infrastructure bill seems much more likely. This is real progress compared to the tortoise-pace we’ve seen on ...
06.21.2021 Episode 227: Complex Negotiations and Excellent Questions Complexity reigned this week during the Sunday shows. From the intricate details of the Congressional negotiations on infrastructure to the finer points of Russian diplomacy, the Sunday shows were steeped in detail. Some programs did an excellent job—booking experts or ...
06.14.2021 Episode 226: Measuring Success Against Russia We look at the foreign policy conversations at the fore during Biden's first international trip.
06.07.2021 Episode 225: Infrastructure Lags, Cyber Surges Brendan and Naomi are back from vacation and with new critiques of the Sunday morning political shows! Today on Polilogue, we discuss the effect of new voices, the NYC mayor race, cybersecurity threats, and the never-ending infrastructure negotiations. Shows discussed ...
05.31.2021 Episode 224: Why Sunday Morning Matters What makes the Sunday shows unique? What do political critics get wrong about the shows? How often should the President be on a Sunday show? We tackle these and other questions—including some surprise ones—on this special episode of Polilogue. We ...
05.24.2021 Episode 223: Coverage but Little Context The Israeli-Palestinian conflict continued to be a counterpoint in the Sunday morning political shows. John Dickerson had an impressive moment on Face the Nation when he weaved together his interviews with Benjamin Netanyahu last week and Senator Bernie Sanders this ...
05.17.2021 Episode 222: Where Did the Explainers Go? Today on Polilogue we note a huge milestone: our first Sunday without a Dr.Gottlieb appearance!! We were STUNNED.Beyond a Gottlieb-less Sunday, the shows also covered a wide range of topics, including the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Trump’s grasp of the GOP, and ...
05.10.2021 Episode 221: Women and the Pandemic Recovery The economic recovery from this unprecedented pandemic looked like it was going well—until this week. Economists and policymakers were shocked that the 1 million jobs they expected to see created in April was actually just about a quarter of that. ...
05.03.2021 Episode 220: Countering Biden’s Big Proposals Republicans went on the Sunday morning political shows to attack President Biden’s infrastructure plan. We were impressed by the effective questions on Fox News Sunday and frustrated by the vague questions and focus on Meet the Press. We were surprised ...
04.26.2021 Episode 219: Political vs. Policy Conversations Today on Polilogue, we explore the many ways the Sunday morning political shows discussed police violence and police reform. Some shows did a crap job and used body cam video footage and mislabeled violence. Other shows chatted in circles about ...
04.19.2021 Episode 218: Vaccine Pause Stirs Conversations Today on Polilogue, we discuss the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause and whether or not the explanations suffice. We question whether the pause will undermine broader efforts to reach herd immunity. We also discuss police reform and President Biden’s recent ...
04.12.2021 Episode 217: Where are the Fact Checks? President Biden’s Americans Jobs Plan has caused a lot ruckus in its first couple of weeks in the public discourse. There are questions about what counts as infrastructure, what does a modern society and economy require, and if and how ...
04.05.2021 Episode 216: Defining Infrastructure Infrastructure Week. Finally!! Except don’t call it an infrastructure bill, because apparently it’s called the Americans Jobs Plan. In today’s episode of Polilogue, we examine the framing by the Biden administration for their new aspirational jobs bill and their goal ...
03.29.2021 Episode 215: Guns, Bipartisanship and Fact Checks Today on Polilogue, we explore more conversations about bipartisanship and voter rights. We also looked at a special episode on gun violence. We ask ourselves if journalists asked the right questions. We examine if the hosts framed issues appropriately. And ...
03.22.2021 Episode 214: Biden Faces Immigration Crisis Migrants and unaccompanied minors are arriving to the southern border in new record numbers. Department of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas was on four shows to explain how the Biden administration was working on the issue in a humane manner, but ...
03.15.2021 Episode 213: When Bills Become Laws Today on Polilogue we look at if and how the Sunday talk shows presented Biden’s now fully confirmed American Rescue Plan. Shows like Fox News Sunday had extensive conversations about the law’s cost and intended impact. Shows like Meet the ...
03.08.2021 Episode 212: Manchin Makes his Mark President Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief package finally passed the Senate last Friday. The House still needs to approve a few remaining amendments, but it’s official: President Biden’s first piece of tentpole piece of legislation is on its way to become ...
03.01.2021 Episode 211: American Society Lives with COVID This week on Polilogue, we look at how leaders attempt to get the next phase of normalcy as COVID continues to be a threat. Governor Andy Beshear from Kentucky prioritized teacher vacinnes and getting children into schools. Meanwhile, Governor Kristi ...
02.22.2021 Episode 210: Crisis in Texas This week on Polilogue, we examine the questions and conversations about the crisis in Texas. Millions of people were without electricity or water for days during a winter storm. In less than a week, dozens of lives were lost, people ...
02.15.2021 Episode 209: Missing Questions This week on Polilogue, the Director of the CDC re-appears. It remains unclear if and how the Biden administration will stick with the science to determine if schools should reopen. Either way, the Director of the CDC leans on very ...
02.08.2021 Episode 208: Impending Impeachment This week on Polilogue, we look at the conversations that took place on the Sunday shows with Republican senators about the impending impeachment trial. Very few Republicans were were willing to suggest clear accountability measures against the former president who ...

