FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
In 1990, FAIR (Extra!, 3-4/90) noted that in all the coverage of Nelson Mandela’s release from 27 years of prison, virtually no one mentioned the role of the CIA in his capture. When Mandela died in 2013 (FAIR Media Advisory, 12/10/13), we asked, “Can the Story Be Told Now?” The answer was still no.
What is NPR’s evidence that Obama is “reticent when it comes to deploying military force”? He’s bombed at least seven countries during his time in office—Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and Libya. He’s sent ground troops to at least two others: Cameroon and Uganda.
A Nexis search turns up no US newspaper that reported on the recall of the Venezuelan or Salvadoran ambassadors to Brazil in response to the efforts to oust twice-elected Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
Vox, which constantly tells its readers that life is actually swell, with the momentum of history indisputably on the road to justice, decreased poverty and less war, consistently uses a method of ranking countries to prop up its argument that “democracy” is on the rise. But dig into the criteria being used and you find a troubling definition of “democracy” that serves the interests of US power—and wealthy elites.
“When Did Optimism Become Uncool?” wonders a New York Times Sunday Review piece by Gregg Easterbrook. “The country is, on the whole, in the best shape it’s ever been in,” Easterbrook writes. “So what explains all the bad vibes?” It would be easier to be optimistic if the case for optimism didn’t involve so much manipulation and misrepresentation.
Ruth Marcus used her Washington Post column today to present the speech that House Speaker Paul Ryan should give to Republicans in order to disassociate himself from Donald Trump. She has Paul Ryan being somewhat less than honest.
Why would so much ink be spilled on a candidate who, by the Post’s estimation, can’t possibly win? The objective is, of course, to further stigmatize Sanders’ ideas and platform goals—all of which are deeply antithetical to the editorial and financial bottom line of the paper.
Network news coverage of the massive fires ripping through Canada’s tar sands hub, as fast and furious as trailers for a Hollywood disaster movie, has missed opportunities to provide real information about the heavily polluting tar sands industry and global warming’s role in adding fuel to the flames.
The fascinating part of all this concern with “stealing from future generations” is it almost never includes military spending or the trillions in offshore tax shelters. Even if one accepts the claim that Social Security and Medicare are urgent issues “bankrupting” our country, it’s curious why other things that also cost trillions don’t appear as part of that conversation.
These experts, it would seem, were wrong about Donald Trump winning the Republican nomination—and confidently, arrogantly, condescendingly so. But as noted by Glenn Greenwald and Zaid Jilani, who corralled many examples for The Intercept, they will pay absolutely no price for it.
Journalists are unwittingly helping to make overturning Citizens United that much more difficult by humoring the pretense that Super PACs aren’t part of political campaigns.
Thomas Friedman makes up absurd positions, attributes them to the people he doesn’t like, and uses this as an excuse to throw them out of the discussion. He wants to leave it to the real experts.
The New York media tried and convicted 120 suspects as gang members solely on the say-so of the NYPD and federal officials.
Those reading New York Times Real Estate sections on a quiet Saturday morning aren’t expecting in-depth investigations. But the uncritical adoption of industry language has the paper of record either repeating or allowing others to repeat rather tone-deaf colonial language and tropes.
Just a few months ago, Nike announced that it will no longer allow its factories to be monitored by the Worker Rights Consortium. Don’t look for that to be brought up in USA Today’s interview with Nike’s Phil Knight.
Andrew Ross Sorkin (New York Times, 4/28/16) presented a confused account of the state of the economy and economic policy under President Barack Obama. The account repeats many self-serving comments from Obama without comment and offers little useful context to readers.
Vox’s Matthew Yglesias (4/25/16) gave a generous write-up to Goldman Sachs’ new commercial banking subsidiary, GS Bank, without noting that Goldman Sachs is a sponsor of Vox.
A New York Times op-ed by Michael Lind called “Trumpism and Clintonism Are the Future” is a good guide to how the wishful thinking of the pundit class will likely lead them to misread the clear message of the 2016 elections.
A recent online dust-up started by Washington Post columnist Philip Bump made something clear: When you factor in actual impact, big media pundits troll just as much as—if not more than—any random egg avatar on Twitter.
The BP Deepwater Horizon disaster was even bigger than previously understood in terms of Gulf coastline oiled–as noted by NationalGeographic.com, one of a very few outlets to note the occasion beyond a “This Day In History” squib.
