Rupert Murdoch Heads West
The strategy of Rupert Murdoch, always arch-conservative in his politics, has been to start or take over and use media to further his political viewpoint.
Karl Grossman
Applause for Lunar Failure Follows Decades of Space Program Cheerleading
From the start, much of the media have been highly supportive of the space program—serving, indeed, as cheerleaders.
In the Wake of Santos’ Lies, Media Double Check Records of Potential Replacements
Following the scandal of serial liar George Santos, there is a push by some media to investigate the candidates running to replace him.
Critics Picked Up on Oppenheimer’s All-Too-Timely Warning on Nuclear War
Oppenheimer can provide the opening of a window that can help new generations of people learn about nuclear weapons.
Projects to Shift Media Further Rightward Get Kid Glove Treatment From Centrist Press Journal
Illuminating information could have been found if Quill had looked into sources of funding for right-wing media training.
Why Is There More Media Talk About Using Nuclear Weapons Than About Banning Them?
It’s of critical importance—indeed, existential importance—to the world: the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. And a coalition of peace organizations in the United States is charging that media are acting like the treaty “does not exist.” The Nuclear Ban Treaty Collaborative is waging a campaign to encourage press coverage of the treaty, which, […]
Trump Donor John Malone Could Soon Be Calling Shots at CNN
What will CNN become under John Malone? “I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,” the media billionaire Malone told CNBC (11/18/21) in November. “I do believe good journalism could have a role in the […]
Applause for Perseverance Ignores Plutonium Bullet We Dodged
The media hoopla last week about the Perseverance rover ignored NASA’s projection that the mission involved 1-in-960 odds of an accidental release of plutonium.
Right-Wing Media Joined Trump in Enabling Health Disaster
Right-wing US media—led by Fox News, Donald Trump’s main press cheerleader—joined the Trump administration in minimizing the dangers of a global pandemic.
New York Times: Nuclear Establishment Tool
The model of a journalist being co-opted by the nuclear establishment involves New York Times reporter William L. Laurence, who described nuclear power as “making the dream of the Earth as a Promised Land come true.”
After Fukushima, Media Still Buying Nuclear Spin
Ever since the start of nuclear technology, those behind it have made heavy use of deception, obfuscation and denial—with the complicity of most of the media. New York Times reporter William Laurence, working at the same time with the Manhattan Project, wrote a widely published press release covering up the first nuclear test in New […]
Ex-Flak Sees Industry Script in Town Hall Attacks
Where has the investigative reporting been on the organizing behind attacks on healthcare reform at the “town halls” members of Congress have been holding? Wendell Potter sees private health insurance industry as involved in the situation—and he should know. Until last year, Potter was head of corporate communications at CIGNA, one of the nation’s largest […]
Money Is the Real Green Power
Nuclear advocates in government and the nuclear industry are engaged in a massive, heavily financed drive to revive atomic power in the United States—with most of the mainstream media either not questioning or actually assisting in the promotion. “With a very few notable exceptions, such as the Los Angeles Times, the U.S. media have turned […]
The NYT’s Nuclear ‘Promised Land’
Note: This is a sidebar to “Money is the Real Green Power” (Extra!, 1-2/08). The New York Times is not alone in promoting a revival of nuclear power. But as the U.S. paper of record, it sets the media tone. Its pro-nuclear editorial culture began decades ago when the Manhattan Project and its corporate contractors […]
The Real ‘Masters of Space’
As a graphic proclaiming “Red Storm” flashed on the screen, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs intoned: “Communist 5China tonight refusing to explain its motives for conducting its first-ever anti-satellite missile test. That test, the latest in a series of dangerous new challenges by the Chinese military to this country’s interest.” He threw it to correspondent Christine […]
The Power of Conservative Spinning
In addition to being a journalism professor (whose courses have included Politics of Media), I’m the host of a nationally aired TV program, Enviro Close-Up. My producer, Joan Flynn, and I get many e-mails proposing subjects and guests for the show—the overwhelming majority from conservative public relations companies promoting conservative guests. In terms of volume […]
Applying the Knowledge
[Note: This piece is a sidebar to “The Power of Conservative Spinning.”] There was “a significant increase of understanding by conservatives on how to deal with media” with the rise of Ronald Reagan, explains Morton C. Blackwell, founder and president of the conservative Leadership Institute. “There was very little to distinguish Barry Goldwater from Ronald […]
Spinning the Bomb
News Zero: The New York Times and the Bomb By Beverly Ann Deepe Keever Common Courage Press Reviewed by Karl Grossman The New York Times has for decades downplayed—indeed suppressed—the dangers of radioactivity, according to an exhaustive study by a professor of journalism at the University of Hawaii. Beverly Ann Deepe Keever is a former […]
Waiting Till the First Cow Dies
It’s the day after U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced the first case of mad cow disease in the United States, the telephones at the Center for Media 8c Democracy in Madison, Wisconsin are ringing constantly with press inquiries. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my 30 years of activism!” John Stauber, executive director […]
Gaga for Galileo
CNN’s Frank Buckley (9/21/03) could hardly contain himself. “Dr. Johnson, we admire the heck out of you!” Buckley exclaimed on-air as he finished interviewing Dr. Torrance Johnson, project scientist for NASA’s Galileo space probe mission, minutes after it plunged into the atmosphere of Jupiter after an eight-year voyage through the solar system. Buckley’s excitement was […]