Older episodes

Polilogue

What's Polilogue about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Polilogue episodes:

Episode 257: The Voting Rights Debate

Episode 256: A Surge of Critical Questions

Episode 255: New Year Old News

Episode 254: The Last Shows of the Year

Episode 253: Manchin blows up BBB

Episode 252: One Story, Two Editorial Decisions

Episode 251: Missing Rigor in Abortion Coverage

Episode 250: Omicron on the Chyron

Episode 248: Inflation Concerns Plague Biden Administration

Episode 249: Inflation and Gun Violence

Episode 247: What Does Being Woke Actually Mean?

Episode 246: Undeveloped Narratives

Episode 245: Bad Agendas, Bad Conversations

Episode 244: Explaining the State of the Economy

Episode 243: Missing the Larger Narrative

Episode 242: Infrastructure Numbers and Messaging

Episode 241: Is This Infrastructure Week?

Episode 240: Strong Booster Answers, Vague Afghanistan Questions

Episode 239: Grilling Joe Manchin and Vivek Murthy

Episode 238: Abortion Bans & Climate Catastrophe

Episode 237: Good Cop, Bad Cop

Episode 236: The Leading Voices on Afghanistan?

Episode 235: The Insider Review

Episode 234: A Second Look Special

Episode 233: Understanding the New Variant

Episode 232: The Questions that Weren't Asked

Episode 231: Variant Coverage Varies

Episode 230: The Afghanistan Long View

Episode 229: Policy and Human Connections

Episode 228: Dealing with the Infrastructure Deal

Episode 227: Complex Negotiations and Excellent Questions

Episode 226: Measuring Success Against Russia

Episode 225: Infrastructure Lags, Cyber Surges

Episode 224: Why Sunday Morning Matters

Episode 223: Coverage but Little Context

Episode 222: Where Did the Explainers Go?

Episode 221: Women and the Pandemic Recovery

Episode 220: Countering Biden’s Big Proposals

Episode 219: Political vs. Policy Conversations

Episode 218: Vaccine Pause Stirs Conversations

Episode 217: Where are the Fact Checks?

Episode 216: Defining Infrastructure

Episode 215: Guns, Bipartisanship and Fact Checks

Episode 214: Biden Faces Immigration Crisis

Episode 213: When Bills Become Laws

Episode 212: Manchin Makes his Mark

Episode 211: American Society Lives with COVID

Episode 210: Crisis in Texas

Episode 209: Missing Questions

Episode 208: Impending Impeachment