FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
After 25 years, FAIR feels more energized than ever. Why? Our sold-out anniversary celebration in New York with Glenn Greenwald, Amy Goodman, Noam Chomsky and Michael Moore inspired us. Tens of thousands of readers visit our website each and every month. Activists and academics tell us they’re drawing on FAIR’s expertise and experience. FAIR’s analysis […]
Much of the corporate media coverage of a new UN report on Iran strongly asserts that Iran is close to building nuclear weapons. But the International Atomic Energy Agency report does not actually arrive at that conclusion, and many critics contend that the speculations that are in the report are misguided. A USA Today piece […]
After FAIR’s recent action alert (10/27/11) concerning the PBS NewsHour‘s reports minimizing–and even celebrating–economic inequality, NewsHour correspondent Paul Solman posted a long response on the PBS website (10/31/11) that attempted to answer the criticism. Solman began by expressing his appreciation for the “avalanche” of feedback, “hostile though most of it has been.” He admits that […]
Occupy Wall Street marched into Lower Manhattan on September 17, with thousands of demonstrators shutting down the heart of the Financial District to protest political and economic inequality and highlight the need for an American democracy movement. In the days that followed, activists formed an ad hoc community in New York City’s Liberty Plaza, an […]
Overfishing Factor in Somali Famine Julie Hollar’s article on Somalia (10/11) missed one contributing factor to the famine. Overfish-ing in the North Atlantic pushed the Atlantic commercial fishing into the Indian Ocean, where they steal fish from Somali waters with impunity—which links, of course, with Somali pirates. How does a fisherman make a living when […]
Headline Writing Made Simple “Diplomatic Efforts Unable to Derail Palestinians’ UN Gambit” —Washington Post headline (9/9/11) “U.S. Gambit Unable to Derail Palestinian Diplomatic Efforts” —Not a Washington Post headline, ever Documents & Disingenuousness The New York Times (9/3/11) reported that documents found by rebels in Libyan intelligence offices indicated that “the Americans sent terrorism suspects […]
This September at New York City’s Rockefeller Center, NBC put on its second annual Education Nation conference—a series of events and broadcasts bankrolled by the corporate interests and foundations aligned with the so-called “education reform” movement. On September 27, the second day of the conference, FAIR convened our own discussion of education and corporate media […]
The national media watch group FAIR is looking for two strong writers with distinctive voices to write regular bimonthly columns for our magazine Extra! and for our website. One column would be on issues relating primarily to media and gender; the other column would primarily concern media and race. We’re seeking well-documented, fact-based media criticism, […]
With protesters around the country speaking out against income inequality, public television’s flagship newscast made time on October 26 for the pro-inequality side to be heard, featuring a guest who invoked a phony Abraham Lincoln quote to make his case.
On Friday NPR decided it would no longer distribute an opera program because of the political activism of the program’s host—who does not work for NPR. A controversy erupted over freelance radio host Lisa Simeone’s participation with an activist group occupying a park in Washington, D.C. Simeone was promptly fired as host of the documentary […]
Media coverage of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protests started out exactly as one might expect. There was little coverage at first (FAIR Action Alert, 9/23/11), and as it expanded, much of it consisted of snide dismissals of demonstrators” ignorance, hygiene and so on. But then something happened. Following incidents of police abuse, including the […]
During the last week of September, NBC was staging its second annual “Education Nation” summit–a series of events and broadcasts bankrolled by the corporate interests and foundations aligned with the so-called “education reform” movement. Corporate media coverage of education policy tends to hew closely to the “reform” agenda: promoting charter schools and vouchers, embracing relentless […]
Former CNBC reporter Erin Burnett’s CNN show OutFront debuted Monday night (10/3/11) with a failed attempt to factcheck the Occupy Wall Street protests. The show kicked off with Burnett explaining that she went to Wall Street today to see those protests for myself. I saw dancing, bongo drums, even a clown…. I asked several protesters […]
After a FAIR Action Alert (9/23/11) criticized the virtual media blackout of the Occupy Wall Street protests, corporate news coverage has increased–sparked largely by the escalating police brutality at the ongoing demonstration. (See FAIR Blog, 9/23/11, for a sample of the messages sent by FAIR activists to the network nightly news shows.) On ABC World […]
In an action called Occupy Wall Street, thousands of activists took to the streets of Lower Manhattan on September 17. The protests are continuing, with demonstrators camped out on the Financial District’s Liberty Street in support of U.S. democratization and against corporate domination of politics (Adbusters, 9/19/11). But you wouldn’t know much about any of […]
CNN has responded to criticism from FAIR activists of its debate partnership with the Tea Party Express, rejecting the idea that there was anything questionable about its cooperation with the far-right racist organization. Asked by media columnist Richard Prince (Journal-isms, 9/12/11) to respond to FAIR’s September 12 Action Alert, a CNN spokesperson replied: During the […]
Tonight’s Republican debate might look familiar, with a well-known journalist posing questions to a stage full of candidates. But CNN‘s event is actually a co-production of sorts with the far-right Tea Party Express, raising serious questions about a journalistic outlet’s decision to formally partner with a controversial political group. As CNN explained the relationship (9/8/11): […]
More Bombs, Less Debate NBC correspondent Richard Engel (Meet the Press, 6/19/11), calling for more bombing in Libya and less democracy in the U.S.: I just came from Libya before I came here, and the fact of the matter is the war in Libya right now is not very serious, that NATO is not doing […]
If you really believed, as many Americans claimed to after the September 11 attacks, that “they hate us for our freedom” (Extra! Update, 10/01), then it makes a certain kind of sense to protect against future attacks—by reducing our freedom. That would seem to be the only kind of logic that could justify the erosion […]
According to a report in the New York Times (8/22/11), public television icon Bill Moyers will be back on the public airwaves next year–but not on PBS. The new show, Moyers & Company, will be distributed to stations for free by American Public Television. The Times reports that “PBS told Moyers it couldn’t find an […]
