Short and not-so-sweet: Cable Tee Vee bankrupt of economists, but not punditiots

By GottaLaff

First we learned that there is a shortage of Democratic pundits on the Tee Vee Machine. Now we see that there's a shortage of economists discussing the, you know, economy:

In a new report, Media Matters adds that economists have been largely absent from the debate on these TV programs:

[A] Media Matters for America review of the Sunday talk shows and 12 cable news programs from January 25 through February 8 found that during 139 1/2 hours of programming on Sunday mornings and weekday afternoons and evenings, of 460 total guest appearances in discussions about the economic recovery legislation and debate in Congress, only 25 were made by economists — a mere 5 percent. [...]

Matt Yglesias notes, “[I]t’s been striking to me watching things how often you’ll have what amounted to an anchor talking to a political reporter about a substantive policy question neither of them understood.”

In short, there is a shortage of expertise. That's been given short shrift, as opposed to the usual gang of punditiots, and that's the long and short of it.