FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
The New York Times reported today (3/30/09) that New York State government had reached an agreement on a $131.8 billion budget. The third paragraph of the front-page story by Nicholas Confessore and Danny Hakim reads: And despite the enormous fiscal pressure the state faces, the budget contains $170 million in financing for pet projects—an amount […]
It’s to self-described “establishment” journalist Evan Thomas’ credit that he calls attention (Newsweek, 4/6/09) to economist Paul Krugman’s progressive criticism of the Obama administration’s financial bailout plan; corporate media generally pay much more attention to critics from the right. But the same shallowness that renders most media policy discussions virtually useless infects Thomas’ article, which […]
For the New York Post (3/27/09), it’s “Free Dumb Tower.” For the same day’s New York Daily News, it means “No More Freedom.” They’re talking about 1 World Trade Center, which is what the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced it was calling the skyscraper it’s building on the site of the […]
Last night (3/23/08) Bill O’Reilly aired the results of his stalking expedition against Think Progress blogger Amanda Terkel, who had dared to question (3/1/09) the appropriateness of O’Reilly speaking at a fundraiser for a foundation for rape survivors in light of his suggestion (Radio Factor, 8/2/06) that a “moronic” rape/murder victim had invited assault by […]
It takes a special kind of person to send stalkers out after a woman because she wrote a blog post criticizing you for blaming a victim of rape and murder for wearing the wrong sort of clothing.
If you look at the front page of the New York Post today (3/23/09), you see a big headline about New York State’s “Secret Deal to Tax ‘Rich.’” The scare quotes are there to indicate, presumably, that the taxpayers in question–whom the Post refers to as “anyone making more than $500,000 a year”–are not really […]
Jon Stewart (3/17/09) has found Glenn Beck expressing his philosophy in what may be its purest form: Believe in something! Even if it’s wrong! Believe in it!
The ABC network, in conjunction with the BBC and Japan’s NHK, has repeatedly polled Iraqis about the state of their country and the U.S. occupation. On Monday night (3/16/09) they aired a report that featured findings from the latest poll. Anchor Charles Gibson reported: Every year we have taken an extensive look at where things […]
Many observers praised the Daily Show‘s Jon Stewart for his hard-hitting interview with CNBC‘s Jim Cramer. Columnist Richard Cohen (Washington Post, 3/17/09) begs to differ. Actually, Stewart was “wrong” to go after Cramer, Cohen wrote—it was a “cheap shot at business media.” His main argument is that Stewart charged that Cramer “knew all the time […]
A Washington Post piece this weekend by Scott Wilson (3/14/09) centered around this “gotcha”: In his inaugural address, President Obama proclaimed “an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas that for far too long have strangled our politics.” It hasn’t taken long for the recriminations to return–or for the […]
During his well-publicized appearance with Jon Stewart (Daily Show, 3/12/09), CNBC’s Jim Cramer tried to present himself as a rational financial journalist, dismissing his on-air wild man persona as entertainment. But if you listened to his calm, sober pronouncements, they really weren’t all that rational. For instance, he said by way of apology, referring to […]
In a typically half-empty David Brooks piece (3/13/09), the columnist praises Barack Obama for embracing “rigor” in education policy, for endorsing “testing and accountability,” for “mak[ing] sure results have consequences.” He complains about the “education establishment’s ability to evade the consequences of data” and that watered-down proficiency standards mean that “parents think their own schools […]
Claiming that “you don’t hear” about the single-payer healthcare plan “as much as you used to,” CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen says that “more people are on the same page” about healthcare reform than they were in 1993. A new FAIR Action Alert debunks these and other assertions by Cohen that have the effect […]
Under the Onion-ready headline “Obama Calls for Earmark Reform, Signs Earmark-Laden Spending Bill,” (3/12/09), the L.A. Times‘ James Oliphant and Christi Parsons begin their story: President Obama railed against pork barrel projects on Wednesday. Then he signed a massive spending bill stuffed with them. I’m not sure what the cut-off for something being “stuffed” with […]
What caused the financial crisis, according to an online educational primer from textbook publisher McGraw-Hill? “Good Intentions,” i.e., the government encouraging banks to make loans to low-income homebuyers. What did not cause the financial crisis, according to McGraw-Hill? Bogus estimates of credit risk issued by ratings agencies like Standard & Poor’s, owned by McGraw-Hill. See […]
It does not take 60 votes to pass an ordinary bill in the Senate; it takes a majority of the senators voting.
This column by Washington Post deputy editorial page editor Jackson Diehl has received some well-deserved criticism, largely for its peculiar claim that reforming the U.S. healthcare system is a lot like invading Iraq. What jumped out at me was this supposed parallel between George W. Bush and Barack Obama: After September 11, Diehl wrote, “The […]
Steve Benen of Political Animal points out a couple of strange questions posed by corporate journalists—one to each of last year’s major presidential candidates. In this post, Benen quotes an unnamed New York Times reporter (apparently either Sheryl Gay Stolberg or Steven Lee Myers) basically red-baiting Barack Obama: “The first six weeks have given people […]
Sometimes when you read reports about the Middle East, you get the impression that corporate journalists think Palestinians are another species entirely. Here’s the New York Times‘ Mark Landler (3/4/09) explaining the theory of how better relations with Syria could help create a peace deal between Israel and Palestine: By seeking an understanding with Syria, […]
David Gregory, host of NBC‘s Meet the Press (3/1/09): The Obama stimulus package, $787 billion. The housing plan, $75 billion. That’s $2.3 trillion. Seven hundred and fifty billion dollars additional in this document for additional bailout money for the banks. Meantime, what metric do we have to see how people–what people think of that government […]
