ABC’s Epstein Story Didn’t Kill Itself
Amy Robach’s comments about being pressured into killing a Jeffrey Epstein story by powerful people ABC relied upon are a perfect example of the perils of access journalism.
Alan MacLeod
With People in the Streets Worldwide, Media Focus Uniquely on Hong Kong
From the Yellow Vests in France to demonstrations in Lebanon, Gaza, Chile, Ecuador and Haiti, sustained movements all over the planet have taken to the street demanding change. Yet media have been disproportionately interested in only one: the Hong Kong protests.
The Bolivian Coup Is Not a Coup—Because US Wanted It to Happen
Army generals appearing on television to demand the resignation and arrest of an elected civilian head of state seems like a textbook example of a coup. And yet that is certainly not how corporate media are presenting the weekend’s events in Bolivia.
Is ‘OK Boomer’ the ‘New N-Word,’ or Are Millennials Still Destroying Everything?
Dividing people by age rather than class has an intrinsic appeal to corporate media outlets owned by the wealthy elite of this country.
The Revolution Isn’t Being Televised
When official enemies can be presented as evil and allies as sympathetic victims, corporate media will be very interested in a story. In contrast, they will show far less enthusiasm for a story when the “wrong” people are the villains or the victims.
Media Ignore Unmasking of Twitter Exec as British Psyops Officer
Big social media platforms are increasingly acting like arms of Western governments, adopting their perspectives on what are and are not acceptable political viewpoints.
The Phony Liberalism of Bill Maher
Bill Maher rose from being an “edgy,” opinionated comedian to becoming one of the most influential and recognizable faces in our media. His political talk show, Real Time With Bill Maher, has been on HBO since 2003, spanning 17 seasons with over 500 episodes to date. Real Time continues to be one of the […]
Russia Has ‘Oligarchs,’ the US Has ‘Businessmen’
Our elites are engaged in normal economic activity or else looking out for the betterment of humanity, while theirs are nefariously dominating politics.
‘Pragmatic’: How Corporate Media Praise Dems Who Abandon Progressive Values
Election Focus 2020: Corporate media hide their pro-business positions behind a veneer of pragmatism, presenting their ideas as common sense.
Can’t Afford a Vacation? Get Another Credit Card!
Under greater time pressure than ever, media resort to rewriting or copying and pasting press releases, then branding them as news. At the same time, advertorials—paid advertisements presented as news—are becoming an increasingly common way for media to increase their income.
Media Just Can’t Stop Presenting Horrifying Stories as ‘Uplifting’ Perseverance Porn
In the popular trend of unintentionally horrifying “uplifting” news, out-of-touch corporate media give us supposedly charming, wholesome and positive news that actually, upon even minimal retrospection, reveals the dire conditions of late capitalism so many Americans now live under, and makes you feel worse after reading it.
To Media, No Democrat Can Possibly Be Right-Wing
Election Focus 2020: If there is a left wing of the Democratic Party, there must, logically, be a right. But when reporting on divisions in the party, media never identify the opponents of the left as representing the right.
Still Manufacturing Consent: An Interview With Noam Chomsky
Chomsky discusses the origins of the classic work of media criticism (co-authored with Edward Herman) Manufacturing Consent, the role of that book’s “propaganda model” today, Google and Facebook, Donald Trump and Russia, fake news and Syria.
North Korea Law of Journalism Strikes Again as Envoy Rises From Dead
Editorial standards and quality of reporting on a country are inversely proportional to its relationship with the US: Friendly countries are reported on favorably, whereas anything goes with enemy states like Venezuela, Iran or North Korea.
‘A Nice Guy, Everybody Loved Him’
After opening fire at worshipers celebrating the Jewish holiday of Passover at the Poway Synagogue near San Diego, California, 19-year-old John T. Earnest was arrested. Earnest killed one woman and injured three other worshippers before his semi-automatic weapon jammed and he fled the scene, calling 911 himself to report the shooting. The shooter published […]
Venezuela: It’s Only a Coup if the US Government Says So
In their efforts to refrain from using the negative—but accurate—term “coup” to describe events they support, the media have sometimes had to go to bizarre, roundabout and garbled lengths to dance around it.
Corporate Media Are Here to Warn You: Medicare for All Is a Very Bad Idea
Election Focus 2020: Corporate media appear to be almost univocally against Medicare for All, with the flow of doom-mongering stories increasing to a roaring flood as the notion gains more traction among the public.
Media Cheer Assange’s Arrest
Whatever your view of Assange might be, it seems clear he shares virtually nothing in common with those in positions of influence in big media outlets, who have been only too happy to watch his demise.
‘Purity Tests’: How Corporate Media Describe Progressives Standing Up for Principles
Election Focus 2020: In the political world, the term “purity test” has a very specific meaning, largely used by elites to chastise and attack the left, or to gaslight them into supporting more centrist or right-wing policies.
Dictator: Media Code for ‘Government We Don’t Like’
The “dictator” label is also a powerful cue, used by media to prime the reader to see a particular country or leader a certain way.
