Bait-and-Switch on Stop-and-Frisk
There’s a powerful urge to believe, it seems, that abusing the Fourth Amendment rights of young men of color somehow makes the rest of us safer.
Jim Naureckas
NYT Sees Shift in Global Economy—by Using a Lot of Imagination
You begin to see why Nathaniel Popper doesn’t include numbers–because they completely contradict his thesis of a dramatic shift in global growth patterns.
What’s the Message of Clinton’s Noncampaign for the Office She Might Run for in Three Years?
Hillary Clinton hasn’t announced that she’s running for president in 2016, and launched a campaign yet. But the Washington Post is already complaining that her nonexistent campaign for an office she may or may not seek lacks a clear message. “Clinton’s gender likely would be a significant asset,” writes chief correspondent Dan Balz (8/12/13), adding: […]
Little NSA Debate at CBS
The CBS Sunday morning show Face the Nation featured a discussion of NSA surveillance with the former head of the agency and two politicians who vigorously defend the agency’s mass surveillance programs. The August 11 show featured a softball interview with Michael Hayden, who oversaw some of the most controversial Bush-era tactics at the NSA, […]
Action Alert: Face the Nation Needs NSA Debate
A new FAIR Action Alert (8/14/13) asks where Face the Nation‘s dissenters are on NSA surveillance. Please leave copies of your messages to CBS, or comments on the alert, in the comments thread below.
The Whistles That Didn’t Blow on the PBS NewsHour
It would be good to hear why the interview the NewsHour announced with two NSA whistleblowers never made it to the air.
Nate Silver Didn’t Fit In at the New York Times Because He Believed in the Real World
Nate Silver’s failure to fit in with the culture of the New York Times illustrates the difference between objectivity and “objectivity”–the latter being the belief that it’s impossible to know what’s real, so all you can do is report the claims made by various (powerful) people.
Bradley Manning Is Not a Royal Baby
Sometimes corporate media don’t even pretend to hide what they’re doing. “With a Royal Baby Due, News Outlets Are on High Alert” was the headline of a recent New York Times story about TV preparations for the birth of the queen of England’s great-grandchild. Meanwhile, the military trial of whistleblower and WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning […]
David Brooks Applies His Mental Equipment to the Egypt Coup
David Brooks lacks the mental equipment for informed, nuanced commentary on the politics of a Middle Eastern society.
Dick Durbin Wants to Stop You From Being a Journalist
Sen. Dick Durbin (D.-Ill.), writing in the Chicago Sun-Times (“It’s Time to Say Who’s a Real Reporter,” 6/26/13), says it’s time to stop letting just anyone call themselves a journalist. Everyone, regardless of the mode of expression, has a constitutionally protected right to free speech. But when it comes to freedom of the press, I […]
Chalk Another One Up to Free Speech Hypocrisy
It seems inadequate for U.S. media outlets to critique the level of free expression in the country where NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is seeking asylum without comparing it to the level of free expression in the country he is seeking asylum from. While the United States has on paper some of the best guarantees of the right to speak in the world, its practice is considerably more chilling.
People Who Urge Calm Over NSA Spying Make Me Nervous
It’s as if it’s not possible for the government to violate people’s Fourth Amendment rights (to be protected against “unreasonable searches and seizures”) unless it violates their First Amendment rights at the same time.
FAIR TV: Spinning Surveillance, Friedman’s Iraq Revisionism, Farewell to Michael Hastings
The administration’s defense of domestic surveillance is in tatters, but few media outlets seem to notice; Thomas Friedman revises his Iraq War stance, again; and a farewell to journalist Michael Hastings.
USA Today, Maddow and Iran Misinformation
The recent elections in Iran may change some things–but inaccurate media depictions of Iran might not change much at all.
Action Alert: Iran Misinformation From MSNBC, USA Today
The latest FAIR Action Alert asks readers to contact MSNBC and USA Today for corrections of misreporting in their coverage of Iran. Read the alert here and, if you send the outlets a letter, please share it in the comments section below.
NYT Pays Tribute to Hastings by Attacking Him After Death
When a journalist dies, how can you tell if they’ve had a career that’s upheld the proudest journalistic traditions of challenging the powerful and fearlessly exposing the truth? The New York Times will attempt to piss on that career in the journalist’s obituary.
Michael Hastings, Bridge-Burning Journalist (1980-2013)
What Tim Dickinson called Hastings’ “enthusiastic breaches of the conventions of access journalism” were what enabled him to report the unguarded assessments of the officers running the occupation of Afghanistan.
Edward Snowden and the State-Identified Journalist
Snowden, in Marshall’s view, is the kind of leaker who belongs in prison: “I do not see how you can’t prosecute Snowden.” For Marshall and other journalists who fundamentally identify with the state, it’s OK to help journalists to debate surveillance policy—it’s just not OK to try to change it.
Brian Williams Makes the Case for Putting NBC on Trial
NBC’s Brian Williams called Bradley Manning “the man who may have put U.S. military secrets in the hands of Osama bin Laden.” But giving classified information to the public is something that news outlets–including NBC News–routinely do, and each time they do it they too could be accused of “aiding the enemy.”
Two Churches Make an Anti-Gay Trend at USA Today
USA Today‘s front-page headline (5/31/13): Churches Sever Scout Sponsorship The online headline, over Bob Smietana’s piece on the reaction of church groups that sponsor Boy Scout troops to the Scouts’ announced plan to accept gay Scouts was longer but no less sweeping: Religious Regretfully Sever Scout Sponsorships That’s bad news for the Scouts, since as […]
