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. Get involved in the FAIR fight for better media coverage – sign up today.
The national management of Pacifica Radio has fired several long-time staffers at WBAI, the New York City community radio station that is home to the award-winning show “Democracy Now!”: program director Bernard White, producer Sharan Harper, and station manager Valerie Van Isler (see “Pacifica Management Move to Undermine WBAI‘s Independence,” https://fair.org/press-releases/van-isler.html). Accompanied by security guards, […]
The end of the presidential race has produced one thing media can virtually all agree on: The time for fighting is over. Reporters like Tim Russert had predicted a potential “political civil war;” when it didn’t happen, that seemed reason enough for celebration. Unfortunately, for many reporters the “ceasefire” in the ballot battle signaled an […]
Several news organizations have begun the process of evaluating the disputed ballots in the state of Florida. Reporters intend to use a variety of methods to help answer lingering questions about who might have actually won the vote in the state if a hand recount had not been halted by the U.S. Supreme Court. One […]
Delegates from over 160 countries are gathered at the Hague in the Netherlands this week for negotiations to finalize the Kyoto climate treaty, the 1997 protocol on combating global warming. Despite the high stakes involved in global warming, news coverage of the Hague talks in mainstream U.S. print media has been extremely sparse. National television […]
ABC News Middle East analyst and military expert Anthony Cordesman published a report last month advocating the use of “excessive force” against Palestinian civilians, including “interrogation methods that border on psychological and/or physical torture.” The report was released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), an influential Washington think tank where Cordesman holds […]
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 […]
With the outcome of the U.S. presidential election still unclear, mainstream media are emphasizing electoral “closure” over the question of who actually won the election. Almost immediately after the vote, calls for Al Gore to either proceed slowly or to concede with dignity– even before final vote tallies were in– began to appear. Some pundits […]
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 […]
While mainstream media outlets have been quick to charge Vice President Al Gore with exaggerations after the presidential debates and throughout the campaign, a series of comparable exaggerations and distortions made by Republican candidate George W. Bush have received far less coverage. Media were fervently interested in Gore’s claim in the first debate (10/3/00) that […]
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 […]
PBS has responded to hundreds of letters from activists around the country criticizing its policy regarding free airtime for presidential candidates. PBS has made two and half minutes available at the end of its NewsHour newscast for eight nights, reserving four nights for Al Gore and four nights for George W. Bush. FAIR pointed out […]
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 […]
On Wednesday, October 25, concerned listeners will rally at Pacifica Radio stations across the country to support the daily newsmagazine show “Democracy Now!” and its host, Amy Goodman. Protests are scheduled outside WBAI in New York City, WPFW in Washington, D.C., KPFT in Houston, Texas, KPFA in Berkeley, Calif. and KPFK in Los Angeles, Calif. […]
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 […]
U.S. media have been ignoring or downplaying an important dimension of the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East. On October 7, the United Nations Security Council voted 14 to 0 for a resolution condemning Israel’s “excessive use of force against Palestinians” and deploring the “provocation” of Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon’s September 28 visit to […]
The level of political advertising during this year’s election cycle is expected to break records, and television stations will be the prime beneficiaries, collecting about $600 million in political advertising revenue. Considering that many campaign ads are misleading to voters, TV journalists should devote considerable resources to evaluating the accuracy of such advertising. In an […]
