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FAIR

FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.

Challenging media bias since 1986
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FAIR Studies

FAIR studies explore particular media issues or outlets in-depth, adding hard numbers to debates over media content and journalistic practices.

FAIR
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January 9, 2021
Leading Papers Talked Up Establishment’s Senate Candidates 
Henry Brannan and Julie Hollar

Leading Papers Talked Up Establishment’s Senate Candidates 

  Democrats celebrated dual Georgia Senate race victories this week, which gives them, with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaker vote, a bare majority in the Senate. But not all Democrats are created equal, and the one-vote margin makes the politics of each individual in that majority more consequential. In 2020, several states witnessed competitive Democratic […]

FAIR
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January 5, 2021
Study of 2020 Debates Finds New Topics but Familiar Framing
Forest Hunt

Study of 2020 Debates Finds New Topics but Familiar Framing

A FAIR analysis of the 2020 general election debates found stunning breaks from past practices combined with tried-and-true tropes of national US debates.

FAIR
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November 3, 2020
Young Voices Largely Missing in Election Coverage
Lauren Balser

Young Voices Largely Missing in Election Coverage

Despite the increase of young people planning to vote, corporate media have largely forgotten about them in the weeks leading up to the election.

FAIR
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August 12, 2020
Activist Voices Missing From Corporate Coverage of Uprisings
Loretta Graceffo

Activist Voices Missing From Corporate Coverage of Uprisings

Establishment media overwhelmingly turned to columnists, pundits and government officials for interpretation of the uprisings—rather than to the activists facing tear gas on the frontlines.

FAIR
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July 24, 2020
Chinese ‘Imperialism’ in Hong Kong Concerns US Media; Puerto Rican, Palestinian Colonies, Not So Much
Joshua Cho

Chinese ‘Imperialism’ in Hong Kong Concerns US Media; Puerto Rican, Palestinian Colonies, Not So Much

While one cannot describe China’s national security law as an act of “colonialism” or “imperialism,” since Hong Kong is part of China, FAIR conducted a study comparing media coverage of Hong Kong’s national security law and actual colonialism by the US in Puerto Rico, and by its ally Israel in Palestine.

FAIR
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May 22, 2020
In Pandemic, Sunday Shows Centered Official Voices, Sidelined Independent Health Experts
Julie Hollar

In Pandemic, Sunday Shows Centered Official Voices, Sidelined Independent Health Experts

On the networks’ Sunday morning political talk shows, which play an important role in setting agendas for national political debate, the voices asked to participate were overwhelmingly the usual narrow cast of Beltway actors, with independent public health experts playing a marginal role, and public interest voices almost entirely sidelined.

FAIR
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April 8, 2020
As US Consigns Iranians to Death, Corporate Media Look the Other Way
Gregory Shupak

As US Consigns Iranians to Death, Corporate Media Look the Other Way

Because the US government is directly responsible for Iranian deaths, Washington’s role should be a central concern to US media. Yet that’s not the case, according to an examination of stories.

FAIR
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February 29, 2020
Debate Moderators Frame Questions to Define Acceptable Politics
Julie Hollar

Debate Moderators Frame Questions to Define Acceptable Politics

Media debate hosts use their platform less to inform voters in an even-handed way than to define which positions—and candidates—are acceptable, and which are not.

FAIR
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February 11, 2020
ABC Asking for Attacks Was a Lazy Way to Run a Debate
Julie Hollar

ABC Asking for Attacks Was a Lazy Way to Run a Debate

Election Focus 2020: The first half hour of the debate was almost entirely given over to non-policy sparring over electability (including the bogeyman of socialism) and experience.

FAIR
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January 31, 2020
Media on Climate Crisis: Don’t Organize, Mourn
Neil deMause

Media on Climate Crisis: Don’t Organize, Mourn

While US media have indeed ramped up their coverage of the climate crisis, they continue to give short shrift to what are arguably the most important factors for determining our future: what specific human practices are responsible for the changing climate, why carbon emissions continue to rise, and what we can and should be doing about it.

