Jeff Cohen on his latest book: ‘Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media’
This week on CounterSpin: FAIR founder Jeff Cohen discusses his new book Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media.
FCC To Investigate Suppressed Reports
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 […]
FCC Destroyed Media Ownership Report
(NOTE: Please see the Activism Update regarding this alert.) A 2004 Federal Communications Commission study that showed locally owned television stations provide more local news than others was ordered destroyed by FCC officials, and only came to light this week when a copy was leaked to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.). Three years ago, then-FCC chair […]
Tim Rutten on Enron, Peter Dreier on mine safety
L.A. Times media writer Tim Rutten discusses the Enron verdicts. Also on the show: The national press corps and mine safety, with Peter Dreier of Occidental College.
‘Wall Street Does Not Like Newspapers’
In the latest media concentration story, the McClatchy newspaper chain, which currently owns 12 dailies, is buying out the larger Knight Ridder chain and its 32 newspapers. McClatchy has announced that it will immediately resell 12 of the Knight Ridder dailies, including such venerated newspapers as the Philadelphia Inquirer and the San Jose Mercury News. […]
Update
[Note: This piece is a sidebar to ‘Wall Street Does Not Like Newspapers’.] Since CounterSpin’s interview with Ben Bagdikian, McClatchy has announced a pending deal that will turn over four of the former Knight Ridder papers—the St. Paul Pioneer Press, San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times and Monterey County Herald—to the Denver-based MediaNews Group. […]
David Sirota on ‘Hostile Takeover’, Tim Redmond on MediaNews
David Sirota talks his new book Hostile Takeover and what kind of advice pundits will be giving the Democrats this election year. Also on the show: Tim Redmond, the editor of the Bay Guardian, discusses Dean Singleton’s growing monopoly on San Francisco Bay Area newspapers.
Saving Independent Media
This week, Congress could deal a serious blow to some of the few remaining checks on corporate domination of the media landscape. The House Commerce Committee is debating proposed legislation called the COPE Act (or the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act). Critics point to two significant problems with the bill: —Community TV: Public access, […]
Fear & Favor 2005 — The Sixth Annual Report
In 1896, New York Times publisher Adolph Ochs laid out standards by which journalism is still judged today, declaring that his paper would “give the news, all the news . . . impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect or interest involved.” Unfortunately, mainstream media often fail to live up to that goal; […]
George Gerbner, 1919-2005
George Gerbner was born in Budapest in 1919 and fled to the United States to escape fascism in 1939, but he never lost his Hungarian accent. What he said about U.S. media culture often sounded as foreign as the way he said it. Gerbner spent his life in an adopted country saturated with graphic depictions […]
Andrea Batista Schlesinger on immigration, Peter Freyne on AP & Chris Graff
Immigration policy is big news this week– Andrea Batista Schlesinger of the Drum Major Institute unpacks the major gaps in media coverage of the issue. Also on the show: What did veteran reporter Christopher Graff do that upset his bosses at the Associated Press? We’ll ask columnist Peter Freyne from the paper Seven Days.
Jack Fairweather on ‘Heroes in Error,’ Ben Bagdikian on Knight-Ridder sale
This week on CounterSpin: Ben Bagdikian on McClatchy consolidation and the future of journalism. Also on the show: Reporter Jack Fairweather joins to discuss the new issue of Mother Jones, which exposes yet another INC tall tale.
Fighting Back
[one_third_last]If FAIR’s work consisted entirely of quantitative studies and the well-documented criticism that appears in every issue of Extra!, the group would be akin to a conventional think tank. But throughout FAIR’s history, it has had a significant emphasis on media activism—treating media giants just as one would any other powerful political or government institution, […]
Patrick Cockburn on Iraq coverage, Brian Dominick on the Sago Mine story
Does American reporting on Iraq paint a misleadingly optimistic narrative? Also on CounterSpin: The NYT and corporate press on Sago.
LA Times Dumps Liberal Columnist
Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Scheer was fired on November 11 after nearly 30 years at the paper, the last 13 as one of its most progressive political columnists. In a published statement announcing op-ed page changes (11/10/05), the Times insisted that it is dedicated to “provid[ing] readers with a wide range of voices and […]
Joshua Holland on oil-for-food scandal, Andrew Schwartzman on license challenges
This week on CounterSpin, Joshua Holland of Alternet joins to discuss the so-called oil-for-food scandal and how a right-wing spin has been driving the story. Also: Director Andrew Schwartzman on the Media Access Project.
Laura Rozen on Niger-Uranium, Jeff Chang on Village Voice-New Times merger
Journalist Laura Rozen joins to discuss to scandal currently unfolding in Italy, and what this could mean for the White House. Also on the show: Hip hop journalist Jeff Change on the Village Voice merger and what this means for alternative media.
Still Covering for Wal-Mart
In an August 10 action alert, FAIR wondered if ABC‘s reporting on corporate giant Wal-Mart was improperly influenced by Wal-Mart’s status as a major advertiser on the network’s news programming. While ABC failed to answer FAIR’s charges, a September 20 World News Tonight report on Wal-Mart’s business practices in China once again suggests favoritism toward […]
Strings Attached
Over the past few years, the war over the Digital Divide has spread to a new technological turf: “broadband” Internet access. Broadband allows for much faster and more efficient data transmission than traditional dial-up modems. The catch: The telecommunications companies that offer broadband don’t necessarily offer it to all customers, and for those who can […]
Media to City: Play Ball
On June 6, a years-long civic battle over plans to build a combined NFL/Olympic stadium atop publicly owned rail yards on Manhattan’s West Side ended with a thud. After a hard-fought lobbying campaign that saw more than $42 million spent on both sides (Newsday, 6/16/05), New York state assembly speaker Sheldon Silver used his power […]
