Government officials make up 23 percent of sources. Corporate representatives are 19 percent of public television sources. Even this figure may be misleading, since no one activist constituency accounted for more than a handful of sources. Racial and ethnic representatives accounted for 1.6 percent of sources, labor representatives 0.9 percent, environmentalists 0.6 percent, and feminists 0.2 percent. There were no representatives of gay or lesbian organizations in the sample.
Male sources outnumber female sources three to one.
Female sources were less than half as likely to appear on stories about international affairs, domestic politics or economics as on stories about social and cultural issues. Examining sources on different types of programs revealed other patterns. In many cases, the glut of expert analysis seems to reduce opportunities for members of some communities to speak for themselves. Business and financial programs present the narrowest range of sources, with corporate representatives constituting half of the sources on these programs. The business program is, in fact, the most highly politicized type of program, representing the interests of one social sector overwhelmingly.