FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
NBC anchor Tom Brokaw responded to FAIR’s August 29 action alert, which criticized Brokaw’s warning to Democrats that they should be “careful” about how they criticize Republican presidential John McCain. As FAIR noted, Brokaw’s argument was that McCain was a “Vietnam War hero” and that Democrats “have to be careful about how you go after […]
A FAIR Action Alert on July 15 encouraged readers to ask the Washington Post why it asked a misleading poll question about Obama and McCain’s positions on the Iraq War. The question, which framed the candidates’ positions as two different “approaches” to withdrawal, led the paper to conclude that the country was “split down the […]
The host of NPR’s Bryant Park Project, Mike Pesca, has responded to FAIR’s media advisory “Press Distorts Clark’s Comments” (7/2/08), which quoted Pesca (6/30/08) as likening Wesley Clark’s statements about John McCain’s Vietnam record to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign to smear John Kerry’s service record. In a letter to FAIR, Pesca argued […]
Paper reprises one-sided panel to discuss “Mission Accomplished” The New York Times‘ May 4 Week in Review section featured a discussion of the state of the Iraq War with advocates of that war—-the same advocates who prompted a FAIR action alert on March 17. The following letter was sent to New York Times public editor […]
Two weeks after a New York Times story (4/20/08) revealed a Pentagon propaganda campaign that had been feeding talking points to TV military analysts, many of whom also had ties to military contractors, the cable and broadcast networks that employed these analysts have almost entirely failed to report this crucial news story. Fox has even […]
New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt has offered a response to media activists who wrote to the paper about its non-coverage of last month’s Winter Soldier hearings. Hoyt’s explanation is that reporters at the Times had “not been aware of the group or its meeting,” but likely wouldn’t have covered it if they had […]
On February 12, FAIR sent a letter to the New York Times‘ public editor Clark Hoyt regarding a recent editors’ note that suggested that the newspaper has double standards for reporters who publicly express opinions. The letter is below. We encourage others who have concerns to also contact Hoyt at: public@nytimes.com. *** Dear Clark Hoyt, […]
USA Today Reader Editor Brent Jones responded to questions, prompted by a FAIR Action Alert (1/23/08), about the newspaper’s failure to identify a white supremacist group by arguing that doing so would have been an illegitimate “judgment” on the part of the paper. USA Today had run two stories on the Nationalist Movement, a group […]
Noting that an October 26 report based on torture-based confessions “generated a lot of response,” on November 1 NPR‘s Morning Edition attempted to address the concerns voiced by FAIR activists and others. The explanation offered by reporter Anne Garrels and anchor Steve Inskeep dodged the main issues raised in FAIR’s October 30 Action Alert. But […]
After FAIR’s October 19 action alert criticized coverage of Social Security in the Washington Post and on ABC News, Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank responded to one FAIR activist with this message: Don’t you think it a bit unfair of “FAIR,” in complaining about my “context,” to ignore the fact that I was writing about […]
The New York Times posted the following correction on its website today, responding to a problem pointed out in a FAIR Action Alert (8/24/07): An article published on NYTimes.com on Aug. 21 about Senator Barack Obama’s appearance before a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention paraphrased incorrectly from his comment about protests at military funerals. He […]
New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt has sent out an email response (which appears in full below) to FAIR activists who responded to a FAIR action alert (7/13/07) about a report calling a firefighters’ union video critical of Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani “factually questionable.” But the reply, which mainly provides the self-justification of […]
To paraphrase Clark Hoyt, if you’re going to defend the performance of a news organization, you at a minimum need to get your facts right. In his second response to FAIR regarding the New York Times‘ review of the play Fallujah, Hoyt wrote: In restating its case, it introduced a new error—calling white phosphorus (WP), […]
(NOTE: Please see the further Activism Update regarding this alert.) On July 18, New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt responded to FAIR’s June 11 Action Alert “Incendiary Weapons are No Allegation.” FAIR’s action alert took issue with a New York Times review (5/29/07) of the British play Fallujah, in which reviewer Jane Perlez called […]
CBS senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield promptly responded to FAIR’s June 25 Action Alert critiquing his report on Michael Moore’s film Sicko and public opinion on single-payer healthcare. But his argument–which appears in full below–avoids the core issues raised in FAIR’s alert. Greenfield’s defense tries to make a distinction between Moore’s position on healthcare and […]
On February 25, New York Times public editor Byron Calame responded to readers who were critical of the Times‘ coverage of claims that Iran was shipping explosives to Iraqi insurgents. FAIR encouraged activists to write to Calame in a February 16 action alert. The following letter is FAIR’s reply. Dear Byron Calame, I was surprised […]
PBS ombud Michael Getler (1/11/07), responding to viewers who shared FAIR’s concerns about the balance of a recent NewsHour discussion of Iraq policy (1/8/07; FAIR Action Alert, 1/10/07), wrote that “I’m with the viewers on this one.” The segment, which featured two U.S. senators advocating for George W. Bush’s “surge” policy along with two legislators […]
After a FAIR action alert (12/6/06) pointed out an error in a New York Times article (“Offering Video, Israel Answers War Critics,” 12/5/06), the Times published a correction on December 7. FAIR had pointed out that, in a piece describing an Israeli report that attempted to defend Israel against charges of war crimes, the Times […]
On October 6, PBS ombud Michael Getler posted a response to FAIR’s study of the NewsHour With Jim Lehrer (“Are You on the NewsHour‘s Guestlist?,” Extra!, 9-10/06). He included a statement from NewsHour executive producer Linda Winslow and several letters from FAIR activists and readers. FAIR appreciates Getler’s serious response to the study and his […]
Following pressure from FAIR and others, Federal Communications Commission Chair Kevin Martin has ordered an inspector general investigation (AP, 9/19/06) into the suppression of two FCC media ownership reports. One report, highlighted in FAIR’s September 15 Action Alert, found in 2004 that local television ownership increases local news content by nearly five-and-a-half minutes and total […]
