FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
A skeleton is rattling in George Will’s closet. But it’s difficult to hear above the steady applause from his elite boosters inside the media business. Widely viewed as one of the nation’s most influential journalists, Will churns out syndicated columns that appear in hundreds of daily papers. He also writes for Newsweek. And he’s a […]
Gushy reviews began as soon as George W. Bush stepped away from the podium in the House chamber. On NBC, Tim Russert explained that the performance was especially impressive due to the new president’s personal history of being podium-adverse: "I was amazed at how conversational he was tonight, and confident and comfortable." An analyst for […]
Henry Kissinger usually has an easy time defending the indefensible on national television. But he faced some pointed questions during a recent interview with the PBS NewsHour about the U.S. role in bringing a military dictatorship to Chile. When his comments aired on the program last Tuesday night, the famous American diplomat made a chilling […]
The power to depict history is entangled with the power to create it. George Orwell observed long ago: “Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.” And so it is in 2001, as American media outlets draw conclusions about the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. For conservative […]
In Africa, 17 million people have already died of AIDS. In developing countries around the world, twice that many are now HIV positive. Such statistics are largely unfathomable. And news accounts rarely explore basic options for halting the deadly momentum. But during the past several weeks, some major U.S. media outlets have taken bold and […]
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil — The question, from a participant here at the World Social Forum, was polite and understated: "Sometimes, one wonders if the poor political consciousness and the lack of information about the world of the standard American is not one of the problems of the world today. Do you think we all could […]
It was a remarkable comment that passed without notice. After interviewing the new White House chief of staff, a network anchor bade him farewell. "All right, Andy Card," said CNN’s Judy Woodruff, "we look forward to working with you, to covering your administration." If major news outlets were committed to independent journalism, Woodruff’s statement on […]
Many pundits are worried about the delay in finding out who will become the next occupant of the Oval Office. “That’s probably the most crippling blow I’ve ever seen to a new president,” David Gergen lamented on national television (CNN, 11/25/00); whoever the next chief executive turns out to be, he has “been denied or […]
A surreal mixup disrupted CNN programming for a few moments on January 17 when the network switched to live coverage of Colin Powell. While the retired general appeared on the screen, the audio was the voice of Sen. Edward Kennedy at another Senate hearing — as the senior senator from Massachusetts railed against John Ashcroft’s […]
Hey, kids, what time is it? It’s inauguration time! By accident of history, the guy in the starring role bears a passing resemblance to Howdy Doody. What’s more, his V.P. partner could evoke memories of Phineas T. Bluster. But the incoming president is no dummy — and pundits who cast aspersions on his intelligence are […]
As golden anniversaries go, it’s a somber occasion. In a forlorn expanse of desert scarcely an hour’s drive northwest of Las Vegas, on Jan. 27, 1951, the Nevada Test Site went into operation by exploding an atomic bomb. During more than a decade, mushroom clouds often rose toward the sky. Winds routinely carried radioactive fallout […]
We’ve come a long way in this country since the 19th century — but not so long that an admirer of the Confederacy can’t be nominated to run the Justice Department of the United States. The president of the Confederate government, Jefferson Davis, is a hero to Sen. John Ashcroft, the man selected to become […]
As usual, the competition for P.U.-litzers has been fierce. For the ninth year in a row, I have worked with Jeff Cohen of the media watch group FAIR to sift through the many entries for the annual award that pays tribute to this nation’s stinkiest media performances. And now, the P.U.-litzer Prizes for 2000: * […]
Is the next presidency going to be legitimate? This question now hovers over George W. Bush. Made possible by a bare majority of the U.S. Supreme Court, his triumph is lawful — but many Americans see it as illegitimate. Bush can look forward to wielding enormous legal power. But his moral authority is another matter. […]
One of the great paradoxes of modern journalism is that unusual and extraordinary events seem to be the most newsworthy — but in the long run, key realities of our lives are shaped by what’s usual and ordinary. The news coverage filling our screens is routinely the product of haste, with little exploration beyond the […]
Many pundits are worried about the delay in finding out who will become the next occupant of the Oval Office. “That’s probably the most crippling blow I’ve ever seen to a new president,” David Gergen lamented on national television. Whoever the next chief executive turns out to be, he has “been denied or robbed of […]
After a decade filled with round-the-clock media sensations, we’re finally in the middle of one that’s truly portentous. The post-election battle for the White House stands in sharp contrast to countless ersatz stories that gained enormous coverage during the 1990s. The current warfare between Al Gore and George W. Bush is certainly historic — but […]
During the first several days after the election, many of America’s leading pundits were very distressed. Some even appeared to be on the verge of freaking out as they vented major anxieties: It’s upsetting that we still don’t know who the next president will be! The financial markets could plunge! Other countries won’t respect us! […]
A few hours before dawn Wednesday, the nation’s TV networks foisted their second outrageous blunder of the night on the American people. After “calling” the state of Florida for Al Gore earlier in the evening, the same networks announced that George W. Bush had won Florida — and the White House. With a typical flourish, […]
The New Democrats may have outsmarted themselves. A couple of months ago, the current Democratic Party leadership seemed to be firmly in control. The succession was orderly. The party’s new ticket of "moderates" — Al Gore and Joseph Lieberman — gained momentum. If all went according to plan, President Lieberman would be wrapping up his […]
