Power Analysis Failure
The way the New York Times covered the Texas energy crisis obscured rather than illuminated its causes.
Trump Briefings? Always News. Biden Briefings? Not News.
Just a month into Joe Biden’s term, CNN has unceremoniously stopped airing daily White House press briefings.
What Is ‘Moderate’ About Opposing a Minimum Wage Backed by 3/5ths of Voters?
As Democrats push to include a $15 federal minimum wage in the Covid stimulus package, many media reports have been giving the false impression that it’s an idea far outside the mainstream.
Applause for Perseverance Ignores Plutonium Bullet We Dodged
The media hoopla last week about the Perseverance rover ignored NASA’s projection that the mission involved 1-in-960 odds of an accidental release of plutonium.
Amid Scrutiny of Tweets, Tanden’s Role in Killing a Union Website Should Not Be Forgotten
Neera Tanden, president and CEO of the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) think tank, may or may not be confirmed by the Senate as the Biden administration’s budget chief. Republicans and one conservative Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, may reject her based on her past of posting overly personal attacks against […]
Limbaugh Helped Create the Conservative Movement—and Paved the Road for Trump
Rush Limbaugh left behind a legacy of lies, bigotry, science denial and conspiracy mongering—as well as a media and political system significantly transformed by his influence.
Guardian Columnist’s Firing Over Israel Joke Highlights Paper’s Rightward Drift
The Guardian has fired one of its columnists for its US edition, Nathan Robinson, because Robinson jokingly tweeted about US military aid to Israel.
Crediting Xenophobia—Rather Than Organizing—With Raising Workers’ Wages
It’s not really surprising that the Economist chose to focus on immigration policy rather than minimum wage regulations as an explanation for pay increases. Corporate media tend to be critical of calls to lift the wage floor, often citing exaggerated claims about unemployment.
Cuomo’s Nursing Home Scandal Vindicates His Critics in the Press
For journalists who have covered Andrew Cuomo’s tumultuous governorship, the recent revelations are a return from the adoring media frenzy of a year ago to the Cuomo they remember: a corrupt bully who perhaps embodied the Trumpian spirit as much as anyone else in power today.
Open Letter to John Mulholland, US editor of The Guardian
The Guardian must make clear that its writers have the freedom to comment critically on Israel without suffering career consequences.
‘Woke Capital’ Isn’t Real—but Conservative Fearmongering Is
The Republican Party is looking toward a rebranding where it can channel anti-business rage toward standing athwart social progress on race, gender and sexuality.
Ignoring Repression and Dirty Tricks in Coverage of Ecuador’s Election
Ecuador’s Lenin Moreno jailing political opponents, whom he praised to the skies when he needed them to gain power in 2017, is evidence of sound character to the New York Times—not evidence that Moreno is a cynical person who undermined democracy.
Impeachment Trial Is Not About Convincing GOP Senators—Many of Whom Were Trump’s Co-Conspirators
Just because the Democratic impeachment managers have decided that it’s strategically unwise to point out the culpability of half of the jurors in their trial doesn’t mean the media must adopt the same framing.
States Have No Inherent ‘Right to Exist’—but It’s a Media Fixation on Israel/Palestine
Coverage that asks whether Palestinians and pro-Palestinians acknowledge Israel’s “right to exist” poses an unhelpful question. The far more concrete, constructive and urgent one is: What is a fair arrangement under which all the peoples of historic Palestine can live?
Journalists Praising Psaki Should Remember: Spin Doctors Are Not on Your Side
The fawning coverage of Jen Psaki’s performance suggests some in the press have forgotten that press secretaries at the highest levels of government are not friends of free discourse.
WaPo Curates the Memory of George Shultz
Assessments that judge George Shultz to be one of “the good guys,” with a commitment to things like freedom, human dignity and humanity, necessarily gloss over his role in both the Iraq War and the Iran/Contra scandal.
For Media, Bezos’ Self-Made Billions Are a Separate Story From Amazon Stealing Tips
Corporate media are going out of their way to protect the narrative of the “self-made” magnate, his ungodly profits earnestly come by, and to resist what might be the natural tendency of readers to put what Jeff Bezos calls his “Amazon winnings” in the context of broader societal costs.
Jumping on the Hezbollah ‘Narcoterrorism’ Bandwagon
It’s helpful to have a narco-jihadi menace—in bed with socialist regimes in Latin America, no less—festering along the United States’ southern border.
Covering School Reopening, Chicago Papers Pit Unions Against Parents
Chicago papers are framing a thorny public health problem requiring participation and transparency as a dispute between bad-actor unions and educators, parents and children.
Who Is Aleksei Navalny? NYT Once Knew, but Has Since Forgotten
A New York Times headline asks a good question that the accompanying story completely fails to answer.
