Who’s Really the “Best Political Team on Television”?
If you’ve tuned in CNN this election season, you’ve heard the network’s claim of “the best political team on television” repeated as many as 50 times a day by anchors like Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer. But how do the networks’ teams stack up?
When asked for their “political teams,” none of the networks claimed the pundits who babble on, even though the networks fill much of their primary coverage with analysis from the likes of Bill Bennett, Donna Brazile, and even Karl Rove. Here’s how the networks compare:
CNN
Fox News
MSNBC/NBC News
ABC News
CBS
Big names
Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper
Brit Hume, Shepard Smith
Tim Russert, Brian Williams
George Stephanopoulos, Charlie Gibson
Bob Schieffer, Katie Couric
Embarrassing incident
Had to shelve pundits Paul Begala and James Carville for their ties to Hillary Clinton’s camp.
Bill Kristol’s ongoing neocon defense.
Chris Matthews’s mouth has gotten him in trouble so often that Media Matters has launched aMatthewsMonitor Web site.
Consultant Alexis Debat was fired after he faked interviews with newsmakers for another news organization.
Video of Couric leaked online showing her fussing and swearing off-air during the New Hampshire primary.
Best on-air reporters
Jessica Yellin, Ed Henry
Carl Cameron
The Davids: Gregory andShuster
Jake Tapper
Sharyl Attkisson
Typical pundit
Bill Schneider
Juan Williams
Howard Fineman
Cokie Roberts
Jeff Greenfield
Behind-the-scenes force
DC bureau chief David Bohrman
Owner Rupert Murdoch
Meet the Press executive producer Betsy Fischer
Senior executive political director Virginia Moseley
Political director Molly Levinson
Online coverage
Blitzer’s Best Political Podcast
Poli-Ticker by campaign embeds
The First Read by Chuck Todd
The Note by Rick Klein
Horserace by Brian Montopoli, Vaughn Ververs, and others
Coverage makes you ask . . .
Why is legal analyst Jeff Toobin analyzing exit polls?
Is that the same blonde who was on last hour?
Does Pat Buchanan ever stop talking?
How much does Stephanopoulos work out?
Is Couric having any fun?
Slogan
“Best political team on television”
“The best political team ever”
“The place for politics”
None
“America’s most watched network”
Annoying-patter level
3 megaphones
4.5 megaphones
4 megaphones
2 megaphones
1 megaphone
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Who’s Really the “Best Political Team on Television”?
If you’ve tuned in CNN this election season, you’ve heard the network’s claim of “the best political team on television” repeated as many as 50 times a day by anchors like Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer. But how do the networks’ teams stack up?
When asked for their “political teams,” none of the networks claimed the pundits who babble on, even though the networks fill much of their primary coverage with analysis from the likes of Bill Bennett, Donna Brazile, and even Karl Rove. Here’s how the networks compare:
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