FAIR
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December 19, 2019
To Corporate Media, an Exercise Bike Ad Is More Newsworthy Than 3/4 of a Trillion for the Pentagon
Matthew Kimball

To Corporate Media, an Exercise Bike Ad Is More Newsworthy Than 3/4 of a Trillion for the Pentagon

Only the Washington Post covered the NDAA more than Peloton (10 articles versus 5), while every other outlet gave an ad for an exercise bike more coverage than a multi-billion-dollar grant to the military industrial complex.

FAIR
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December 6, 2019
With People in the Streets Worldwide, Media Focus Uniquely on Hong Kong
Alan MacLeod

With People in the Streets Worldwide, Media Focus Uniquely on Hong Kong

From the Yellow Vests in France to demonstrations in Lebanon, Gaza, Chile, Ecuador and Haiti, sustained movements all over the planet have taken to the street demanding change. Yet media have been disproportionately interested in only one: the Hong Kong protests.

FAIR
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October 17, 2019
In Ohio Debate, Media Stuck to an Increasingly Rigid Script
Julie Hollar

In Ohio Debate, Media Stuck to an Increasingly Rigid Script

Election Focus 2020: This week’s Democratic presidential debate confirmed that media are stuck in a fairly rigid debate script that elevates questions about healthcare and the economy above all else, and leaves many pressing topics deeply underexplored.

FAIR
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October 10, 2019
Major Media Bury Groundbreaking Studies of Pentagon’s Massive Carbon Bootprint
Joshua Cho

Major Media Bury Groundbreaking Studies of Pentagon’s Massive Carbon Bootprint

Groundbreaking studies of the US military’s outsized contribution to the climate crisis received no coverage in virtually all the US’s biggest newspapers and TV news channels.

FAIR
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September 14, 2019
Russia Has ‘Oligarchs,’ the US Has ‘Businessmen’
Alan MacLeod

Russia Has ‘Oligarchs,’ the US Has ‘Businessmen’

Our elites are engaged in normal economic activity or else looking out for the betterment of humanity, while theirs are nefariously dominating politics.

FAIR
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July 30, 2019
Do Debate Questions Reflect Concerns of Democratic Voters?
Julie Hollar

Do Debate Questions Reflect Concerns of Democratic Voters?

Election Focus 2020: The fiscally conservative, risk-averse, largely-happy-with-the-status-quo voter—which, by the way, probably fits the profile of most of the corporate media questioners—would haunt much of NBC’s debates.

FAIR
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June 26, 2019
So Who Is Reporting That Trump Sanctions Have Killed Thousands of Venezuelans?
Joe Emersberger

So Who Is Reporting That Trump Sanctions Have Killed Thousands of Venezuelans?

The study is the clearest evidence of the devastating impact US policy is having on the people of Venezuela.

FAIR
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May 1, 2019
Establishment Media and the Green New Deal: New Wine in Old Bottles
Miranda C. Spencer

Establishment Media and the Green New Deal: New Wine in Old Bottles

While the resolution was a radical departure from politics as usual, most corporate media filtered coverage of the “Green New Deal” through the lens of conventional expectations.

FAIR
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April 30, 2019
Zero Percent of Elite Commentators Oppose Regime Change in Venezuela
Teddy Ostrow

Zero Percent of Elite Commentators Oppose Regime Change in Venezuela

A FAIR survey of US opinion journalism on Venezuela found no voices in elite corporate media that opposed regime change in that country. Over a three-month period, zero opinion pieces in the New York Times and Washington Post took an anti–regime change or pro-Maduro/Chavista position.

FAIR
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April 14, 2019
Which Candidates Are Mentioned Most Often on TV News?
Jim Naureckas

Which Candidates Are Mentioned Most Often on TV News?

Election Focus 2020: Democratic hopefuls’ TV news mentions track fairly closely with the candidates’ positions in the polls.

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What’s FAIR

FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation. We work to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints. We expose neglected news stories and defend working journalists when they are muzzled. As a progressive group, we believe that structural reform is ultimately needed to break up the dominant media conglomerates, establish independent public broadcasting and promote strong non-profit sources of information.

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