FAIR Makes Nation’s List of ‘Most Valuable Progressives’

FAIR is on The Nation’s “Progressive Honor Roll 2015” (12/17/15), a list “celebrating progressivism that mattered in 2015 and that—if past is prologue—will matter even more in 2016 and beyond.” The Nation’s John Nichols wrote:

Yes, Donald Trump is a crude fearmonger whose hateful statements create new divisions while reinforcing old bigotries. Yes, Trump’s fellow Republicans have been too slow to call him out and too quick to adopt elements of his agenda. But Trump has also benefited from media coverage that—especially in the early stages of the campaign—was more obsessed with his celebrity than with his veracity. It fell to the watchdog group FAIR to highlight the media’s failings in covering Trump and the rest of the presidential campaign. FAIR filled the void with sharp critiques of how the debates were organized (“Why Do Conservatives Get to Question Candidates—but Not Progressives?”) and vapid coverage (“Corporate Press Fails to Trump Bigotry”). FAIR focuses on much more than presidential politics, but the watchdog role it is playing in the 2016 race is essential.

Some of the others on The Nation’s list of “Most Valuable Progressives” included Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards, Democracy Now!’s Juan Gonzalez, the United Auto Workers and the Black Lives Matter movement.