FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
On Tuesday, the New York Times (2/9/10) was front-paging a non-story about criticism of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change– hyping accusations about scientific misconduct and conflicts of interest that the paper itself called “half-truths” (FAIR Blog, 2/9/10). Well, it turns out that there was quite a bit of snow on the East Coast this […]
As Steve Rendall noted here (1/22/10), Scott Horton’s explosive Harper’s report (3/10) on several ostensible suicides at Guantanamo has received very little mainstream media attention–despite the fact that Horton’s account suggests that the prisoners were murdered by U.S. officials at a “black site” within the Guantanamo facility. But never fear–the story has finally broken through. […]
Last month CJR blogger Curtis Brainard (1/29/10) complained that the media were not giving enough attention to some complaints—mostly from climate change deniers—about the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report and complaints about IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri. Jim Naureckas suggested right here that this was a bad idea, but today the New York Times […]
The fact that Paul Krugman writes columns for the New York Times means that the paper’s readers are occasionally treated to a good media criticism—like today (2/5/10). He writes: These days it’s hard to pick up a newspaper or turn on a news program without encountering stern warnings about the federal budget deficit. The deficit […]
“I miss John McCain,” writes the Washington Post‘s Dana Milbank today (2/5/10). Milbank calls himself “an original McCainiac”–by which he means that he, like so many others in the corporate media, adored the so-called “maverick”John McCain of the 2000 presidential campaign. As we’ve pointed out plenty of times before, McCain’s Senate record has staunchly conservative […]
From CNN‘s American Morning (2/1/10), an interview by anchor Kiran Chetry with White HouseOMB director Peter Orszag: CHETRY: You also talk about letting taxes expire for families that make over $250,000. Some would argue that in some parts of the country that is middle class. ORSZAG: Well, I guess it’s not the parts of the […]
A New York Times piece seemed designed to bolster one of the key messages from the climate deniers.
The lead in an article in today’s New York Times (1/26/10) tells us that the White House and Congressional Democrats will soon decide “whether to use a procedural maneuver” to pass a healthcare bill with less than 60 votes in the Senate. That process is called budget reconciliation; it would be a complicated process, to […]
A late December NATO attack in eastern Afghanistan reportedly killed nine people–or, according to NATO, nine militants. According to Afghans, nine young civilians. The first round of reporting showed that some outlets, as usual, were willing to take the U.S./NATO line at face value–so long as that line was delivered anonymously, as in the December […]
Outside of an anti-Obama “tea party” demonstration, it’d be unusual to see a president being compared to Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin all at once. Crack open the November 2 issue of Newsweek magazine, though, and you’ll find these insults hurled at Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Who would say such a thing? The magazine’s frequent Latin […]
On November 11, Lou Dobbs abruptly quit his CNN program, bringing a sudden end to a television program most notable for its remarkably one-sided presentation of immigration issues. Since 2003, Dobbs regularly used his CNN platform to issue misleading and alarmist warnings about the threats posed by unauthorized immigrants. Dobbs has spoken of an “army […]
Once again, the New York Times is setting up a false debate over healthcare policy, contrasting White House–style “pragmatism” with left-wing “ideology.” The lead of Sheryl Gay Stolberg’s piece today (12/18/09): In the great healthcare debate of 2009, President Obama has cast himself as a cold-eyed pragmatist, willing to compromise in exchange for votes. Now […]
The new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll is getting attention for one rather unusual finding: that the right-wing Tea Party movement is more popular than either the Democratic or Republican parties. The point was made on MSNBC‘s First Read website and on the channel’s Morning Joe program this morning (12/17/09). Don’t buy it. The MSNBC headline– […]
Yesterday’s Washington Post (12/16/09) reports that the public isn’t sold on healthcare reform. As the headline puts it: Public Cooling to Healthcare Reform as Debate Drags On, Poll Finds The story by Dan Balz and Jon Cohen explains that “there is minimal public enthusiasm for the kind of comprehensive changes in healthcare now under consideration.” […]
The Israeli government’s near-total blockade of the Gaza Strip has been roundly criticized by international human rights groups as a harsh form of collective punishment. Some U.N. investigations have labeled it much worse–that Israel’s actions amount to crimes against humanity. Back in medialand, the Washington Post‘s Howard Schneider has a story today (12/15/09) comparing life […]
On Sunday (12/13/09), the New York Times Book Review offered a brief take on Malalai Joya’s A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice. Times reviewer Marc Tracy seemed to like the book OK, with a few notable caveats: Joya’s arguments, we’re told, “have earned the plaudits […]
The Washington Post‘s Howard Kurtz spends his Sunday mornings as the host of Reliable Sources, the media criticism show on CNN. Yesterday (12/13/09), one segment concerned the Washington Post‘s decision to print an op-ed (12/9/09) on “Climategate” by Sarah Palin. It prompted this exchange with guest John Aravosis of Americablog: ARAVOSIS: What newspapers aren’t supposed […]
The Washington Post‘s Dana Milbank (12/6/09) thinks there’s something wrong with left-wing critics of Barack Obama. As his lead put it: Some parishioners in the Church of Obama discovered last week that their spiritual leader is a false prophet. Milbank starts with Michael Moore, who wrote an open letter urging Obama not to escalate the […]
Today’s Los Angeles Times (12/7/09) gives us a story headlined “The Fight’s Back in John McCain.” In the subhead we learn that McCain is “Bipartisan No More, Especially on Healthcare.” The Timestells us that “the Mac is back” because he’s sounding an awful lot like a Republican politician: “Gone is the maverick bridge-builder who bucked […]
Time columnist Joe Klein (12/3/09) was not altogether impressed by Obama’s announcement of a 30,000 troop escalation in Afghanistan (an “iffy proposition,” as Klein put it). But Klein’s main point was that Obama should have justified the war differently: “Once you have made the decision to go, or to redouble your efforts, you must lead […]
