A disproportionate percentage of already-scant network news coverage of Africa revolves around celebrities like Bono and Angelina Jolie, a new FAIR study finds. Such celebrity-driven coverage imparts remarkably little information about the continent and the people who live there, study author Julie Hollar reports. Among the study's findings: In 2005 and 2006, ABC, CBS and NBC aired a total of 199 stories with a sub-Saharan African country, region or citizen as a primary subject. Thirty one of these stories, or 15 percent of the networks' Africa coverage over the two years, had a celebrity angle. During Sierra Leone's 11-year civil [...]
Jul
09
2007
Celebrities or Silence
FAIR Study on Media Coverage of Africa
A disproportionate percentage of already-scant network news coverage of Africa revolves around celebrities like Bono and Angelina Jolie, a new FAIR study finds. Such celebrity-driven coverage imparts remarkably little information about the continent and the people who live there, study author Julie Hollar reports. Among the study's findings: In 2005 and 2006, ABC, CBS and NBC aired a total of 199 stories with a sub-Saharan African country, region or citizen as a primary subject. Thirty-one of these stories, or 15 percent of the networks' Africa coverage over the two years, had a celebrity angle. During Sierra Leone's 11-year civil war [...]
Oct
03
2005
FAIR Calls for De-Funding CPB
How to REALLY save PBS: Replace corrupt board with independent trust
As Republican activist Cheryl Halpern takes the helm of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Republicans in Congress call for CPB funding cuts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, public broadcasting's defenders look ahead once again to a fight to "save PBS." But the broader issues remain overlooked: Is public broadcasting delivering on its promise of offering a true alternative to commercial broadcasting? Does the CPB really, as its mission statement proclaims, "encourage the development of programming that involves creative risks and that addresses the needs of unserved and underserved audiences, particularly children and minorities"? In the October issue of [...]
Nov
05
2004
New York Times Killed "Bush Bulge" Story
November 5, 2004 Five days before the presidential election, the New York Times killed a story about the mysterious object George W. Bush wore on his back during the presidential debates, journalist Dave Lindorff reveals in an exclusive report on this week's CounterSpin , FAIR's weekly radio show. The spiked story included compelling photographic and scientific evidence that would have contradicted Bush's claim that the bulge on his back was just a matter of poor tailoring. "The New York Times assigned three editors to this story and had it scheduled to run five days before the election, which would have [...]
Jun
02
2004
Ignoring Iraqi Opinion in the Name of Democracy
Despite growing calls from within the foreign policy establishment for a reconsideration of the U.S. military presence in Iraq, most mainstream pundits and commentators continue to argue that the U.S. has no choice but to tough it out. According to a survey of editorial opinion by Editor & Publisher (5/7/04), the trade publication of the newspaper industry, "the vast majority of America's large newspapers favored this approach to Iraq: Stay the course." But with resistance to the U.S.-led occupation forces showing no signs of fading away, some journalists have cast a worried glance at Iraqi public opinion. Establishing a democratic [...]
Jun
01
2004
NPR Responds to FAIR's NPR Study
June 1, 2004 On May 26, NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin responded to FAIR's recent study, "How Public is Public Radio? " What follows is Dvorkin's column, followed by a response from FAIR's Steve Rendall. (NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey A. Dvorkin ) Is FAIR Being Fair about NPR? By Jeffrey A. Dvorkin Web Extra May 26, 2004 -- FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) has published a study that says NPR has gone over to the conservative side when it comes to who is interviewed and who are commentators. FAIR is a media watchdog group that describes itself as "progressive" -- i.e., [...]
Apr
09
2004
Pundits to Kerry: Move Right
Every four years, loud voices in the media advise the Democratic presidential candidate to abandon progressive stances and occupy the political center. With Sen. John Kerry having emerged as the presumable nominee, the pundits are once again issuing the same prescription. Time magazine's Joe Klein wrote (4/12/04) that Kerry needs to be bold: "The ideal step would be to make [Republican Senator] John McCain his choice for vice president and announce a government of national reconciliation composed of moderate Democrats and Republicans." Klein recommended making a "radical move to the middle, a campaign that looks and sounds different from the [...]
Mar
08
2004
GOP Rhetoric on Kerry's Voting Record Goes Unchallenged
After John Kerry emerged as the likely Democratic nominee for president, the Republican National Committee (RNC) began criticizing his record on military spending. The campaign against Kerry's record escalated on February 22 when the RNC released a list of weapons systems that Kerry allegedly "voted against." Republican spokespeople used this list to make sweeping claims about Kerry in the media: "I think the more that the president and the Republicans describe accurately-- they don't have to exaggerate at all; they just have to describe accurately and calmly-- what it means...to have voted against every major weapon system," Newt Gingrich declared [...]
