Polilogue

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 discussed 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Face the Nation on CBS

Recommendations

• Really!?! with Seth and Amy - Billionaires in Space (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. Or leave a review on iTunes, Apple Music, or the Apple Podcast library. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

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 examines what was accomplished and what the US has learned in the 20 years of being in the country.

Shows discussed 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Face the Nation on CBS

• 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. Or leave a review on iTunes, Apple Music, or the Apple Podcast library. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

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 focusing on climate change in western states. And sometimes that fresh approach was a dud — like Emanuel’s boring checklist interview with Congressman Michael McCaul on Fox News Sunday.

More than anything, questions and conversations that focused on local stories and human connection in relation to federal policy is something we hope we see more and more on the Sunday shows.

Shows discussed 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Face the Nation on CBS

• 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. Or leave a review on iTunes, Apple Music, or the Apple Podcast library. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

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 this issue the last few months. However, that’s where the good news ended if you watched the Sunday morning political shows. The White House fumbled the most basic of questions and journalists undermined valid criticisms and advocacy work.

Shows discussed 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Face the Nation on CBS

• Meet the Press on NBC

Resources

• Where Did the Coronavirus Come From? What We Already Know Is Troubling. (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. Or leave a review on iTunes, Apple Music, or the Apple Podcast library. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

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 key players to explain and explicate. While other shows took a less successful approach. We also look at some noteworthy questioning techniques by Chuck Todd—and contrast how two different Sunday shows took extremely different takes on the new federal holiday of Juneteenth.

Shows discussed 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Face the Nation on CBS

• 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. Or leave a review on iTunes, Apple Music, or the Apple Podcast library. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

President Joe Biden is in Europe this week for a G-7 meeting, as well as a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was on all the Sunday morning shows with zero bombshell announcements and very set talking points about the Administration’s expectations of the Putin meeting.

Overall, it was a difficult setting for a journalist to conduct a newsworthy interview when the news has not quite been made yet. John Dickerson and Dana Bash, in particular, did a good job in forcing Blinken to explain how the Administration will measure success once the Putin meeting wraps.

Shows discussed 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Face the Nation on CBS

• 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. Or leave a review on iTunes, Apple Music, or the Apple Podcast library. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

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 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Face the Nation on CBS

• 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. Or leave a review on iTunes, Apple Music, or the Apple Podcast library. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

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 even integrate a “Lightning Round” inspired by Chris Wallace. It’s a unique episode for us—and a fun one to record!

We’ll be back with a new episode on the latest news next week. But until then—join us as we pull questions from the tin and discuss why Sunday morning matters.

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. Or leave a review on iTunes, Apple Music, or the Apple Podcast library. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

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 week. Chris Wallace, on the other hand, actively worked to discredit critical engagement in his interview with Mark, Regev, Senior Advisor to Israeli PM Netanyahu.

Other topics discussed include the lingering coverage of the Republican Party (particularly as it relates to the 1/6 commission) and powerful human stories about elected leaders.

Shows discussed 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Face the Nation on CBS

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. Or leave a review on iTunes, Apple Music, or the Apple Podcast library. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

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 the Colonial pipeline ransom attack. On the most complicated topics, we noticed important context setting explainers or segments were missing. 

Shows discussed 

• State of the Union on CNN

• Fox News Sunday on FOX

• This Week on ABC

• Meet the Press on NBC

• Face the Nation on CBS

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. Or leave a review on iTunes, Apple Music, or the Apple Podcast library. Thank you!

Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org