By Sam Roberts for The New York Times – Maybe looks aren’t everything, but new research suggests that more physically attractive members of Congress get more coverage on network television.

Two Israeli professors concluded that members whom a student survey judged to be better looking appeared more frequently on television — but not radio or in newspapers. The researchers argued that the networks were trying to attract larger audiences.

“In an ideal democracy, the amount of news coverage representatives receive should be determined by the quality of their work and the originality of their ideas,” the professors wrote. Instead, they said, the networks were compromising “the democratic principle of equal access to the public sphere.”

The study, by Prof. Israel Waismel-Manor and Prof. Yariv Tsfati of the University of Haifa, appears in the current edition of the journal Political Communication.

They based their research on a survey of students, who rated House and Senate members in 2007 on a scale of attractiveness. To avoid skewing the results, they eliminated, among others, members in top leadership posts and presidential candidates.

Not surprisingly, Professor Waismel-Manor and Professor Tsfati found that other factors, too, influenced coverage. Senators and representatives who hailed from larger states, were male, were black or espoused more extreme ideologies also tended to be featured more frequently. The effect of attractiveness on news coverage, the study found, was greater than the effect of tenure in office, or bill sponsorship. Frequency of news releases had no discernible effect on news media appearances. The study also examined coverage on NPR and in USA Today, and it found no correlation between the so-called attractiveness effect and coverage in those outlets.

Several American political scientists said the results of the study seemed probable, although Markus Prior, who teaches politics and public affairs at Princeton University, noted that most members of Congress, regardless of physical appearance, rarely get on network television.

Jeff Greenfield, an author and political analyst, said he thought it possible that networks had “some unconscious tilt to better-looking guests.” But, he added, “not nearly as much as the full-tilt preference for anchors and news readers who set hearts, and perhaps other body parts, aflutter.”

Richard C. Wald, a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and former senior vice president of ABC News, went one step further. “Since the day that Socrates was known for being ugly and Pericles for being handsome and compelling, humans have found better-looking persons to be more interesting to look at than those less well-favored by the culture,” he said.

The members considered most attractive were disproportionately Republicans, senators and women. Professor Waismel-Manor said the ranking correlated closely with a similar survey of American students studying in Israel.

To read the New York Times article, click here.