Huge Servings of Stupid Royal Baby Coverage
Last week, news of the anticipation of the royal baby eclipsed much other news in the U.S., but it gave no indication of the level of stupid that was to come with the kid’s actual birth.
Steve Rendall
Former NSA Chief Smears Glenn Greenwald
“The Guardian newspaper’s Glenn Greenwald,” writes former NSA director Michael Hayden today in a CNN op-ed, is “more deserving of the Justice Department’s characterization of a co-conspirator than Fox‘s James Rosen ever was.” Hayden’s smear came in a column in which he argues that Edward Snowden, whose story Greenwald has been telling in the Guardian, […]
Spinning Surveillance via Discredited NSA Talking Points
What might it say about the depth of NSA’s record of success stories that, even after its prime exhibit is debunked, the White House is still retailing the story, the second time around with muddled language?
L.A. Times’ Distorted Report on USAID
“USAID Develops a Bad Reputation Among Some Foreign Leaders,” read a May 7 Los Angeles Times headline, followed by the subhead: The U.S. Agency for International Development doesn’t just offer aid to the poor, it also promotes democracy, which is seen as meddlesome or even subversive. Fighting poverty and spreading democracy—what’s not to like? And […]
NYT’s Beat Sweetener on New Interior Secretary
“Beat sweetener” was written all over John Broder’s April 30 New York Times profile of new Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, “a woman of untamed energy, competitiveness and confidence in the boardroom and on a mountain trail.”
Texas Fertilizer Plant Disaster: Little Coverage, Much of It Wrong
The West Fertilizer Co. explosion last week was largely obscured by blanket coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing. More than that, says legendary EPA whistleblower Hugh Kaufman, a guest on this week’s CounterSpin, what coverage there was often obscured the real story.
Jeff Cohen on Media Missing the Costs of Militarism
“Today there’s an elephant in the room: a huge, yet ignored, issue that largely explains why Social Security is now on the chopping block…. That problem is U.S. militarism and perpetual war.”
Keeping Yet Another Government Secret
The compelling interest in the public knowing that a high-ranking public official has taken part in highly controversial and perhaps even illegal actions, in the view of these news outlets, is apparently outweighed by their duty, as they see it, to keep the government’s secrets.
Keeping the Government’s Secrets
Withholding important news over supposed national security concerns is nothing new. And in many cases, no official request is even needed—the decision-makers seem to have internalized the notion that keeping the government’s secrets is part of their job.
How ‘Unlikely’ Is Mark Sanford’s Comeback Really?
The journalists amazed by Mark Sanford’s comeback make the mistake of assuming that since the GOP spends so much time preaching “family values” and “social conservatism,” Republican pols who violate these preachments must pay a greater price than less moralistic Democrats.
Bill Maher Urges Vilification of Bill Maher
On his last HBO show, Bill Maher complained about how much he and his wealthy cohort pay in taxes. But he’s unlikely to get much sympathy from the 2010 version of Bill Maher.
The Self-Defense Self-Delusion
There are instances where guns are successfully used for self-defense or protection, but those are isolated anecdotes, vastly outweighed by the numbers of gun crimes, and the fact that a gun in your home is far less likely to successfully defend against an attacker than it is to kill or harm you or a family member.
Bill O’Reilly and the ‘Epidemic of Disrespect’
Bill O’Reilly– whose network is known on-air fantasies about murdering public figures, jokes about the assassination of the president, and is the only network named by more than one spree killer as having helped to inspire their murderous designs–is worried that the country is becoming too disrespectful.
Whitewashing in the Name of ‘Inclusion’
In the view of the head of Chicago public radio, Smiley & West—a show with two African-American hosts focusing largely on the powerless—was an obstacle to inclusivity because its opposition to poverty and inequality alienates those with other views.
George Washington on Guns…According to Sean Hannity
To make the case that gun ownership was not just a right, but something akin to a sacrament, Hannity quoted George Washington: “‘Rifles and pistols are equally indispensable.’ ‘They deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.'” The quote is a hoax, and a well-known one.
Ed ‘Reformers’ Fumble Logic With Foolish Football Analogy
“It’s hard to watch Robert Griffin III play football and not think about education policy.” Education “reformers” Michelle Rhee and Joel Klein begin an op-ed with this dubious claim, then go on to flesh out their absurd football/education analogy.
Democracy & Double Standards
Amnesty International (10/1/12) describes it as a nation where ruling party officials have “abused public institutions and administrative re-sources to restrict the freedom of assembly, expression and association of opposition supporters,” many of whom have been “fined, fired, harassed or detained.” Free speech advocates condemned its president for shuttering an opposition TV station for alleged […]
Syrian Civil War Strays Into…Syrian Territory
After Syrian mortar fire from Syria’s civil war reportedly strayed into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last weekend, some U.S. journalists seemed confused about the political geography of the region. For instance, CBS Evening News reported (11/12/12) reported: Syria’s civil war has now touched Israel. For the second straight day, a shell from Syria landed in […]
Why Do They Hate Us Back?
U.S. coverage of Islam and Muslim-majority nations is such a carnival of distortion, double standards and bigotry that it’s sometimes hard to believe that journalists inhabit the same planet as the rest of us. This has been especially true as anti-American violence and demonstrations in Libya and other countries have put media fantasies of the […]
Debate Deceptions Are a Time-Tested GOP Strategy
Corporate journalism is not known for standing up to powerful politicians–or for its long memory. And so, when factchecks of the first presidential debate revealed that GOP candidate Mitt Romney was often not very truthful, sometimes even misstating his own policies, the media not only failed to make much of a fuss over Romney’s falsehoods, […]
