‘These Worst-Case Projections Keep Getting Upgraded’
“…these worst-case projections, unfortunately, keep being upgraded every time more and more reports, like the one we’re discussing today, are being released.”
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Don’t Be ‘Progressive’—Be a ‘Liberal’
A New York Times op-ed argued that conservatives make better partners for liberals than progressives, because “one can debate how much to conserve.”
Searching for the Roots of Benghazi’s Ruin—but Not Too Hard
But when a journalist sets out—“guided by one main question”—to understand the roots of devastating violence in a particular city, and fails so utterly to take the overwhelming role of Washington intervention into account, the complete erasure of quite recent, utterly relevant events is startling.
Supposedly Taboo Ideas You Never Stop Hearing
None of the ideas described in a New York Times feature as “That Which Cannot Be Said” are remotely taboo; they’re the kind of things that are said routinely in outlets like the New York Times.
The War on Terror’s Parade of Hawks Continues as Anti-Trump ‘Resistance’
When the “War on Terror” was launched in 2001, corporate media—especially cable TV news—started a narrow parade of hawkish retired military and intelligence brass, who promoted war as the response to the crime of 9/11, identified which foreign enemies to attack and confidently predicted success. We can look back at this parade and laugh at […]
Linguistic Contortions in Gaza
News outlets have performed torturous linguistic contortions to avoid stating the simple fact that Israel is shooting hundreds of demonstrators with live ammunition, killing 30 and injuring close to 2,000. An Associated Press headline (4/6/18) said, “Palestinian Protesters Burn Tires, Sending Smoke Billowing at Gaza/Israel Border; Israeli Troops Fire Back Sporadically.” That’s a logical impossibility: […]
Extra! May Soundbites
Main Source on Russian Bots ‘Not Convinced on Bot Thing’ Those “Russian bots”—automatic Twitter accounts supposedly controlled by the Kremlin—sure have been busy, according to US news media accounts: After the Parkland Shooting, Pro-Russian Bots Are Pushing False-Flag Allegations Again (Washington Post, 2/16/18) Russian Bots Were Sowing Discord During Hunt for Austin Bomber, Group Says […]
Laundering a Massacre by Labeling It a ‘Clash’
As FAIR has noted before (e.g., Extra!, 1/17; FAIR.org, 4/2/18), the term “clash” is almost always used to launder power asymmetry and give the reader the impression of two equal warring sides. It obscures power dynamics and the nature of the conflict itself, e.g., who instigated it and what weapons if any were used. “Clash” […]
The Deficit That Will Eat the Budget and Other Ever-Popular Scare Stories
Will interest payments take up the entire federal budget? A Wall Street Journal column by Greg Ip (3/28/18) gave us another rendition of this old scare story. The argument is that the interest paid on US government debt will soon impose an enormous burden on the federal government, choking off spending on important government programs. […]
Extra! April 2018 Soundbites
NPR Brings You the Unheard Voice of Rush Limbaugh…Boosting Trump’s Tax Bill With ‘Bonus’ Hype…NYT: Don’t Be Misled by Claims That CEOs Are Rich…Israel’s ‘Retaliatory’ Bombing of Syria for Shooting Down an Israeli Bomber…From ‘Sidelines,’ US Controls 1/4th of Syria…‘Anti-Propaganda Warrior,’ You Have a Mission Closer to Home…Pro-Capitalist Times
Voters Shift Left—Thanks to Social Media?
The rise of social media platforms like Twitter (launched in 2006) and Facebook (opened to the general public in the same year) allowed people to share news and opinions directly, giving them an opportunity to gravitate towards outlets and outlooks that resonate with them.
‘We Can Change the Political Feasibility’
“This is a time for us to be pushing harder. We can change the political feasibility. That’s something that the public has the power to do.”
NYT Sees ‘Little Response’ to Russian Threat—Other Than $1 Trillion in New Nukes, of Course
For the New York Times, the US is always lagging behind the Russian menace. Previously, the Times has told us how America was losing the “scramble for the Arctic” and falling behind in election-meddling. Now it’s in the realms of cyber and nuclear war that the Times sees dangerous gaps.
‘Violent’ Becomes ‘Unruly’ When It’s Sports, Not Civil Rights
Despite the fact that the property destruction in the aftermath of the Philadelphia Eagles was similar in scope to the damage caused by protests against police killings of young black men over the past three years, only the latter were described as “violence.”
The Elements of Copspeak
The linguistic gymnastics needed to report on police violence without calling up images of police violence is a thing of semantic wonder. The case of Ohio Deputy Richard Scarborough shooting and killing 16-year-old Joseph Haynes inside a courthouse checked off nearly all the pro-police propaganda tropes:
Yemen Only Interests MSNBC When Americans Die
To the leading liberal US cable news network, Yemen is relevant when Americans die—not when thousands of Yemenis are killed, bombed daily by Saudi Arabia, with US weapons, fuel and intelligence.
Remembering Robert Parry, a Believer in Journalism
Journalism lost one of its most valuable investigators when Robert Parry died on January 27, from pancreatic cancer, at the age of 68. He was the first reporter to reveal Oliver North’s operation in the White House basement (AP, 6/10/1985), and the co-author of the first report on Contra drug-smuggling (AP, 12/21/1985). He did some […]
Extra! March Soundbites
Dreamers Shut Out of Shutdown Commentary Out of 34 op-eds and editorials in three leading papers from three days before to three days after the government shutdown (1/17–25/18), only one–by New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg (1/22/18)–criticized Democrats for selling out the Dreamers, young undocumented immigrants who had been granted limited protection by the Obama […]
60 Minutes Looked at Yemen War—Without a Second to Look at US Role
CBS News’ 60 Minutes (11/19/17) took a deep dive into the humanitarian crisis in Yemen without once mentioning the direct role the United States plays in creating, perpetuating and prolonging a crisis that’s left over 10,000 civilians dead, 2 million displaced and an estimated 1 million with cholera.
Tax Bill That Steals From Poor to Give to Rich Mislabeled as ‘Cut’
Under the cover of a shallow understanding of “balance,” corporate media have internalized the outlandish idea that it is “partisan,” and thus not “neutral,” to acknowledge the undeniably destructive effects of particular political policies.
