FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
FAIR’s Action Alert network is a powerful activism tool that encourages the public to become critically engaged with media. FAIR distributes timely, focused reports via email, critiquing a particular instance of media inaccuracy or bias, and encourages members to communicate directly to journalists to demand more responsible reporting. This activism get results! With the help of our readers and podcast listeners, FAIR has forced rewrites of stories, propelled important but under-reported stories from the sidelines to the mainstream and succeeded in getting different perspectives into the news.
Blurring the lines ever further between programming and advertising, ABC‘s The View recently agreed to turn eight shows into paid infomercials for Campbell’s Soup. Co-host Barbara Walters, one of ABC‘s most prominent news personalities, joined her colleagues in introducing pro-Campbell’s themes into the talkshow’s discussions, with Walters asking in one show, “Didn’t we grow up…eating […]
Since November 7, major media outlets have devoted enormous attention to the aftermath of the presidential election in Florida. But one critical aspect of this story has received relatively little attention: the allegations of a pattern of voting irregularities and discrimination against African-Americans and other minority groups that may violate the 15th Amendment and the […]
Rarely have the U.S. media had a more important role to play in the nation’s democratic process. The election of the nation’s next president appears to hang on the outcome in the single state of Florida. The Florida vote, in turn, may well hinge on whether or not hand recounts are conducted in some or […]
The turmoil in the Middle East has been a top international story on television news since fighting broke out between Palestinians and Israeli troops and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza in late September. But amid the constant flow of footage showing violent confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers, a central fact of the […]
In an October 26 Action Alert, FAIR reported that the Associated Press’ Bolivia correspondent, Peter McFarren, was resigning amid revelations of clear conflicts of interest. McFarren had long had a significant involvement in Bolivian politics– asituation that went unnoticed even after an expose by Narco News Bulletin,until FAIR called the wire service to request comment […]
The Associated Press‘ long-time Bolivia correspondent, Peter McFarren, will resign amidst revelations of widespread conflicts of interest, an AP spokesperson has told FAIR. The resignation comes in the wake of an expose published by the internet-based Narco News Bulletin that pointed to a variety of conflicts involving McFarren. Most recently, McFarren personally lobbied the Bolivian […]
PBS has announced its plan to offer free air time to presidential candidates beginning tonight, October 25, and concluding on Friday, November 3. The candidates will get 2 and a half minutes at the end of the “NewsHour withJim Lehrer” to address viewers directly, but the offer is not open to allthe candidates: The PBS […]
According to a leaked October 18 memo from “Democracy Now!” host Amy Goodman to the Pacifica Radio network’s Board of Directors, Pacifica presented Goodman with a new set of “rules” on October 16 which drastically curtail her freedom to decide what stories to cover and how, and even attempt to restrict her free speech rights. […]
The level of political advertising during this year’s election cycle isexpected to break records, and television stations will be the primebeneficiaries, collecting about $600 million in political advertisingrevenue. Considering that many campaign ads are misleading to voters, TVjournalists should devote considerable resources to evaluating the accuracyof such advertising. In an informal review of nightly network […]
In what amounts to a news blackout, the September 21–23 demonstrations at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in San Francisco received no coverage in any major mainstream press or broadcast outlets outside the Bay Area. Given that the protests were meant to spotlight the undemocratic activities of the NAB and of corporate media […]
Mr. Lowry MaysChairman & CEO Clear Channel Communications200 Basse RoadSan Antonio, Texas 78209 Dear Mr. Mays: A recent incident outside Clear Channel radio station KYLD, involving KYLD on-air staff, raises serious questions about Clear Channel Communications’ commitment to the public interest and its policy regarding the on-air behavior of its employees. On the morning of […]
In what was widely seen as a victory for media and community activists, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last January approved a plan to license low power (or “micro”) radio stations in many areas of the country. The FCC planned to begin the licensing process for non-commercial radio stations operating between 10 and 100 watts. […]
From September 21 – 23, media activists from across the country converged in San Francisco for a historic protest at the annual radio convention of the National Association of Broadcasters’ (NAB), culminating in a march and rally on September 23 attended by well over 1,000 people. FAIR endorsed and played an active role in the […]
Dear Mr. Fritts, We are writing to remind the NAB that this country’s airwaves are the property of the American people. Independent, critical and genuinely representative media are crucial to a healthy democracy; without them, citizens lose the means to control and participate in the public debate that sets the nation’s political agenda. As it […]
The September edition of Men’s Health magazine features an 8-page “special report” ranking the ten most “male friendly” and “anti-male” schools in America. Much of the article can best be characterized the way author Lawrence Roy Stains describes UC Santa Cruz: “Mean, with a trend toward ugly.” But some of it is downright dangerous, as […]
On September 12, the New York Times ran a blatantly biased front-page article by U.N. correspondent Barbara Crossette about Iraq’s decision not to allow two teams of United Nations experts into Iraq to assess the effects of the sanctions. This article is only the latest example of Crossette’s alarming willingness to repeat increasingly shrill—and largely […]
A previous FAIR action alert (8/25/00) called on citizens to urge the Commission on Presidential Debates to include viable third-party presidential candidates. Now, media activists and pro-democracy advocates need to speak out promptly in the wake of George W. Bush’s recent offer to debate Al Gore three times: — on an NBC “Meet the Press” […]
Commercial broadcasting has gone through stunning changes in recent years, as deregulation and consolidation have shifted the balance of power to a small handful of companies with interests and investments spread across the media landscape. Ironically, the changes have been most profound in radio, a medium ideally suited to local ownership and diverse content. That […]
You walk into an election booth in November to vote for a well-known, respected candidate who’s vigorously campaigning for president, but the candidate’s name has been excluded from the ballot. Is the election rigged? You’d probably ask the same question if you tuned into the presidential debates on TV and the candidate you planned to […]
The speakers lists for two high-profile lecture series at the National PressClub in Washington, D.C. raise serious questions about who the organizationconsiders “newsworthy.” The Press Club’s regular “Luncheon Speakers” and “Newsmakers” events forWashington-area journalists give various luminaries a platform to influencethe weekly news cycle. Yet of more than 100 individuals invited to addressthese NPC audiences […]
