You'd think a massive hurricane that wreaked havoc along the East Coast might force the high-profile Sunday morning TV shows to talk about climate change. You'd be wrong. It's time for us to tell the Sunday talkshows: Talk about climate change. Sign FAIR's petition today. It is difficult for most people to keep ignoring the link between catastrophic climate change and weather catastrophes like "superstorm" Sandy. But with the devastation still being tallied--over 100 dead in the United States, dozens more in the Caribbean, tens of billions of dollars in damage--the Sunday shows on November 4 couldn't be bothered to [...]
Oct
26
2012
The Moderators' Agendas
What was--and wasn't--asked at debates
The establishment media figures who moderated the 2012 major-party candidate debates confined the discussion to a remarkably narrow range of topics, a FAIR analysis of debate questions finds. A wide variety of topics were never brought up in questions during the six total hours of debate. Among economic subjects, no questions were asked about poverty, income inequality, the housing crisis, labor unions, agriculture or the Federal Reserve. Social issues were similarly truncated, with no questions raised about race or racism, gay rights (including marriage equality), civil liberties, criminal justice or drug legalization. Despite the fact that four Supreme Court justices [...]
Oct
24
2012
PBS and Iran's 'Nuclear Weapons'
NewsHour botches basic fact about Iran dispute
In an October 22 discussion of the foreign policy presidential debate, the PBS NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown stated that "Iran's nuclear weapons program has been a particular flash point." A few weeks earlier (10/5/12) on the NewsHour, Ray Suarez said that Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez had continued to thwart American efforts on a range of international issues, such as Washington's attempt to convince Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to halt his country's pursuit of nuclear weapons. As most people following this story should know, there is no intelligence that shows Iran has a nuclear weapons program. The country has long denied the [...]
Oct
18
2012
Factchecking Libya
Debate dispute sheds light on media's cockeyed standards
The September 11, 2012, attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, became a contentious issue in the October 16 presidential debate (FAIR Blog, 10/17/12). The discussion didn't do much to illuminate U.S. foreign policy, but it exposed the essential uselessness in what corporate media offer as political "factchecking."
Oct
03
2012
Moderate Debates and Debate Moderators
Debate process needs more scrutiny, not less
Jim Lehrer is hopping mad. The New York Times (10/2/12) reports that the PBS anchor "has been seething. He said he was outraged by suggestions that he was a 'safe' and uninspired choice to moderate the first of four debates." The focus of the Times piece is the fact that people have more ways to express their opinions about the presidential debate moderators: In the Twitter age, when anyone can immediately render swift and harsh judgment, the stress of hosting an event as politically charged as a presidential debate is heavier than ever. While the New York Times seems bothered by the "partisan rancor in this hyper-politicized climate," it's difficult [...]
Sep
14
2012
Post Ombud Agrees with FAIR on Big Oil Sponsorship
Energy 'debate' needed diversity and disclosure
The Washington Post has responded to FAIR's September 14 Action Alert, which criticized the paper for presenting a two-page energy "debate" that didn't include critics of the industry--and didn't disclose to readers that the discussion was sponsored by Big Oil. In his most recent column, Post ombud Patrick Pexton (9/21/12) largely agreed with FAIR's take, acknowledging that the panel discussions (which the Post used as the basis for the print feature) should have included more diverse views and that the sponsorship of the American Petroleum Institute (API) should have been disclosed to Post readers. The Post's Mary Jordan, who was responsible for the energy events, told Pexton that [...]
Sep
14
2012
Brought to You by...Big Oil?
Washington Post hides industry sponsorship of energy debate
The Washington Post had a two-page spread in its September 11 edition devoted to a "debate" on energy policy. But industry critics were missing from the picture. Why? Perhaps because the oil industry, undisclosed to Post readers, was sponsoring the discussion.
Aug
15
2012
Paul Ryan's 'Self-Reliance'
Concocting an 'origin story' for VP hopeful's character
As corporate media tell and retell Republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan's life story, one theme emerges above all others: His "self-reliance. "David Fahrenthold and Paul Kane in the Washington Post (8/11/12) asserted that Ryan’s big ideas bear the stamp of his own story: They stress independence and self-reliance, the qualities that took him from the mailroom to a spot on his party’s presidential ticket. What government owes its citizens, Ryan says, is not a guarantee of happiness--only a fair shot to pursue it....“ He lost his father early and had to grow up sooner than he wanted to,” said Rep. Jeff [...]
