WaPo Doesn’t Want Voters to Know Medicare for All Will Cut Their Health Costs
Election Focus 2020: The Washington Post tries to spin the healthcare issues into a false competition between access and cost.
Julie Hollar
Previewing the Democratic Debates: Every Flavor of NBC, Trusting Corporate Media on Climate
Election Focus 2020: Despite new nods to diversity, there is little evidence so far to suggest that the debates will be any less circumscribed and shallow than those in the past.
The CIA Aided Polio’s Comeback—but Media Have Forgotten the Story
There’s a crucial piece of information missing in the New York Times and CBS’s reports on the return of polio from near-extinction—one that these outlets know full well.
Public Confused About Climate Change? It’s Everybody’s Fault But the Media’s
Too hear the New York Times tell it, public misperceptions about the reality and severity of climate change aren’t just the fault of the fossil-fuel industry–scientists are also to blame, for being too nuanced.
When Transgender Is a Plot Twist
The first (and longest) section of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics is titled “Seek Truth and Report It.” It encourages reporters to be “honest, fair and courageous” in their work and to “test the accuracy of information from all sources.” This is what journalists do: They dig. When sports writer Caleb […]
Abortion Restrictions Soar, Media Coverage Sags
Over the past decade, it has gotten much more difficult for women in the United States to access safe and legal abortion services. National media, however, are not keeping up with this dramatically changing landscape, leaving the changes largely outside of public debate.
As Abortion Restrictions Soar, Abortion Coverage Dwindles
Over the past decade, it has gotten much more difficult for women in the United States to access safe and legal abortion services. How have national media kept up with this dramatically changing landscape? Not so well.
Nuclear Stalemate
When the US started using the Marshall Islands as a nuclear weapons testing site in 1946, did the US government intentionally expose Marshall Islanders to extremely toxic levels of radiation? It remains to be seen if PBS will be sharing the answer to that question with anyone anytime soon.
Climate Change Is Not the Future
Making climate change an A-section story means ceasing to think of it as something that “might happen”; it’s here now.
Weather—Without Climate
A new FAIR study shows that even when covering weather events that scientists suggest are linked to climate change, the news rarely mentions the changing climate. Out of 450 TV news segments about extreme weather, just 16 even mentioned climate change.
CNN Doubles Down on Pro-Nuclear Bias
Over 27,000 activists demanded CNN present a more balanced discussion of nuclear power. CNN responded with a post-show roundtable that featured a panel just as slanted.
Washington Post’s New Jerusalem Hire Too Close to Story
The Washington Post may be violating its own conflict of interest rules by hiring a Jerusalem correspondent whose spouse works for an Israeli government-linked public relations firm. As the website Electronic Intifada (9/18/13) pointed out, correspondent Ruth Eglash’s husband, Michael Eglash, is a founding partner of the pro-Israel advocacy group Upstart Activist and is the […]
Where Is the Discussion of Syria and International Law?
If international law is so important in evaluating Syria’s actions, then shouldn’t it be equally important in evaluating the proposed US response?
Anti-Choice Fight Flies Under Media Radar
While discussing abortion legislation on NBC’s Meet the Press (7/14/13), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nevada) told host David Gregory: “I think we should deal with the problems that affect this country. We need to do something to help the American working class and stop worrying about fringe issues.” A notable lack of media coverage […]
The NYT Thinks You’re an Idiot
Private Chelsea Manning will be serving out a 35-year sentence at Fort Leavenworth prison for revealing classified information to WikiLeaks. Are you confused by that sentence? Not sure what case we’re talking about here? Maybe there were two Private Mannings who are now tied for the record of longest prison sentence in the history of […]
When Bigotry Is ‘Balance’
As the Supreme Court finished hearing oral arguments on two same-sex marriage cases, the Wall Street Journal editorial page (3/27/13) proclaimed what has become a mantra of the right on this subject: The liberal media frame opponents of marriage equality as bigots. America’s cultural and media elites are attempting to browbeat the High Court into […]
Missing the Bigger Picture on Transgender Healthcare
The New York Times (2/13/13) reported that in the last few years, several elite U.S. universities have begun to cover sex reassignment surgery and/or hormones for trans-gender students. On the one hand, it’s great that they’re reporting news like this. After years of extremely disrespectful coverage of transgender issues (Extra!, 11/07), it feels like a […]
On Transgender Healthcare, NYT Reports Tree, Ignores Forest
The New York Times reports that in the last few years, several elite U.S. universities have begun to cover sex reassignment surgery and/or hormones for transgender students. On the one hand, it’s great that they’re reporting news like this, and after years of extremely disrespectful coverage of transgender issues, it feels like a victory that […]
Guide to Election Coverage 2012
Every four years, U.S. media spend untold time and energy covering the presidential campaign. And every election cycle there are certain media themes that keep coming back. Extra! has compiled a guide to the most popular recurring tropes, as well as some new additions to keep an eye on in 2012. Candidate Caricatures In 2008, […]
Missing Latino Voices
Since 1990, the Latino population in the United States has more than doubled to 16 percent, but English-language U.S. news media outlets are simply not keeping up. While people of color and women have always been underrepresented in U.S. media, Latinos consistently stand out—in the coverage as well as inside the newsroom—for their exceptionally paltry […]
