Dear FAIR Supporter, FAIR loves being able to bring you recent successes we've had in standing up to the corporate media. On July 28, FAIR led an inspiring activist action where we delivered our petition signed by more than 13,000 physicians, activists and concerned citizens to ABC News headquarters in New York, demanding that the TV network open up the debate on healthcare reform to include advocates for single-payer proposals. Single-payer, or Medicare for all, is supported by 59 percent of the public and an equal percentage of physicians, but corporate media have almost entirely silenced such supporters. But our [...]
Sep
22
2009
NYT Slams Single-Payer
Fails to include advocates among 'diverse' experts
The New York Times devoted some rare space on September 20 to discussing single-payer (or Medicare-for-all) health reform. The result? A one-sided account of why such a system couldn't work. With a headline like "Medicare for All? 'Crazy,' 'Socialized' and Unlikely," readers probably had a sense of what the Times had in mind with the piece, which was the latest in a series titled "Prescriptions: Making Sense of the Healthcare Debate." Reporter Katharine Seelye wrote: "Extending Medicare to all has seemed like a good idea to many--except to those who call it 'socialized medicine.' Or crazy." The Times seemed to [...]
Sep
04
2009
Jordan Flaherty on Katrina anniversary, Sarah Anderson on executive pay
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Corporate media promised to pay more attention to poverty and race after the Gulf Coast's Katrina disasters in 2005, and for a short time they did a little more reporting. But where was the followup on this year’s August anniversary, when papers like the Washington Post and L.A. Times, and networks like ABC and Fox offered essentially no coverage at all. We'll talk to journalist Jordan Flaherty, reporting the story since 2005, about the stories from the continuing Katrina crisis that the corporate media don't seem to care much about. Also on the show--a [...]
Aug
14
2009
Trudy Lieberman on healthcare reform, Gary Schwitzer on health news study
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Healthcare reform is still the top political story of the moment. But the coverage seems to have gone from bad to worse, with noisy town hall meetings standing in the way of any coherent discussion of the dysfunctional healthcare system in this country, and what can be done about it. Trudy Lieberman has been watching healthcare coverage for Columbia Journalism Review; she'll join us to talk about what she's found. Also on CounterSpin today: An ongoing review of network morning news coverage of health issues finds a dangerous pattern of coverage providing faulty information, [...]
Jul
31
2009
Media Take Notice of FAIR's Healthcare Petition
On Tuesday, FAIR successfully delivered our petition demanding a broader debate on healthcare reform to ABC News, and already the media are taking notice of our efforts. The L.A. Times covered our petition delivery and acknowledged that there has been a "gaping hole in much of the media coverage -- caused by the failure to investigate practices around the rest of the world, particularly European-style, single-payer programs." And the buzz continues to grow.... Check out these links to see some of the coverage the petition has received so far: Common Dreams (7/30/09) L.A. Times (7/29/09) Democracy Now! (7/29/09) Paper Tiger [...]
Jul
24
2009
David Swanson on healthcare reform, Harold Meyerson on California's budget crisis
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: "Obama May Have To Wait for Health Reform" explained one July 22 headline. Leave it to corporate media to take a life-and-death issue for millions of Americans and reduce it to an item on a president's wish list. But if they're going to mainly cover healthcare policy as inside the Beltway politicking, how good a job are they doing even of that? We'll hear from activist and author David Swanson about the current state of play in healthcare reform efforts and what the media may have to do with it. Also on the show: [...]
Jul
01
2009
Single-Payer & Interlocking Directorates
The corporate ties between insurers and media companies
By Kate Murphy
How often are employees allowed to work on projects that might put some of the people they work for out of business? That’s the conflict of interest that journalists reporting on the healthcare reform debate are often put in by the boards of media corporations they work for, which frequently include representatives of the insurance industry. While a recent New York Times/CBS poll (6/20/09) has found yet again that the majority of Americans believe the government would both provide better coverage and keep costs lower than private insurance companies, a single-payer plan as an option for healthcare reform continues to [...]
Jun
22
2009
Tell ABC: Include Single-Payer in Healthcare Debate
Network says June 24 special will cover 'all sides'
ABC News is preparing for a day of in-depth of coverage on President Barack Obama's healthcare proposal on June 24, broadcasting from the White House and including an interview with Obama on Good Morning America and an hour-long Primetime "town hall" discussion featuring Obama and questions from audience members. Concerns have been raised about whether ABC's special programming will convey a full spectrum of opinion on the healthcare reform debate--but the views perhaps most likely to be left out have so far gotten little attention. Complaints from the right about ABC's plans have gotten widespread play. The Republican National Committee, [...]
