FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer announced on Thursday that he would step down as anchor of the nightly newscast early next month. Will the change lead to improvements at the program? As FAIR has documented in several major studies, the NewsHour falls well short of fulfilling the mission that should guide public broadcasting: the promotion […]
Donald Trump’s efforts to delegitimize Barack Obama by suggesting he’s not a native-born citizen, and questioning his qualifications for admissions to Columbia University and Harvard Law School, have drawn fire from prominent media figures like MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell (FAIR Blog, 4/29/11), CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer (CBS Evening News, 4/27/11) and even David Letterman […]
To hear some tell it, the intelligence clues that ultimately led to Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan were generated by the use of torture. But the evidence available so far does not bear this out. Torture advocates on the right are claiming vindication. On Fox News Channel‘s O’Reilly Factor (5/2/11), Rep. Peter King (R.-N.Y.) […]
NBC’s Dodgy Coverage of GE’s $0 Tax Bill When General Electric paid no taxes to the U.S. government in 2010 on worldwide profits of $14 billion (New York Times, 3/25/11), the news was at first ignored by NBC, the network that GE owns 49 percent of. On cable’s MSNBC, also co-owned by GE, host Lawrence […]
The budget proposal released last week by Rep. Paul Ryan (R.-Wisc.) includes tax cuts for the wealthy, tax hikes for the middle class, drastic cuts in spending and a radical restructuring of Medicare that would shift most of the cost of healthcare to seniors. Its dubious claims of deficit reduction rely on fatally flawed assumptions […]
FAIR’s March 29 Action Alert documented the PBS NewsHour‘s remarkably narrow range of debate on the Libya War, which featured an array of current and former military and government officials. On March 30, the NewsHour‘s debate on arming the Libyan rebels included Emira Woods from the progressive Institute for Policy Studies. Roughly a million Americans […]
A Student’s Take on Education Issue After reading September’s issue of Extra!, I had to say that this was my favorite issue and one that I felt a personal connection to, being that I’m a high school student. The idea that tests and charter schools are beneficial to students like me is ridiculous. (Is anything […]
Not Too Far Right—or Hef Larry King replacement Piers Morgan was interviewed about his new job by Broadcasting & Cable (2/28/11): B&C: What kind of feedback have you gotten from CNN? Morgan: They’re thrilled. They just tell me not to forget it’s an intelligent audience. And to remain independent. And being independent right now is […]
If public television’s mission is to bring diverse viewpoints to the airwaves, the discussions about the war in Libya on the PBS NewsHour haven’t lived up to that standard. Over the past two weeks, the NewsHour has featured an array of current and former military and government officials in its discussion segments–leaving little room for […]
Washington Post columnist and political reporter David Broder died on Wednesday, March 9. Broder was an enormously influential figure in Beltway media circles–“the best political reporter of his generations,” wrote his Post colleague Dan Balz (3/10/11). ABC‘s George Stephanopoulos declared (3/9/11) that “for generations of policy makers, journalists and political junkies, Broder was the gold […]
The number of Afghan boys gathering firewood killed by a March 1 U.S./NATO helicopter attack in Kunar Province: Nine. The number of stories about the killing of the nine children on ABC, CBS or NBC morning or evening news shows (as of March 6): Two. One was an 80-word report on NBC Nightly News (3/2/11), […]
ABC World News With Diane Sawyer kicked off its “Made in America” series on February 28, encouraging consumers to buy U.S.-made products in order to spur job growth. But why focus on consumers and not major corporations like ABC parent Disney, who are the ones who actually choose to manufacture products overseas? The February 28 […]
On today’s front page (3/1/11), USA Today alleges that public workers in Wisconsin earn more than private sector employees–a finding at odds with much of the research on public/private compensation. Under the headline “In Wisconsin, Private Sector Pays Less,” reporter Dennis Cauchon argues that “Wisconsin is one of 41 states where public employees earn higher […]
During the 2010 campaign, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin published a map on her Facebook page (Associated Press, 3/24/10) with crosshairs targeting 20 Democratic congressional incumbents, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D.-Ariz.), who was later critically injured in the January mass shooting in Tucson. Palin rallied opponents of the healthcare bill with the tweeted slogan (L.A. […]
The political context of the current Egyptian uprising is clear: The United States has steadfastly supported dictator Hosni Mubarak, whose rule has been marked by sham elections and the jailing and torture of dissidents, propping up his regime since 1981 with some $60 billion in aid, most of it military (Congressional Research Service, 2/1/11). But […]
Biden Rules David Gregory: Mitch McConnell says [WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange]’s a high-tech terrorist, others say this is akin to the Pentagon Papers. Where do you come down? Vice President Joe Biden: I would argue that it’s closer to being a high-tech terrorist than the Pentagon Papers. —NBC’s Meet the Press (12/19/10) Jim Lehrer: Should [Egypt’s […]
Keep Hitting on ‘Pulling a Clinton’ Just received the January issue. Very relevant. I hope you will keep hitting the media on their desire to have Obama “pull a Clinton.” After our “liberal” president knuckled under to the GOP on taxes, giving them almost all they wanted, the media is claiming that Obama won the […]
It is as predictable as can be: Invigorated Republican politicians announce their intention to kill public broadcasting, which they claim is a bastion of liberal bias. Defenders of NPR and PBS step in to defend the system. The Republicans, who were unlikely to win a vote on their plan, retreat for the moment. Public broadcasting […]
Newsweek‘s February 21 assessment of the CIA’s drone assassination program in Pakistan is a largely uncritical defense of the White House policy, with little space for critics who argue the killings are illegal, counterproductive and exact a heavy toll on innocent civilians. Newsweek presents the piece as an exclusive look at the targeting decisions involved […]
It was certainly surprising to see former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier return to the country on January 16. To say he has blood on his hands is an understatement: The Duvalier regimes were responsible for tens of thousands of deaths and widespread torture (Human Rights Watch, 1/17/11), and stole half a billion dollars from the […]
