FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
This week on CounterSpin: Steffie Woolhandler on the ‘Massachusetts miracle’ healthcare plan that was recently passed and what the press is getting wrong. Also on the show: Joe Conason of the New York Observer discusses the New York Post’s Page Six gossip column and Rupert Murdoch.
Video news releases– are they just PR stunts or actually news reports? Daniel Price with the Center for Media & Democracy joins to discuss VNRs. Also on the show: Jeff Faux of the Economic Policy Institute talks his new book, The Global Class War.
Immigration policy is big news this week– Andrea Batista Schlesinger of the Drum Major Institute unpacks the major gaps in media coverage of the issue. Also on the show: What did veteran reporter Christopher Graff do that upset his bosses at the Associated Press? We’ll ask columnist Peter Freyne from the paper Seven Days.
George Bush received glowing reviews from corporate media for his March 21st news conference performance. Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies joins to offer some much needed scrutiny of the president’s remarks. Also on the show: Garance Franke-Ruta with The American Prospect discusses the New York Times’s op-ed page and its consensus on abortion.
This week on CounterSpin: Ben Bagdikian on McClatchy consolidation and the future of journalism. Also on the show: Reporter Jack Fairweather joins to discuss the new issue of Mother Jones, which exposes yet another INC tall tale.
This week on CounterSpin: India and nuclear double standards, with Amitabh Pal of the Progressive magazine. Also on the show: Why didn’t journalists follow through on conversations about institutional racism and class bias post-Katrina? We’ll hear from Eric Deggans, media critic at the St. Petersburg Times.
Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, and prevailing media myths, with Chesa Boudin. Also on the show: Marjorie Heins of the Free Expression Policy Project joins to discuss “fair use” rights and what that means for journalism and documentary filmmaking.
Slate.com editor and legal commentator Dahlia Lithwick discusses why damning recent reports on Guantánamo Bay have received minimal attention from news outlets. Also on the show: Sheila Gibbons, editor of the quarterly Media Report to Women, joins to talk about what needs to be done to improve representation of women in media.
This week on CounterSpin: Emily Whitfield of the ACLU discusses Amy Gharib prison and the Pentagon’s cover up. Also on the show: Is the so-called a la carte approach to cable TV a win for the public, or just another way for media giants to control the flow of information? We’ll ask of Kenneth DeGraff of Consumers Union.
This week on CounterSpin: Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada discusses the Prophet Mohammed cartoons that have set off protests around the world and what media coverage tends to miss. Also on the program: David Swanson joins to talk about the new Bush memo.
This week on CounterSpin: David Cole, professor at Georgetown University Law on the controversial NSA program. Also: Journalist Anthony Fenton joins for a discussion on corporate media and democracy in Haiti.
This week on CounterSpin: Continuing debate about Hurricane Katrina and how the government has responded to its aftermath. Also on the show: Discussion with Rolling Stone contributing editor Eric Boehlert on what he is calling a media “boycott” on coverage of the K Street Project.
This week on CounterSpin: MediaChannel’s Danny Schechter about the Alito hearings. Also on the show: Stephen Zunes discusses how mainstream narratives have misrepresented Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, incorrectly painting him as a peacemaker.
Does American reporting on Iraq paint a misleadingly optimistic narrative? Also on CounterSpin: The NYT and corporate press on Sago.
This week on CounterSpin, Jonathan Kozol joins to discuss his new book Shame of the Nation: the Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America.
This week on CounterSpin: On this special CounterSpin program we’ll take a look back at some of the stories of the past year, and hear again from a few of the many journalists, activists, researchers and critics that brought those stories to us, or helped us make sense of them. Includes comments from Norman Solomon, Ian Williams, Anthony Riddle, Katha Pollitt, and many more.
The White House has continued to engage with domestic spying despite reluctantly agreeing with new so-called anti-torture legislation. Also: Massing joins the show to discuss his recent article for the New York Review of Books, which examines some problems within the media business that translate to inadequate journalism.
Writer Naomi Klein joins CounterSpin to talk about what’s missing from the current mainstream discussion of torture– namely, the history of US support for the practice around the world. Also this week: Rolling Stone contributing editor Eric Boehlert on the media and the Sami Al Arian saga.
This week on CounterSpin: The media versus the public on the economy. Also: James Bamford joins to discuss his recent report “The Man Who Sold the War,” which investigates the powerful Rendon Group and its role in manufacturing public consent for the Iraq War.
This week on CounterSpin: Salon.com senior writer Michelle Goldberg about the alleged war against Christmas and her recent article “How the Secular Humanist Grinch Didn’t Steal Christmas.” Also: Baltimore City Paper reporter Gadi Dechter on how a curious story involving Oreo cookies became a talking point for conservative pundits.
