Whose Obamacare Stories Are Worth Telling?
Stories about individuals losing their insurance policies are making the national news. But how often do those gaining insurance through the Affordable Care Act make the news?
Peter Hart
NSA Stenography at CBS
CBS covers latest NSA revelations by telling viewers that the NSA is getting better at rebutting its critics.
The Illusion of Debate Over Striking Syria
There was little support for war on Syria—except on US broadcast news, where most of the debates and discussions still tilted in favor of a military attack.
No, You Still Can’t Trust What the NSA Says
One of the most incendiary revelations from the documents released by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden suggests that the NSA’s mass collection of phone records isn’t confined to the United States. Reports in Le Monde (10/21/13) and El Mundo (10/28/13) say the NSA is involved in collecting such data in France and Spain, too—millions of phone records […]
CBS Does CIA PR
60 Minutes’ interview with former CIA official Mike Morell was more like a press briefing than an interview with a powerful figure who has never been asked questions by a TV journalist.
O’Reilly Factor the Go-From Place for ‘Facts About Obamacare’
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly told viewers, “The Factor has established itself as the go-to news program if you want the facts about Obamacare.” And then he proceeded to show that this wasn’t true.
CNN Host Sticks Up for the Biggest Bank
Before she was a reporter, CNN host Erin Burnett worked on Wall Street. Evidently she still sees things from that perspective. On October 21, Burnett took time on her show OutFront to criticize the Justice Department’s reported $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase. The bank is apparently ready to settle over a variety of claims […]
iPads, Flying Pets and Other Things More Newsworthy Than Deadly Drone Strikes
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both released reports on civilian deaths from US drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen. Despite being front-page news in the New York Times, the reports were absent from the network evening newscasts.
Does Being a Pundit Ever Mean Having to Say You’re Sorry?
“The early denunciations of Snowden now seem both over the top and beside the point,” the Washington Post’s Richard Cohen writes. He should know–he wrote one of them. And now he says his initial reaction was “just plain wrong.”
TV Host Tired of ‘Partisan Games,’ Keeps Playing Them Anyway
Bob Schieffer isn’t just a guy with an opinion about what’s not being discussed on TV. He hosts a TV show every week.
FAIR TV: Hearing Malala’s Message, Zakaria’s CEO Panel, Networks Do Self-Promotion
US media ignore one part of Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai’s message. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria talks about inequality and Occupy Wall Street with….three CEOs? And corporations view the news networks they own as vehicles to promote their other properties.
When Reporters Talk About Iran and ‘the World,’ They Mean Something Else
When US journalists talk about what “the world” thinks of Iran’s nuclear program, it’s important to remember that they’re not usually talking about “the world”– just one very powerful part of it.
Time’s Take Two on Iran: Are They Reading This Blog?
Time’s blog runs a piece on Iran that includes everything that was missing from a recent Time magazine history of US-Iran relations.
The Media’s ‘New American Center’ Is Well to the Left of the Media
Media don’t tend to define The Center as “Things Most People Support,” because letting people know that most Americans support raising taxes on the wealthy, cutting military spending or providing single-payer healthcare would make the elite political debate seem like it’s well to the right of the public.
NYT’s Iraq War History, Still Misleading
Former Undersecretary of State John Bolton seems to tell the New York Times that only a nut would have claimed that Iraq had destroyed its chemical weapons stockpiles before the US-led war. The Times lets it pass, which is unfortunate, because if that’s indeed what Bolton was referring to, it’s false.
Occupy and Inequality: Zakaria Listens to CEOs
CNN host Fareed Zakaria dedicated a portion of his October 13 CNN show to a discussion of income inequality and the second anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. The guests? Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein and two other CEOs.
Drones, the Media and Malala’s Message
Corporate media were very interested in Malala Yousafzai’s message about standing up to the Taliban. But her comments about US drone strikes? Not so newsworthy.
Brian Williams vs. Brian Williams on Iran
NBC’s Brian Williams misled viewers when he called Iran’s declaration that it wasn’t interested in nuclear weapons a “sudden” shift. It’s not–and he’s reported that himself.
To NPR, TPP Is a Poker Game With a Pot Full of Jobs
Far from a free pot of good jobs, critics of the TPP have repeatedly argued that the deal involves restricting powers of domestic governments on things like food safety and environmental standards, while incentivizing the offshoring of jobs.
Somalia Raid Gone Wrong—Anonymous Officials Explain Why
If there’s one thing we know, the Obama White House hates leakers. Especially leaks about sensitive national security issues. Except when the leaks are the official kind.
