FAIR: Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
The national media watch group
What are media missing as they mark the 40th anniversary of Roe v Wade Supreme Court? Journalist Rose Aguilar has a few ideas. And Barack Obama's comments on climate change in his inaugural address have generated a lot of coverage--and enthusiasm. We'll talk to Daphne Wysham of the Institute for Policy Studies about the policy side of that story.
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Another front has opened up in the long-running battle over the new health care law. As we hear the story in the media, Catholics are up in arms over being required to provide birth control, or something to that effect. Republicans are loudly criticizing the White House's war on religious freedom. What's the reality though? Jon O'Brien of Catholics for Choice will join us to sort fact from fiction. Also on CounterSpin today, New research heralds the end of the segregated century, says census data show US cities most integrated they've been since 1910. [...]
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: The Stupak Amendment, a last-minute addition to the House’s recently passed healthcare reform plan, would severely restrict abortion coverage for those on the “public option” part of the plan and those buying private insurance using government money. Many House Democrats journalists and pundits have portrayed Stupak as a sacrifice that must be made to get healthcare reform. Reproductive health advocates and many others differ. We’ll talk with Jodi Jacobson, editor of the RH Reality Check website. Also on CounterSpin today, there's a lot of talk in the media about education reform. That can mean [...]
Of all the supposed “pork” in the proposed economic stimulus bill, perhaps none got so much media attention as the provision to extend family planning to more low-income women. As the House struggled to pass the legislation, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) issued a press release (1/23/09) claiming that the plan “includes taxpayer funding for contraceptives and the abortion industry.” Two days later, Boehner railed on NBC’s Meet the Press (1/25/09), “Spending...over $200 million for contraceptives, how [is] this going to fix an ailing economy?” It didn’t take long for media to pile on. Cal Thomas—one of the most widely [...]
News stories about Rudy Giuliani's campaign for the Republican nomination for president often refer to his supposed support for abortion rights. To much of the mainstream media, this is evidence of Giuliani's admirable consistency in the face of a largely anti-choice GOP base, and a sign that Republican voters are pragmatic enough to accept a pro-choice nominee. A November 4 New York Times story, for example, declared that Giuliani "has made no serious effort to shade his positions to appeal to the social conservatives." The same day, a Times analysis of political flip-flopping made the same point, oddly claiming that [...]
News stories about Rudy Giuliani's campaign for the Republican nomination for president often refer to his supposed support for abortion rights. To much of the mainstream media, this is evidence of Giuliani's admirable consistency in the face of a largely anti-choice GOP base, and a sign that Republican voters are pragmatic enough to accept a pro-choice nominee. A November 4 New York Times story, for example, declared that Giuliani "has made no serious effort to shade his positions to appeal to the social conservatives." The same day, a Times analysis of political flip-flopping made the same point, oddly claiming that [...]
After the Supreme Court’s Gonzales v. Carhart decision upheld federal legislation that restricted abortion procedures without providing an exception for the woman’s health, CNN correspondent Candy Crowley (4/23/07) voiced a popular media refrain: “What’s interesting is whoever frames this issue the best is who is going to benefit from it politically.” Crowley was correct in the sense that the way an issue is presented critically impacts how people understand that issue. Therefore, presentation affects how we vote and what sort of demands we make of our political representatives; it’s something political operatives have long understood and tried to exploit. But [...]
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: did inadequate reporting help pave the way for the recent Supreme Court ruling on abortion? We’ll hear from veteran women’s rights and women’s health advocate Gloria Feldt on how, she says, media mistakes fueled the high court ruling. Also on the program: did Boris Yeltsin really bring democracy and freedom to the former Soviet Union? That's what many U.S. news outlets have reported since the former Russian president's death on April 23rd. We'll talk to Professor David Kotz of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, about Boris Yeltsin's real legacy. Links: — How Media Mistakes [...]
