‘You Can Look Fair or You Can Be Fair’: Corporate Media’s Dilemma
If you’re a profit-seeking outfit, which do you prefer, the appearance of fairness or the inner peace that comes with knowing you’ve done the right thing?
Jim Naureckas
Don’t Call It ‘Raising the Retirement Age,’ Because That’s Not What They’re Doing
As Dean Baker noted (Beat the Press, 9/7/12), corporate media mostly missed one of the major pieces of news in President Barack Obama’s speech to the Democratic National Convention. Talking about the federal budget deficit, Obama said, “Now, I’m still eager to reach an agreement based on the principles of my bipartisan debt commission.” Then, […]
Please Tell Dems What Magic Words on Medicare Are
Washington Post “Factchecker” Glenn Kessler (9/6/12) doesn’t like the way Democrats talk about Republican Medicare plans: The claim that Republicans will “end the Medicare guarantee” has been a frequent refrain at the convention, perhaps in response to factchecker complaints about the incorrect charge last year that Republicans would “end Medicare.” But this phrase is a […]
Dems Didn’t Start Social Security—and Other False Factchecks From Factcheck.org
Under the headline “Democratic Disinformation From Charlotte,” the website Factcheck.org (9/5/12) took aim at this “dubious or misleading claim”: Rep. James Clyburn engaged in partisan myth-making when he said “Democrats created Social Security” while Republicans “cursed the darkness.” History records strong bipartisan support in both House and Senate for the measure President Roosevelt signed in […]
When Candidates Lie, REAL Journalists Say They ‘Finessed the Facts’
On the subject of why politicians aren’t worried about corporate media factcheckers, a New York Times article from last week (8/31/12) by Alessandra Stanley is worth a second look. Under the headline, “How MSNBC Became Fox‘s Liberal Evil Twin,” Stanley wrote: “You can agree with everything that Rachel Maddow or Ed Schultz say on MSNBC […]
Politicians, Don’t Worry About Factcheckers—They Don’t Worry About Your Lies
“What if it turns out that when the press calls a lie a lie, nobody cares?” That’s the question asked by Atlantic editor-in-chief James Bennet (8/28/12) after a raft of Pinocchios and flaming pants failed to sway the Romney campaign from its position that “we’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by factcheckers.” […]
SoundBites
Not Prone to Violence–Unless You Count Domestic Violence A New York Times piece by Lizette Alvarez (7/13/12) starts: “A wide-ranging investigation of George Zimmerman, who is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin, found a man not prone to violence or prejudice and who moved easily between racial and ethnic groups–a ‘decent […]
In Memoriam:
FAIR recently lost two of its mentors. On July 21 came the unexpected death of radical journalist Alexander Cockburn, who was one of two or three writers to whom FAIR most owes its existence. Cockburn inspired a revival of hard-hitting political media criticism in the Village Voice’s Press Clips column, which he launched in 1973; […]
For Brokaw, It Doesn’t Get Better Than Global Warming Denial
NBC‘s Tom Brokaw from the Republican National Convention last night (8/30/12): The best line, I think, in the speech was the one in which he said: “President Obama wants to slow the growth of the oceans, I want to help you and your family.” Yeah, wasn’t that great when Romney pretended we weren’t facing an […]
Factchecking the Minnows and Letting the Whales Swim Away
In an attempted factcheck of Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech at the Republican convention, AP‘s Calvin Woodward (8/30/12) takes on Romney’s big laugh line: President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family. Woodward looked into it and found […]
If NYT ‘Overloved’ Occupy, It Had a Funny Way of Showing It
In his farewell column (8/26/12), New York Times ombud Arthur Brisbane writes: Across the paper’s many departments, though, so many share a kind of political and cultural progressivism—for lack of a better term—that this worldview virtually bleeds through the fabric of the Times. Well, maybe we need a better term. Brisbane provides two examples of […]
Pointing Out How the Magician Does His Tricks Would Just Be Rude
In a New York Times story (8/24/12) about Mitt Romney’s energy proposals, reporters Eric Lipton and Clifford Krauss make this observation: With gasoline prices again approaching $4 a gallon, Mr. Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, is also trying to merge energy and economic policy in a way that will make voters see increased energy production […]
Missing From LAT Report on Romney’s Energy Plan: Journalism
“Mitt Romney Sees Path to Energy Independence,” an L.A. Times piece by Seema Mehta (8/22/12), doesn’t mention climate change at all. It also doesn’t mention tar sands, the Canadian oil deposits whose extraction would devastate the environment, even though that’s what Romney’s talking about when he says that approving the Keystone pipeline will be one […]
SoundBites
Strange Problems in Distant Lands Some shows have given an unchallenged platform to extremists…. Conservative clerics have used the airwaves to reinforce prejudice and even urge violence against minorities. Editorial independence is sometimes curtailed by the businessmen who own the stations and unashamedly use them to peddle their interests. Controversy also surrounds the anchors, some […]
Remembering Alexander Cockburn
The July 27 CounterSpin noted the passing of one of media criticism’s greatest writers: FAIR was saddened to hear of the death of radical journalist Alexander Cockburn. He was one of the writers to whom FAIR is most indebted, inspiring a revival of hard-hitting political media criticism with the Press Clips column in the Village […]
Obama Stoops to Convincing Voters Not to Support the Other Guy
Thomas Byrne Edsall on the New York Times‘ Campaign Stops blog (7/23/12) accuses Barack Obama of “the politics of anything goes.” His evidence: The Obama campaign is running ads attempting to persuade voters not to vote for Mitt Romney. The logic here is sort of hard to follow. First Edsall quotes Obama telling “those who […]
Objectivity and Its Opposite, ‘Objectivity’
One of the most confusing terms in the media discussion is “objectivity.” In philosophy, it refers to a belief in a reality independent of the conscious mind, generally one that can more or less be known and meaningfully discussed. In journalism, on the other hand, it means “don’t scare away any potential customers.” “Objective” journalism […]
How Campaign Strategists Turned Reporters Into Brain-Picking Zombies
In the if-you-like-sausage category, the New York Times‘ Jeremy Peters has a piece today (7/16/12) about a new trend in journalism: Political sources demanding—and receiving—final control over what they are quoted as saying in news stories. Quote approval is standard practice for the Obama campaign, used by many top strategists and almost all midlevel aides […]
George Zimmerman Was Never Violent—if You Don’t Count Domestic Violence…
Rarely has a story contradicted its lead like Lizette Alvarez‘s New York Times piece on George Zimmerman today (7/13/12). Here’s the first sentence: A wide-ranging investigation of George Zimmerman, who is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Trayvon Martin, found a man not prone to violence or prejudice and who moved easily between […]
The Broken Link Between OWS and a Murder
“OWS MURDER LINK.” That’s how the New York Post‘s front page (7/11/12) announced a report that DNA from a 2004 crime scene had supposedly been matched with DNA from a chain used to hold open a subway gate in an Occupy Wall Street protest. Inside, under the headline “OWS Link to ’04 Gal Slay,” the […]
