This Just In: US Ruled by the Rich
The same well-heeled elites and their representatives who dominate US politics and policy are also grossly over-represented among the owners of US corporate media.
Steve Rendall
Has Everyone Without an Honorary Degree From Brandeis Been Censored?
In a USA Today op-ed, Fox News liberal Kirsten Powers weighs in on Brandeis University’s decision to rescind its offer to honor the anti-Muslim activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali during commencement activities.
Will Twisted History of Georgian War Facilitate a Repetition?
In reporting and commentary on Ukraine, the 2008 Russo-Georgian War provides a handy anti-Russian talking point…if you leave out half the story.
TPP—‘The Largest Corporate Power Grab You’ve Never Heard Of’
The Trans-Pacific Partnership would seem to be a major story with significant real-world impact. But despite its apparent newsworthiness, there were no stories about TPP on the three major network news shows.
Being O’Reilly Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry
It tells you a lot about our media and society that no one even expects O’Reilly to apologize for his slur of the left.
Domestic Terror Story Gets Media Cold Shoulder—Guess Why
It’s hard not to think back on previous undercovered terrorism stories and conclude that if suspects in this story were Muslims, and their alleged targets Christians or Jews, it would have dominated our media world for the past several months.
Beck: Media Shocked to Find He Isn’t ‘Anti-Gay, Racist Nutjob’
“I played a role…in helping tear the country apart,” Glenn Beck says. Indeed–not just from his time at Fox, but from years of talk radio broadcasts, and a stint at CNN’s Headline News–not to mention his work at his current outlet, The Blaze.
O’Reilly’s Marijuana/Texting/Videogame Theory Destroyed by Guest
One of the most satisfying O’Reilly Factor episodes ever aired Monday night when, through some terrible miscalculation, someone who knew what he was talking about managed to get on the show.
Fox Regular Calls for Assassinating Obama
Unfortunately, advocating and fantasizing about the murder of perceived enemies of the Fox worldview is a line that has been crossed all too commonly in Murdoch-owned media outlets.
CNN’s Pro-Nuclear Bias
CNN aired the pro-nuclear power documentary Pandora’s Promise, a film that brooked virtually no dissent from the views of its seven principal “stars”—one-time anti-nuclear environmentalists who now say the planet can only be saved from the ravages of fossil fuels by a rapid, large-scale investment in new, supposedly fail-safe “fast reactors.”
Media Whitewash US Role in Congo
Corporate media overlooked the long-term role the US and other Western nations have played in protecting and funding the sponsors of a bloody insurgency in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
With Filibuster Flip-Flops, George Will Displays His (Groucho) Marxist Tendencies
George Will may be the dean of conservative punditry with a reputation for sober consistency, but when it comes to intellectual honesty and principle–well, a person could get whiplash trying to follow his opportunistic and hypocritical positions over the years. On Thursday’s Special Report on Fox News (1/21/13), George Will was sad that the Democrats […]
Little Coverage of the Wrong Sort of Terror
US journalists have a hard time knowing what to do with terrorism stories when the culprits are not Muslim, even though, in their own country, the vast majority of terrorism is carried out by non-Muslims.
National Review Just Can’t Seem to Shake Its Racist Image
From its 1950s founding, when it campaigned for the racist order in the American South and South Africa, to recent years with “scientific racists” who say black people are less intelligent than other groups, the National Review has always been significantly defined by racism.
Is 60 Minutes Informing the Public—or Producing Informants?
60 Minutes was so excited to hear that its report made their audience eager to inform on their neighbors and family members, it sounded like the viewer’s mailbag at the end of an East German TV news show.
USA Today’s Pattern of Inaccuracy on Iran
A look at USA Today’s Iran coverage over time suggests a pattern of putting Iran in a bad light, sometimes at the expense of the truth.
Inform the Public? Not My Job, Says Chuck Todd
It’s sad that NBC‘s White House correspondent thinks his job is merely to convey politicians pronouncements, with no care about whether they are true or false.
Barrett Brown Can’t Talk About Why the Government Wants to Jail Him for a Century
In the US government’s campaign against journalists, Barret Brown is one of the lesser-known victims. And now even less will be forthcoming about his story, as the Texas-based writer, satirist and Internet activist is under a federal court gag order, forbidden to talk about his case.
Primetime Racism on Fox
Hannity also acts as a sort of one-man fire brigade, rushing to extinguish accusations of anti-black racism, and defending, exonerating or rehabilitating the racists behind the words and deeds.
A Media Microscope on Islam-Linked Violence
Is Islam, as Kristof, Maher and O’Reilly suggest, really particularly violent? It’s a curious argument to make from the vantage point of the United States, which has in recent years launched wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and lesser military strikes in at least a half-a-dozen other nations—violence that has cost at least hundreds of thousands of lives over the past decade.
