January 31, 2014

Roger Ailes Phil Griffin Chairman and CEO, Fox News President, MSNBC 1211 Avenue of the Americas 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10036 New York, NY 10112

David Rhodes Ben Sherwood President, CBS News President, ABC News 524 West 57th Street 47 West 66th Street New York, NY 10019 New York, NY 10023

Deborah Turness Jeff Zucker President, NBC News President, CNN 30 Rockefeller Plaza 10 Columbus Circle New York, NY 10112 New York, NY 10019

Dear Mr. Ailes, Mr. Griffin, Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Sherwood, Ms. Turness, and Mr. Zucker:

We are writing to express our deep concern regarding the overall lack of gender diversity on Sunday morning political talk shows throughout 2013. These programs enjoy a large and diverse viewer base and are an important part of the public debate about issues that affect women's lives. With male guests vastly outnumbering female guests on Sunday morning broadcasts, women lose out in shaping the national discourse, and your viewers miss important points of view.

A report published this week by Media Matters for America, analyzed Sunday shows on your networks, including ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos, CBS' Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer, Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, NBC's Meet the Press with David Gregory, CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley, and MSNBC's Up and Melissa Harris­Perry. The report found that overall gender diversity on the broadcast shows and CNN was lacking, with men making up more than 70 percent of the guests on each program. By contrast, MSNBC reached near parity, hosting women 43 percent of the time. When it came to one­on­one interviews, the ratios were even more one­sided toward men, with men receiving at least 85 percent of the solo interview time on all of the broadcast shows and on CNN.

There are qualified women to speak on issues affecting all Americans, including national security, economic growth, climate change, education and many others. But when it comes to reproductive health, equal pay, and other subjects disproportionately affecting women, it becomes increasingly imperative that Sunday political talk shows reflect our democracy. This is particularly important since these shows frequently set the tone for how these topics are covered later in the week.

We urge you to take action in the short term to correct this oversight in booking guests, and we hope you will take greater action in the future to ensure that Sunday political talk shows are the place for discussions and debate that more accurately reflect the demographics of our diverse nation. We are glad to meet with you to offer constructive solutions to change these numbers.

Sincerely, Bobbie Ann Brinegar, MSW Julie Burton Executive Director President OWL ­ The Voice of Midlife and Older Women Women's Media Center

Ariel Dougherty Áine Duggan National Director President Media Equity Collaborative National Council for Research on Women

Jaclyn Friedman Kim Gandy Executive Director President and CEO Women, Action & the Media (WAM!) National Network to End Domestic Violence

Jessica González­Rojas Lisa Graves Executive Director Executive Director National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health Center for Media & Democracy & ALECExposed.org

Nancy Gruver Heidi Hartmann, PhD Founder President New Moon Girls Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR)

Mary Kay Henry Ilyse Hogue International President President Service Employees International Union (SEIU) NARAL Pro­Choice America

Jo Ellen Kaiser Janet Kopenhaver Executive Director Washington Representative The Media Consortium Federally Employed Women (FEW)

Janet Bandows Koster Shireen Mitchell CEO and Executive Director Chair, National Council of Women's Organizations Association for Women in Science (AWIS) Executive Officer, Digital Sisters President, Community Technology Centers' Network

Erin Essenmacher Jennifer Pozner President Executive Director Women in Film & Video – DC Women in Media & News (WIMN)

Kristin Rowe­Finkbeiner Tiffany Shackelford Executive Director and CEO Executive Director MomsRising Association of Alternative Newsmedia

Monica Simpson Eleanor Smeal Executive Director President SisterSong Feminist Majority Foundation

Ann Stone Karen Teegarden Founder and Chair CEO and President Republicans for Choice UniteWomen.org ACTION