FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
The day after he formally announced he was a candidate for the 2008 presidential race, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) took a shot at the media. Alluding to the perception that he avoids taking strong positions on important political issues, Obama told reporters (Washington Post, 2/12/07): “The problem is that that’s not what you guys have […]
Right after Democrats won back control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections, pundits from major news outlets had, as one would expect, substantial amounts of political criticism for the party that faced major losses. What was most remarkable was the amount of tactical criticism and caution directed at the party that won major gains. […]
Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly and CBS talkshow host David Letterman had a well-publicized showdown on Letterman’s program in January 2006, so it came as no surprise that their next face-to-face on October 27 would be similarly heated. After the interview aired, O’Reilly accused Letterman of dishonesty for saying O’Reilly had lied on his show, […]
On August 14, the New York Times addressed one of the significant worries for U.S. media outlets covering the Israeli bombing and invasion of Lebanon: Civilians in Lebanon were the primary victims, dying in far greater numbers than Israeli military personnel and civilians combined. (Amnesty International estimated that the fighting killed about 1,000 civilians in […]
[Note: This piece is a sidebar to “Lives in the Balance.”] On August 8, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote, “Arabs have often argued that Americans have a double standard in the Middle East: We are more solicitous of casualties in Israel than in Gaza or Lebanon. I think they’re right, for a variety […]
[Note: this piece is a sidebar to Move Over—Over and Over: Media’s rightward push for Democrats] Political reporters looking to identify a new obstacle standing in the way of Democratic electoral success often find it online, where party activists and progressives congregate around liberal blogs and websites. Writing under the headline “Blogs Attack From Left […]
When congressional Democrats in June proposed a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, this was portrayed by the New York Times as a real problem—for Democrats. The underlying assumption in the reporting was that this position was a risky one, playing right into the hands of Karl Rove and the GOP. A June […]
It’s an article of faith in the elite ranks of journalism: Political virtue and electoral success reside in the ideological center. Though it’s not overwhelmingly popular with the American public, centrism is the dominant message of national political pundits and journalists—at least for Democrats. While few commentators would disagree with the conventional wisdom that Republican […]
[Note: this piece is a sidebar to Move Over—Over and Over: Media’s rightward push for Democrats] So who do political reporters now expect to close the “cultural gap” that supposedly prevents Democrats from winning at the polls? Many look to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who represents many of the centrist qualities media insiders prescribe for […]
At a time of dramatic increases in gasoline prices and jaw-dropping oil profits, NBC’s Sunday morning talkshow Meet the Press has convened two panel discussions dominated by guests close to those interests—with no input from environmental or citizen groups critical of the energy industry. On April 30, Meet the Press devoted its entire hour to […]
Given the mainstream media’s general antipathy towards France and nearly unanimous endorsement of neoliberal corporate globalization, it’s no surprise that reporters covering the massive student protests in France would be unimpressed with pleas to protect workers’ rights. The policy under fierce debate would allow many French employers more “flexibility” to hire and fire young workers […]
Newspaper editorial pages are entitled to their own opinions—but not to their own facts. That seems to be a distinction that the Washington Post has a hard time making these days. The paper’s April 9 editorial, “A Good Leak,” defended the White House’s actions amid new revelations in the investigation of the leaking of an […]
If you knew Coretta Scott King’s role in the fight for civil rights and social justice, it might not surprise you that some of the speakers at her memorial service—including close friends and allies in those struggles—would talk about politics. But that fact seemed to shock TV pundits and other journalists after the February […]
[one_third_last]If FAIR’s work consisted entirely of quantitative studies and the well-documented criticism that appears in every issue of Extra!, the group would be akin to a conventional think tank. But throughout FAIR’s history, it has had a significant emphasis on media activism—treating media giants just as one would any other powerful political or government institution, […]
Throughout the Iraq War, the mainstream media have shown little interest in documenting or quantifying the suffering of Iraqis. But a recent comment by George W. Bush provoked an unexpected round of discussion on the topic. At the close of a public event on December 12, Bush took questions from the audience. The very first […]
FAIR was founded on the belief that journalism matters—that getting out the truth can improve the world, while news that distorts or denies reality can have terrible consequences. To illustrate this conviction, we’ve compiled a list of 20 news stories published since FAIR’s 1986 debut that had a major impact on society—for good or for […]
In January 2005, readers across the country all saw the same thing in their morning paper: an ad for Wal-Mart. That in itself is no surprise—Wal-Mart is, after all, the largest corporation in the world—but this particular ad, which ran in more than a hundred papers, was different: it consisted of a rebuttal of arguments […]
[Note: this piece is a sidebar to Media Lick the Hand That Feeds Them] In media products no less than other retail items, Wal-Mart’s market share is considerable. By one estimate (Business Week, 10/6/03), its stores account for 15 to 20 percent of all CD, DVD and video sales, as well as 15 percent of […]
On November 2, the Washington Post carried an explosive front-page story about secret overseas prisons set up by the CIA for the interrogation of terrorism suspects. While the Post article, by reporter Dana Priest, gave readers plenty of details, it also withheld the most crucial information—the location of these secret prisons—at the request of government […]
Imagine a major mainstream media figure stating that the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq are not really such a big deal. You might expect that pundits across the political spectrum would attack such a statement as an affront to the troops and a belittling of their sacrifices. But you don’t have to imagine; this […]
