FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
At 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., reporters usually shuffle along to a snoozy beat. But anyone who denigrates the mainstream media in general, or the White House press corps in particular, should acknowledge that exceptional journalists do strive to ask deeper questions while most colleagues go through the motions. The latest in a long line of presidential […]
For more than a decade now, the P.U.-litzer Prizes have gone to some of America’s stinkiest media performances each year. The competition was fierce as ever in 2002. Many journalistic pieces of work deserved recognition. Only a few could be chosen. While making the selections, I have relied heavily on research by the staff of […]
It’s impossible to adequately sum up any year, and 2002 is probably more difficult than most to grasp. Bursts of militaristic fervor bracketed the 12 months, which began in the terrible aftermath of 9/11 with the United States waging a fierce war in Afghanistan. Now, an even larger war against Iraq seems about to begin. […]
When they realized that Sean Penn had arrived in Baghdad unannounced, the Western journalists in the city were taken aback. But they ultimately seemed more surprised by the great distance between media images and the man they actually met. Quite a few other famous actors in the United States have expressed strong opposition to the […]
How words are used can be crucial to understanding and misunderstanding the world around us. The media lexicon is saturated with certain buzz phrases. They’re popular — but what do they mean? "The use of words is to express ideas," James Madison wrote. "Perspicuity, therefore, requires not only that the ideas should be distinctly formed, […]
A dozen years after the Gulf War, public perceptions of it are now very helpful to the White House. That’s part of a timeworn pattern. Illusions about previous wars make the next one seem acceptable. As George Orwell observed: "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past." It’s not […]
Listeners don’t get much news these days if they tune into commercial radio stations. Coverage of national and global events is scant at best, while local news — once the pride of many AM radio stations — is now an endangered species. The remaining community news is usually the "rip and read" variety from wire […]
Imagine that you’re at the ceremonial opening of a time capsule, half a century after some forward-looking Americans sealed it during a multimedia festival just before Thanksgiving 2002. It’s now late autumn in the year 2052. Gathered around a canister, the onlookers stare at the rusty container while someone punctures the metal top. Inside, through […]
With Republicans gaining control of the Senate, few analysts doubt that 9-11 set the stage for George W. Bush to lead his party to victory. Fourteen months ago, in the national media vortex, a president widely perceived as simple-minded and problematic suddenly became inspirational. The massive violence boosting Bush’s authoritative aura came in two basic […]
Marketing a war is serious business. And no product requires better brand names than one that squanders vast quantities of resources while intentionally killing large numbers of people. The American trend of euphemistic fog for such enterprises began several decades ago. It’s very old news that the federal government no longer has a department or […]
You can’t call it an October surprise. Late in the month, with Election Day not far off, the television news channels have been true to form. Leading the TV race to the bottom, national cable outlets fixated on sniper attacks while giving scant coverage to key election issues. Every once in a while, anchors and […]
Opinion polls don’t just measure; they also manipulate, helping to shape thoughts and tilting our perceptions of how most people think.
Many news stories and commentaries have marveled at the failure of Democrats to seize the high political ground this fall. With the nation’s economic stride continuing to falter under a Republican president, the main opposition party should be cruising for a triumph in the midterm elections. Instead, the Democratic Party may be lucky to hold […]
News coverage of the United Nations gets confusing sometimes. Is the U.N. a vital institution or a dysfunctional relic? Are its Security Council resolutions profoundly important for international relations — or beside the point because global leadership must now come from the world’s only superpower? These days, we keep hearing that the United States will […]
BAGHDAD — From the 12th floor of the Al-Rashid Hotel, the view is much like the panorama of any large metropolis. Along wide streets, cars are in constant motion. The cityscape is filled with tall buildings and residential neighborhoods. Nothing seems out of the ordinary — except that if all goes according to plan, my […]
You might remember the old movie "Twelve Angry Men," starring Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb and E.G. Marshall. Most of the dramatic film takes place inside a jury room as a dozen people deliberate at the end of a murder trial. It’s sweltering hot. At the outset, most of the jurors are eager to render […]
It’s always a challenge to see ourselves as others see us — and that’s especially true for citizens of the world’s only superpower. But we might be truly startled to recognize a mirror-image of the kind of reporting that we take for granted. As an experiment, to peer through the other side of the media […]
There’s something pathetic — and dangerous — about the crush of liberal commentators now pinning their hopes on Colin Powell. Yes, the secretary of state is a "moderate" — compared to the likes of Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. But that’s not saying much. And history tells us, even if the press won’t, that Powell […]
Labor Day may be a fitting tribute to America’s workers. But what about the other 364 days of the year? Despite all the talk about the importance and dignity of working people, they get little power or glory in the everyday world of news media. What if the situation were reversed? Once a year, big […]
