'Roundtable': military affiliated Middle East experts outnumber independents 13 to 1 last year

WAMC's extreme pattern of bias towards military affiliated experts worsened in the second year of the Gaza genocide

January 30, 2026

By James Earl Owens, with research assistance from members of Truth + Justice 4 Palestine

Presenting new data covering the second year of the Gaza war (10/9/24-10/3/25), this post documents The Roundtable’s near total dependence on Middle East experts affiliated with US and Israeli military agencies and defense corporations. The data further shows The Roundtable also overwhelmingly turned to Democratic party insiders over panelists from humanitarian aid or human rights groups. I will show that this pattern of source selection constitutes media bias towards institutions that organize political support, revenue, and weapons flows for Israel’s genocide. These sourcing practices by Roundtable producers clearly violate WAMC’s own stated ‘Code of Ethics,’ as I explain. The post ends with action steps we can take today and during WAMC’s fund drive starting next week!

Roundtable’s preference for sources from pro-Israel institutions part 1: military affiliated experts

The data shows that Roundtable producers included military affiliated Middle East experts 13 times as often as independent experts (Table 1, Figure 1). One panelist, UAlbany Dean of Homeland Security Robert Griffin, builds working partnerships between students and a branch of the IDF. In contrast, Roundtable producers almost entirely excluded experts from Palestine or the Middle East/North African region despite that these are the very people most affected by US policy of unconditional support for Israel’s illegal and genocidal war.

Table 1. Middle East experts appearing on WAMC’s The Roundtable 10/09/24 - 10/3/25

I previously provided details on the military affiliations of these sources here.

Figure 1. Ratio of military affiliated Middle East experts to independent Middle East experts on WAMC’s The Roundtable 10/09/24 - 10/3/25

The above numbers express a ratio of 12.9 to 1. In short, 13 military affiliated Middle East experts appeared for every 1 independent expert on The Roundtable last year.

Reliance on military affiliated experts increased on The Roundtable during the second year of the Gaza genocide. During the first year of the genocide Roundtable producers turned to military affiliated experts over independents at a ratio of 3.4 to 1. In other words, data on the second year of the war shows an over 375% increase in reliance on Middle East experts from US and Israeli military institutions over independents. Shockingly, this increasingly extreme pattern of preference for sources from US and Israeli institutions actively conducting the war worsened despite an ongoing public campaign demanding more balance among Roundtable experts.

Roundtable’s preference for sources from pro-Israel institutions part 2: Democratic party insiders

Another way that Roundtable producers privileged pro-Israel viewpoints last year was by overwhelmingly including panelists from the Democratic party at the expense of those from international humanitarian aid and human rights organizations (Figure 2). Democrats constituted the most common of sources appearing on Roundtable last year, making nearly 300 appearances. GOP panelists appeared 34 times, just under 10% the rate of Democrats. Leadership at both parties unites in a policy of unconditional support for Israel — even as popular and younger constituencies push back (Times of Israel, 8/431/25). Beyond the Middle East experts discussed above, Roundtable producers included panelist (and WAMC trustee) Dr. Jim Hendler of RPI 24 times last year. According to Hendler’s resume,¹ he worked extensively with the Pentagon and received “Industrial Gifts” from weapons manufacturers valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (p. 29).

The data shows that host Joe Donahue and producer Sarah LaDuke prominently included guests currently or formerly working for key US institutions providing political and material support for Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. Yet Donahue and LaDuke rarely included panelists with backgrounds in humanitarian aid or human rights work whose perspectives could have balanced those of guests from pro-Israel institutions. Humanitarian aid and human rights professionals appeared only 9 times last year, in contrast to the hundreds of appearances by panelists from the Dems and GOP, and military industrial complex.

Figure 2.

Conclusion: data shows evidence of violation of WAMC’s own stated ethics

This dramatic imbalance documented by the data violates the station’s publicly posted Code of Ethics: “Coverage of news events should be complete and accurate. If the subject involves controversy, the views of all responsible sides should be fairly presented.” Yet during the 219 episodes aired during the second year of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Palestinian American experts on the conflict appeared only twice. Both appearances were by Dr. Ahmad Abu-Hekmah, who was also the only Middle East guests included last year. This means Middle East inclusion in 2024-25 declined 50% from the meagre 4 such appearances during the prior year. In no way do these two episodes fulfill the station’s ethical pledge that “all responsible sides should be fairly presented.”

So what can we do to change this?

Take action!

Now is the perfect time to demand accountability from the producers of The Roundtable. WAMC is deep in its fund-drive and is more dependent than usual on listener donations. Here are ways you can demand WAMC management include more Palestinian and Middle East/North Africans panelists as well as experts from humanitarian aid and human rights organizations.

1. Call into WAMC’s fund-drive: 800-323-9262.

2. Post your concerns on WAMC’s Instagram and Facebook threads. Your posts can start conversations and spread awareness among other listeners and others already sick of Roundtable’s catalogue of problems.

3. Truth and Justice for Palestine offers multiple social media graphics on WAMC’s anti-Palestine bias to share across your favorite social media!!

4. Join the letter writing campaign!

   

(As always, the data referenced in this post is available on GitHub.)

1. I previously made Hendler’s resume available. According to that document, Hendler also fulfilled dozens of Department of Defense roles (pp. 2-3) and oversaw millions of dollars in research grants from US military entities (pp. 29-34).