FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai denounced once again U.S./NATO airstrikes that killed civilians. In this recent incident, 14 were killed, including 11 children. This prompted ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer (5/31/11) to call in ABC reporters to sort things out, leading to this exchange with Pentagon reporter Martha Raddatz: SAWYER: He’s talking to the Afghan […]
The headline above this USA Today op-ed read like a slightly wordier version of a Sarah Palin bumper sticker slogan: “Cut the Red Tape: Free Up Oil Drilling in Alaska.” The author is former George H.W. Bush Secretary of State James Baker, and he writes: Even more domestic offshore drilling will be required if our […]
Seymour Hersh reports in the New Yorker (6/6/11–subscription required) that there is s virtually no evidence Iran has a nuclear weapons program, despite huge efforts on the part of the U.S. to prove otherwise. Though Hersh’s findings do not contradict the past two National Intelligence Estimates, they do fly in the face of long-held official […]
On the Daily Show on June 1, Bill Moyers talked about the types of outsider guests he preferred to interview on his TV show. As he put it at one point: “The worst hour that I ever put on, was many years ago, with Henry Kissinger…. I vowed after that never to do an hour […]
The New York Times‘ Alan Cowell had a piece (6/2/11) about public opposition to nuclear power in Germany, and the fact that the country’s political leadership has decided to establish policies that conform to that sentiment. It apparently left the Times a bit perplexed: But the German move also raised a question whose answer seemed […]
Of the 24 members of Congress who have appeared three or more times in 2011 on any of the five Sunday morning shows (i.e., CBS, NBC, ABC, Fox or CNN), according to Roll Call‘s ongoing tally, 16, or two-thirds, have been Republicans. Just seven, or 29 percent, have been Democrats. (The other one was Sen. […]
The roundtable panel on ABC‘s This Week (5/29/11) spent some time talking about the politics of Medicare, specifically the idea that the recent Democratic victory in a special Congressional election in New York could mean that Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan might be a tremendous liability for the GOP. One of the most prevalent talking points […]
The Sarah Palin hostage drama continues. In case you haven’t heard, Palin is taking a bus tour up the East Coast, visiting various sites of historic interest. Which naturally means that every media outlet is forced to follow along, covering this series of non-events as if they are of tremendous importance, asking the pertinent questions: […]
New York Times reporter Rod Nordland (5/29/11) gave readers a lighter look at the war in Libya from rebel-controlled Benghazi. Some versions of the story were actually headlined, “In Benghazi, Warmth for West Doesn’t Come from Burning Flags”–which pretty well captures the tone of the piece. Nordland observes: Americans and, for that matter, all Westerners […]
On Sunday George Will wrote a strong Washington Post column about Obama, the Libya War and the law: In a bipartisan cascade of hypocrisies, a liberal president, with the collaborative silence of most congressional conservatives, is traducing the War Powers Resolution. Enacted in 1973 over President Nixon’s veto, the WPR may or may not be […]
There was some Congressional debate over extending certain parts of the Patriot Act last week– this Institute for Public Accuracy release is a helpful guide to some of the criticisms of the Act. But don’t let anyone tell you there wasn’t much coverage of this. On Friday, NBC Nightly News skipped reporting on what was […]
According to Tim Dickinson’s new piece in Rolling Stone, Fox honcho Roger Ailes lives in fear of “those gays”: Murdoch installed Ailes in the corner office on Fox‘s second floor at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan. The location made Ailes queasy: It was close to the street, and he lived in fear that […]
A good friend of FAIR happened to catch this segment on MSNBC. Turns out it was a false alarm; the noted Peace Prize winner was a guest, talking about another war criminal.
NPR ombud Alicia Shepard has a piece (5/25/11) about internal discomfort with a recent $1.8 million grant from the George Soros-connected Open Society Foundation. Shepard writes: The money is for a worthy purpose. NPR is using the two-year grant as seed money to start a local-national initiative, known as the Impact on Government project. Eventually, […]
On the Wall Street Journal op-ed page, conservative pundit Shelby Steele lays out the argument that Barack Obama’s blackness is a unique asset that makes him difficult to beat in 2012. The argument–which, on some level, is worth taking seriously–is that “his presidency flatters America to a degree that no white Republican can hope to […]
In today’s New York Times (5/25/11), columnist Tom Friedman issues yet another call for Palestinians to practice non-violence: May I suggest a Tahrir Square alternative? Announce that every Friday from today forward will be “Peace Day,” and have thousands of West Bank Palestinians march nonviolently to Jerusalem, carrying two things–an olive branch in one hand […]
The New York Times (5/25/11) is reporting, perhaps accurately, that Newt Gingrich may have trouble living down his $500,000 credit line at Tiffany’s. But this sentence by Sheryl Gay Stolberg is so Timesian: The way some voters out in the rest of America might see it, he’s a guy who paid more for jewelry than […]
The New York Times had a good editorial on May 20 headlined”Gas Prices and Political Pandering.” The paper slammed Republican rhetoric about domestic production and gas prices: [Sen. Mitch] McConnell said his bill would bring relief at the pump by raising domestic output. That is fiction. Production will take years to come online and even […]
On Sunday the Pete Peterson Foundation took out an ad in the Washington Post touting its upcoming “Fiscal Summit,” which will feature speeches by the likes of Bill Clinton, Paul Ryan and Alan Simpson. Panels will be moderated by Gwen Ifill, George Will and others. The hook is that Peterson is promoting a “Solutions Initiative,” […]
Lori Montgomery has a piece today in the Washington Post (5/20/11) noting that Senate Democrats have yet to unveil a budget planthat would”counter the budget blueprint approved last month by House Republicans.”Some Democrats dosay that they will soon unveil a plan that “would offer a sharp contrast to the GOP budget.” Such a contrast exists […]
