Political Pundits, Overpopulating the News Networks

POLITICAL PUNDITS, OVERPOPULATING THE NEWS NETWORKS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Paul Farhi]
With the cable news networks ramping up wall-to-wall political coverage, the demand for people to analyze, comment upon and speculate wildly about the presidential race has expanded accordingly. The nation's economy might be coughing and wheezing, but there is no shortage of employment opportunities in Punditland. Why are so many called to opine so often? Primarily because the news networks are covering the campaign so intensely, fueled by higher-than-usual viewership this year. During the week of Super Tuesday, 75 percent of available airtime on MSNBC, CNN and Fox News was dedicated to dissecting the campaign, according to the Washington-based, nonprofit Project for Excellence in Journalism. That was more than 10 times the amount the cable news networks spent on the next most heavily reported story that week: the tornadoes in the Midwest and Southeast (the war in Iraq didn't make the top five).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/18/AR2008021802267.html
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