Polilogue

The shows continue to fail to explain and contextualize the Black Lives Matter and the Defund the Police Movements. Experts, researchers, and activists who have been working in this space are still not leading the conversations. And we still see journalists use partisan language like using the word '“warlord” to describe protesters.

Today on Polilogue, we look at the strategic choices and clumsy framing by the hosts and how it leads to shallow explanations of one of the largest protests we’ve seen in the United States in decades. We also look at some of the responses from Republican and Democratic leaders shaping legislative responses.

Chapters

• Introduction

• Highlight/Lowlight

• Host Performances

• Republicans Talk Police Reform

• Democrats Talk Police Reform

• The Missing Segment

• Show Rankings

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• Face the Nation on CBS

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

Articles Discussed on the Show

• The End of Policing by Alex Vitale

• Laquan McDonald shooting puts Rahm Emanuel in battle over the truth (The Guardian)

• Chicago mayor says 'sorry' for police misconduct in Laquan McDonald case (The Guardian)

• The Definitive Guide for Cable Hosts, Bookers, and Editors to the Fraud and Failure that was Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (The Intercept)

Contact us

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Support the show: We produce Polilogue out of our own pocket. If you’d like to support the show with a one-time or recurring donation, please visit our donate page here. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

For a second week, all the Sunday political shows focused their time on the national uprisings and racial injustice protests. Last week when the story was fresher and developing, we gave the shows more leniency in how they covered the topic. We asked if the shows were explaining why people were angry and if they were explaining the fervor that was spilling into the streets in cities across America.

A week later, the protests have not waned. But disappointingly, we find the shows are still failing to explain this moment. They are failing to include important voices on this topic. They are using incendiary and/or unnecessary language. There remains a deference to military and police that we are not seeing towards the average Black American. This is an important moment in history. The shows need to realize that they are failing to get this story right.

Chapters

• Introduction

• Meet the Press

• State of the Union

• This Week

• Face the Nation

• Fox News Sunday

• Rankings

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• Face the Nation on CBS

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

Articles Discussed on the Show

• The End of Policing by Alex Vitale

• Kim Latrice Jones interview (David Jones Media)

• Justice in America podcast hosted by Josie Duffy Rice and Clint Smith III (The Appeal)

Contact us

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Support the show: We produce Polilogue out of our own pocket. If you’d like to support the show with a one-time or recurring donation, please visit our donate page here. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

For the first time since March 2, today’s episode of Polilogue focuses on something other than the Coronavirus. All of the Sunday shows centered the bulk, if not the entirety, of their time on the 140+ protests that took place after the death of George Floyd. Floyd died Monday, May 25 while in custody with the Minneapolis Police Department. This death, like many others before him, was videotaped by a witness nearby and has reignited a deep heartbreak and anger in this country.

All week thousands of people have taken to the streets protesting police brutality and echoing other frustrations of the Black Lives Matter movement. The news coverage of these protests has been non-stop all week. Today on Polilogue, we look at how these important weekly political shows are framing and explaining this issue. We explore whether they are simply reporting that people are angry, or if they are explaining why people are angry. We look at interviews that examine police accountability, and we scrutinize ones that focus only on violent protesters instead of violent police officers.

Chapters

• Introduction

• Highlight / Lowlight

• The Police

• The Protesters

• Rankings

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• Face the Nation on CBS

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

Articles Discussed on the Show

• Echoes of 1969 (Harvard Magazine)

• Prisons are packed because prosecutors are coercing plea deals. And, yes, it's totally legal. (NBC News)

• Thousands of Complaints Do Little to Change Police Ways (NYT)

Contact us

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Support the show: We produce Polilogue out of our own pocket. If you’d like to support the show with a one-time or recurring donation, please visit our donate page here. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

Today on this holiday-edition of Polilogue, we took a different approach to design the show. Instead of our typical format (highlight, lowlight + 2 themed segments), we took a page from the NPR Politics podcast. For each show, we identified one thing that we can’t let go. We discuss a wide range of observations, including the missing Hong Kong context, the inflated spotlight of Chris Christie and Rham Emmanuel, learning in public, the tone and tenor of military coverage, and much more.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone and thank you to all of our veterans and active-duty service members!

Chapters

• Introduction

• Meet the Press

• This Week

• Fox News Sunday

• State of the Union

• Face the Nation

• Rankings

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• Face the Nation on CBS

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

Articles Discussed on the Show

• Why are there protests in Hong Kong? All the context you need (BBC)

• Exclusive: Too risky to come home, crew of 'clean' U.S. warship in coronavirus limbo (Reuters)

Contact us

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Support the show: We produce Polilogue out of our own pocket. If you’d like to support the show with a one-time or recurring donation, please visit our donate page here. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

Today on the Sunday news shows, the hosts covered a wide range of topics, including Coronavirus, the economy, new Trump rumors about Obamagate, the November election, and many other topics. Instead of examining topics, today on Polilogue we group questions in two buckets: unproductive and productive questions. Across topics, we noticed that some hosts carefully selected questions to seek a very specific answer, whereas other hosts asked broad questions for a less structured conversation.

Chapters

• Introduction

• Highlight/Lowlight

• Unproductive Questions

• Productive Questions

• Show Rankings

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• Face the Nation on CBS

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

Contact us

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Support the show: We produce Polilogue out of our own pocket. If you’d like to support the show with a one-time or recurring donation, please visit our donate page here. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

Today on the Sunday news shows, the hosts questioned if the Trump administration has any comprehensive plans to address the public health crisis and the financial catastrophe of COVID-19. Multiple representatives of the White House went on the shows, including Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin,  White House Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett, and Economics Advisor Larry Kudlow. Not all the hosts appropriately interrogated the talking points of the White House. George Stephanopoulos, in particular, missed the mark and gave too much leeway to Kudlow.

