FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
The Los Angeles Times (11/2/09) gives readers a mostly upbeat account about the use of unmanned drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan—weapons that have killed hundreds in Pakistan in recent years. But Times reporter Julian Barnes tells us their popularity with U.S. military officials has “changed the nature of the current policy debate in Washington.” The […]
Today’s Washington Post (11/2/09) notes the White House’s apparent softening towards the Israeli side in Mideast negotiations (the headline is “Israel Putting Forth ‘Unprecedented’ Concessions, Clinton Says,” a good indication of the current administration stance). The Post tells us that the Palestinian position “appears to have hardened in recent days,” with “little room to negotiate […]
Afghan activist and politician Malalai Joya has been in the U.S. to discuss her book A Woman Among Warlords. As noted by Eric Garris at Antiwar.com, Joya’s was treated very differently byCNN than by CNN International. Specifically, Joya’s mention of the military occupation of her country seemed to offend CNN host Heidi Collins (10/28/09): Again, […]
It was Finley Peter Dunne who said that the job of newspapers was to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. But the other job of newspapers, as we all know, is to bring in advertisers—who want to reach a big-spending demographic. So what’s a paper to do in this current economic recession? Simply redefine […]
Ijust received an email (from this guy‘s PR outfit)with the subject line: President Obama’s Attacks on Free Speech Opposed by Most Americans, Zogby/O’Leary Poll Finds Tell me more! Here’s one of the “questions” asked in the poll,tailor-made for Fox News Channel: Federal Communications Commission Chief Diversity Czar Mark Lloyd wants the FCC to force good […]
When Fox News Channel was developing Sean Hannity’s TV show, it was known as Hannity & Liberal To Be Determined. That liberal turned out to be Alan Colmes, who would eventually leave the gig after doing his part by playing the Washington Generals to Hannity’s Harlem Globetrotters. It hardly mattered who sat in the “left” […]
Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt writes today (10/26/09) on the fear that the public option is a backdoor effort to bring a single-payer system to the United States: Private companies would have to raise their rates, so more people would choose the public plan, so private rates would rise further—and we could end […]
In the Washington Post (10/25/09), reporter Dan Balz has a piece about the “resurrection” of the public option in the Senate negotiations over healthcare reform. But like the Post‘s trumpeting of its recent poll on the issue, Balz’s rationale doesn’t make much sense. As he sees it, Senate Democrats “reevaluated the politics of the public […]
CNN host Lou Dobbs presented some big news on–wait for it–immigration last night (10/22/09): New evidence that the American public wants action on the illegal immigration crisis in this country. A new CNN poll finds the vast majority of the American public wants illegal immigration stopped and most want illegal immigrants now in the country […]
The White House’s beef with Fox News Channel continues, as do the right-wing cable channel’s bizarre attempts to defend their journalistic integrity. Take this example from today’s New York Times (10/22/09). Obviously the White House is most offended by the likes of Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck; this is unfair, according to Fox: But Michael […]
“U.S. Deeply Split on Troop Increase for Afghan War” is the headline on the Washington Post‘s October 21 report about its latest polling on Afghanistan. The paper reports that “Americans are evenly and deeply divided” over sending 40,000 extra troops: “47 percent of those polled favor the buildup, while 49 percent oppose it.” If you’ve […]
Living up to the ridiculous notion that every right-wing slam on ACORN demands coverage in the “liberal media,” the Washington Post (“Duo Release Another Video of Their Meeting With ACORN Worker,” 10/22/09) runs a storyon the latest from the right-wing activists whose undercover videos shot at local ACORN offices got all the attention in the […]
The Washington Post reports today (10/19/09)on its new poll on healthcare reform. The headline is straightforward enough: “Public Option Gains Support: Clear Majority Now Backs Plan.” But it’s not clear there’s much news here. The public option has 57 percent support in the new poll. In the last poll (one month ago–9/10-12/09), it got 55 […]
A bit of NBC Nightly News last night, from reporter Mike Viqueria: But now Mr. Obama faces more friendly fire. After a key committee passed a plan to pay for reform with a tax on high-cost policies, major unions, normally Obama allies, took out full-page newspaper ads complaining that the tax will hit labor hardest […]
The American Medical Association Alliance issues periodicreports on depictions of smoking in popular movies. The group seemed to come up with agoodway to publicize their findings–that is, until corporate reality intervened: In May, the organization, working with the Los Angeles Department of Public Health, announced that the studio found to be the biggest smoking offender […]
The New York Times reported (10/15/09) that rocker Jon Bon Jovi has arranged an unusual deal to become an “artist in residency” on NBC, appearing across the network’s various shows to promote an upcoming album. The deal is all the more striking because it includes a segment on NBC Nightly News–part of the show’s “Making […]
Isabel Kershner writes a piece in the New York Times (10/9/09) that starts out as a profile of an Israeli artist who makes flowers out of Qassam rocket pieces. The main point, though, is to discuss thechanged reality in southern Israel, thanks to the invasion of the Gaza Strip late last year that killed over […]
Tom Edsall argues on the Columbia Journalism Review website (10/8/09) that the mainstream media should just own up to the fact that they’re liberal. This comes as a response to the notion that the elite press missed out on the ACORN and Van Jones stories–a dubious premise. But Edsall doesn’t make much of a case. […]
Kudos to the New York Times for publishing a front-page article (10/8/09) about the U.S. advisers and lobbyists who have been working (in one form or another) on behalf of the coup government in Honduras. But the piece glosses over the U.S. history in the region. Reporters Ginger Thompson and Ron Nixon write that the […]
If you want a lesson in how right-wing pressure on corporate media works, look no further than the ACORN story. Right-wing talkshow hosts have targeted the community organizing group for years, primarily on charges of vote fraud. Then two conservative activists produced some embarrassing videos of ACORN workers at some local offices giving tax advice […]
