FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
The October 28 indictment of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby in the CIA leak investigation was major news. Libby–who promptly resigned from his position as Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff–is portrayed in the indictment as repeatedly and deceptively claiming he learned from reporters about Valerie Plame Wilson’s classified status at the CIA. Wilson’s CIA […]
Veterans of the battles over public broadcasting know the script by now: Right-wing Republicans denounce NPR and PBS for being too “liberal,” threatening to cut their federal funding. Public broadcasting’s defenders rally to “save” Big Bird and the like. The difference this time around, though, is significant. The right-wing Republican is not a politician per […]
While talking heads chattered about the Joe Wilson/Karl Rove “Plamegate” scandal (Extra!, 9—10/05), one cable news host staked out a firm position (7/12/05): “I say give Karl Rove a medal. . . . Valerie Plame should have been outed by somebody. And nobody else has the cojones to do it.” The host claimed—inaccurately—that Wilson’s “little […]
One of the most noted trends in the media coverage of Hurricane Katrina has been the aggressive and critical tone some journalists have adopted towards the White House and Bush administration officials. “How could the president be so wrong, so misinformed?” Tim Russert asked on Meet the Press (9/4/05). Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation […]
With Cindy Sheehan’s protest outside George W. Bush’s Texas ranch finally bringing a bit of media attention to the antiwar movement, some mainstream media outlets seem determined to marginalize such activism. On August 25, ABC World News Tonight anchor Charles Gibson asked, “People may tell pollsters they oppose the war, but are they part of […]
Journalists typically condemn attempts to force their colleagues to disclose anonymous sources, saying that subpoenaing reporters will discourage efforts to expose government wrongdoing. But such warnings seem like self-puffery after one watches contemporary journalism in action: When clear evidence of wrongdoing emerges, with no anonymous sources required, major news outlets can still virtually ignore it. […]
It’s a fact that labor unions are seldom heard from in the mainstream media. But when MSNBC host Chris Matthews brought up the issue (Hardball, 6/10/05), he blamed the problem on the labor movement. “I watch Sunday television,” Matthews explained during an interview with Bill Moyers. I never see a really good articulate labor leader […]
Cable news networks have devoted significant time to the case of Natalee Holloway, an Alabama teenager who disappeared in Aruba. But cable news’ most popular host has urged the media to exercise caution. On June 9, Fox News Channel‘s Bill O’Reilly explained, “As you may know, we do not speculate here on The Factor. We […]
A front-page New York Times story (5/2/05) added to mounting evidence that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), under new chair Kenneth Tomlinson, is pressuring public television officials to produce more conservative programming and to rein in shows it perceives as liberal. “The Republican chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is aggressively pressing public […]
Failing to find weapons of mass destruction or an Al-Qaeda/Saddam Hussein connection almost two years after it invaded Iraq, the Bush White House fell back on its second-tier justification for the invasion: that occupying the country would start a domino-chain of democratization throughout the Middle East. In the wake of the January 30 Iraq elections, […]
Sen. Trent Lott’s efforts to rehabilitate his public image were given a valuable boost by the Washington Post, which ran an uncritical profile in its April 14 edition. Lott (R.-Miss.) lost his position as Senate majority leader after comments he made at a December 2002 party for retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond (R.-S.C.) attracted publicity. Lott […]
White House officials were reportedly telling staffers that there was a “don’t gloat” policy when it came to talking about the stirrings in the Middle East (NBC Nightly News, 3/8/05; Time, 3/14/05). No such limits were placed on pundits, some of whom saw the events as proof that they were right all along to support […]
When Dan Rather stepped down from the CBS Evening News this week, right-wing media critics ought to have been among those most sorry to see him go. Rather has long served as their “liberal media” bogeyman, personifying the nightly news’ supposed tendency to skewer Republicans and coddle Democrats. But given the central role Rather plays […]
CBS Evening News has presented two segments in recent weeks (2/9/05, 3/4/05) that purport to show how typical American workers would fare under George W. Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security. But the segments rely on stock market projections that, if true, would make any “crisis” in Social Security almost impossible. CBS reporter Jim Axelrod […]
George W. Bush’s February 17 nomination of John Negroponte to the newly created job of director of intelligence was the subject of a flurry of media coverage. But little attention was paid to Negroponte’s role in the brutal and illegal Contra war against the Sandinista government of Nicaragua in the mid-1980s. From 1981 to 1985, […]
“We can get five reporters a month to do news stories about your product. If you want to be interviewed by 10 to 20 reporters per month, we can arrange that, too. . . . Media Relations, Inc. has placed tens of thousands of news stories on behalf of more than 1,000 clients.—Media Relations, Inc. […]
His CNN show Crossfire was canceled, but conservative pundit Tucker Carlson already appears to have a new cable news home lined up: a primetime show on MSNBC (USA Today, 12/20/04; Daily Variety, 12/21/04). With the departure of host Deborah Norville, MSNBC is reportedly considering Carlson to fill the 9 p.m. timeslot. His show would lead […]
The Los Angeles Times revealed last year (12/1/04) that the U.S. military lied to CNN in the course of executing psychological warfare operations, or PSYOPS, in advance of the November attack on Fallujah. In an October 14 on-air interview, Marine Lt. Lyle Gilbert told CNN Pentagon reporter Jamie McIntyre that a U.S. military assault on […]
Judging by the amount of coverage it has received, you’d think that the CBS‘s investigation into its flawed report on George W. Bush’s National Guard service was the most important media issue facing the country. Shortly after the report about Bush’s Guard service aired on 60 Minutes last September (9/8/04), right-wing commentators and internet bloggers […]
NEW YORK – Judging from the amount of coverage it has received, it would seem as if the CBS investigation into its flawed report on President Bush’s Air National Guard service was the most important media issue facing the country. Shortly after the report about Mr. Bush’s Guard service aired on 60 Minutes Wednesday in […]