Chapters

• Introduction

• Highlight/Lowlight

• Talking to Scientists

• Interrogating Economists

• Show Rankings

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• Face the Nation on CBS

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

Contact us

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Support the show: We produce Polilogue out of our own pocket. If you’d like to support the show with a one-time or recurring donation, please visit our donate page here. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

The Coronavirus pandemic enters a new month and the Sunday talk shows focused on familiar subtopics, including the public health responses and economic pains of Americans and state governments. The Sunday shows also discussed the scientific breakthroughs in treating this virus. After many weeks of only COVID-19-centric episodes, most shows, at least for one segment, also discussed the presidential election.

Today on Polilogue, we explore the value of nuance in understating states that choose to reopen, the benefits of seeing the long-view COVID-19 picture, and why the Tara Reade allegation— at this point in time— is not as complicated of a story that most people are making it out to be.

Chapters

• Introduction

• Highlight/Lowlight

• Tepid Mitigation Success

• Additional Economic Support on Pause

• COVID-19 Breakthroughs

• Election 2020: Amash for President

• Election 2020: Tara Reade’s Biden Allegations

• Show Rankings

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• Face the Nation on CBS

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

Articles & Resources Discussed

• Investigate Tara Reade’s Allegations (NYT Editorial Board)

• NIH Trial Finds Gilead's Remdesivir Shows Early Promise in Treating COVID-19 (AJMC)

• Gov. DeWine reverses decision to make masks mandatory, now 'recommended' while shopping (News 5 Cleveland)

• Bewildering computer crashes and glitches for those in Florida seeking unemployment benefits (Tallahassee Democrat)

• “Florida Is a Terrible State to Be an Unemployed Person” (NYT)

• Why Won’t TV News Book Tara Reade? (NYT)

• Webinar: COVID-19 in Context: News Coverage and News Literacy in Uncertain Times (News Literacy Project)

• Overall fantastic resources with the News Literacy Project

Contact us

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Support the show: We produce Polilogue out of our own pocket. If you’d like to support the show with a one-time or recurring donation, please visit our donate page here. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

Every week for the last couple of months, either Dr. Anthony Fauci or Dr. Deborah Birx go on the Sunday talk shows and explain the current state of the national COVID19 response. Fauci and Birx are medical and public health professionals with decades of experience and public service. Lately, however, their roles have been more political lately as they struggle to defend or deflect bombastic statements by President Trump. Today on Polilogue, we discuss the role of scientists in Trump’s administration — and the role of the press in interviewing these experts.

We also talk about the next wave of economic support — including another round of money going into the Paycheck Protection Program to support struggling small business owners and the fight to get money allocated for revenue-depleted states and municipalities.

Chapters

• Introduction

• A Michigan Correction

• Highlight/Lowlight

• Scientists Try to Defend Trump

• PPP Fund Replenished

• Show Rankings

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• Face the Nation on CBS

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

Contact us

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Support the show: We produce Polilogue out of our own pocket. If you’d like to support the show with a one-time or recurring donation, please visit our donate page here. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

The Paycheck Protection Program was designed to give small business owners a lifeline during this unprecedented economic crisis. However, within two weeks of the program going live, the funds have been depleted, leaving many small business owners empty handed. The Trump administration and Congressional leaders are steadily working on the next round of support. This time around, journalists ask if unfair loopholes and unnecessary barriers will be resolved.

In addition to financial support, many Americans are wondering when it will be safe to resume their lives. Extensive testing and contact tracing are crucial components to making that possible — and yet, testing across the US remains a mess.

In today’s episode we look at both of these issues.

Chapters

• Introduction

• Highlight/Lowlight

• The Next Financial Aid Bill

• Testing Barriers Remain

• Trump Foments Unrest

• Show Rankings

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• Face the Nation on CBS

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

Resources

• Scott Gottlieb on how, and when, to end social distancing (Ezra Klein Podcst on Vox)

• Last year, we searched Google for how to tie a tie. Now we’re using it to find toilet paper. (WaPo)

Contact us

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Support the show: We produce Polilogue out of our own pocket. If you’d like to support the show with a one-time or recurring donation, please visit our donate page here. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

New data shows that the Coronavirus is devastating Black and other marginalized communities disproportionately compared to their white counterparts. Several Sunday shows had segments or interviews that highlighted this new trend. The quality of those discussions were largely dependent on the guests that were invited to speak on the topic. Highlights include the Governor of New Mexico Michelle Lujan Grisham on State of the Union, the Governor of Maryland Larry Hogan on This Week, and the Mayor of Chicago Lori Lightfoot on Face the Nation.

Additionally, the shows had many conversations about what it would take to open restart the economy and to reopen the country. And while the physical and economic safety concerns run rampant, one component remains steadfastly important: achieving extensive and widespread testing capabilities.

Chapters

• Introduction

• Highlight/Lowlight

• The Coronavirus and Race

• Steps to Open the Economy

• Why It Matters: Moving Past the Trump Story

• Show Rankings

• Closing

Shows discussed 

• Face the Nation on CBS

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

Contact us

Email us at [email protected] or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

Support the show: We produce Polilogue out of our own pocket. If you’d like to support the show with a one-time or recurring donation, please visit our donate page here. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

 Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org