Economists Were Absent from the Discussion on the Stimulus Plan

Media Matters for America recently did a study of Sunday talk shows and twelve cable news programs from January 25 to February 8. It is during this time period that there has been much talk in the media about Obama's stimulus plan and battle within Congress to get some form of the bill passed. Interestingly enough, this study found that out of 460 total guests on the programs measured, only 25 guests (or 5%), were economists.

In addition:

Media Matters purposefully used a broad definition of "economist" to be inclusive, coding as an economist any guest who has a master's degree or doctorate in economics or who has served as an economics professor at a university or college, as best as we could determine. (All current members of Congress were coded as non-economists.)

The show with the most economists? Glenn Beck's show on Fox News.

- Glenn Beck had on 7 economists out of 21 guests which discussed the stimulus (33%).
- The Situation Room had on 3 economists out of 73 guest which discussed the stimulus (4%)
- Lou Dobbs Tonight had on 1 economists out of 27 guests which discussed the stimulus (4%)
- Campbell Brown had on 0 economists out of 26 guests which discussed the stimulus (0%)
- Anderson Cooper had on 0 economists out of 31 guests which discussed the stimulus (0%)
- Neil Cavuto had on 2 economists out of 53 guests which discussed the stimulus (4%)
- The O'Reilly Factor had on 1 economist out of 15 guests which discussed the stimulus (7%)
- Hannity had on 0 economists out of 44 guests which discussed the stimulus (0%)
- Chris Matthews had on 1 economist out of 46 guests which discussed the stimulus (2%)
- Keith Olbermann had on 1 economist out of 15 guests which discussed the stimulus (7%)
- Rachel Maddow had on 1 economist out of 11 guests which discussed the stimulus (9%)

and as for the Sunday talk shows:

- This Week had on 3 economists out of 20 guests that discussed the stimulus (15%)
- Face the Nation had on 1 economist out of 7 guests that discussed the stimulus (14%)
- Meet the Press had on 2 economists out of 14 guests that discussed the stimulus (14%)
- Fox News Sunday had on 1 economist out of 20 guests that discussed the stimulus (5%)

You can view a list of all the guests by clicking here.

Is this really in the best interest of a fully informed citizenry? This system assures that certain important questions will not get asked and it limits the discourse on one of the most important topics that has been recently discussed. Is it any surprise that people are confused about the stimulus plan and began to cling to ideas and phrases similar to those expressed by Joe "The Plumber"? We deserve better than this.