A Media Matters for America survey of guests on NBC's Today show thus far in 2006 revealed a significant preference for conservatives over progressives. For the period from January 1 to March 16, Media Matters found that when MSNBC host Chris Matthews is classified as a conservative, conservatives outnumbered progressives by a ratio of 3-to-1. When Matthews is not included, the ratio is 2-to-1 -- 10 conservatives to five liberals, though two guests classified as liberals appeared together. Interviews with politicians were not counted in this survey.

Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, was a guest six times. While conservatives often complain that Matthews is a liberal, Media Matters named him 2005's Misinformer of the Year for his role as a purveyor of conservative misinformation. Media Matters has also identified numerous instances of Matthews's gushing over President Bush, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), and other Republicans. Recently, Matthews has:

• remarked to White House deputy press secretary Trent Duffy, “See how much we get done when you come over here?” adding, “I wish we had you on every night.”
• said of House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), “You can see this man's greatness”; said that KT McFarland, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in New York, is a “delightful candidate”; and stated that “people will say” McFarland's opponent, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), is “Dukakis in a dress” (a reference to unsuccessful 1988 Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis).
• claimed that the nation's dislike of then-first lady Hillary Clinton was the reason why control of Congress shifted to Republicans in 1994, further claiming that a recently reported that a voter-data venture led by Democrat Harold Ickes -- an adviser to Clinton -- is “just like we saw the NSA doing” in conjunction with President Bush's controversial warrantless domestic eavesdropping program.
• misrepresented the positions of President Bush and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on a recently passed South Dakota abortion ban.
• praised conservative Philadelphia-based radio host Michael Smerconish without noting that Smerconish appeared at a political event with Matthews's brother, who is a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania.
• misrepresented a Massachusetts Democratic gubernatorial candidate's position on a parental consent provision for pregnant minors seeking abortions.
• overstated Bush's personal popularity ratings and claimed to be “amazed” when a poll showed that “50 percent of the [American] people don't like him -- just don't like this guy.”
• lauded Bush as reminiscent of a heroic character in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird for his actions in the Dubai Ports World controversy: “He looks like he's a wise man now ... almost Atticus Finch.”
• described McCain as a “maverick,” Bush as “charming,” and Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Ken Mehlman as “Kenny Boy.”

Other guests making an appearance on Today in 2006 include Bill O'Reilly, host of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor; Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's Scarborough Country; Fred Barnes, co-host of Fox News' The Beltway Boys and a regular contributor to Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume; Mary Matalin, a Republican consultant and a former co-host of CNN's Crossfire; Richard Haass, a former Bush administration official, Wendy Wright; president of Concerned Women for America; William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights; and Dr. Laura Schlessinger, author and nationally syndicated radio host.

In the same time period, only five progressives or liberals appeared on Today. They include James Carville and Paul Begala, political contributors to CNN's The Situation Room, who appeared together to promote a book they co-wrote; Michael Eric Dyson, an author and professor at the University of Pennsylvania; Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Richard Walter, a screenwriter. Walter is included as a liberal in this instance because he argued opposite Donohue during a segment on the upcoming film The Da Vinci Code.

The Today show findings echo two other studies by Media Matters that have documented the greater number of conservatives on other television programs: The February report "If It's Sunday, It's Conservative," a comprehensive study of guest appearances on the Sunday-morning talk shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC, and another recent study on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews. The methodology used in the studies identified each guest's general partisan or ideological orientation, coding each guest as Democrat, Republican, conservative, progressive, or neutral (nonpartisan, centrist, or having no political orientation).

Today Guest Survey: January 1-March 16, 2006

Conservative guests

Liberal guests

Neutral guests

* Haass is president of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is included in the conservative/Republican category because he worked previously in the Bush State Department as director of policy and planning and also worked as a special assistant to President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993. Nicholas Lemann described Haass as a moderate in the March 31, 2003, issue of The New Yorker.