No Debate on War
Today I was pleased to visit Democracy Now! to talk about FAIR’s new study documenting the lack of debate over the wars in Iraq and Syria. Watch the interview here:
A Protest in the Capital and a Media Blackout
What happens when hundreds of Keystone activists get arrested in front of the White House? Not much, judging by the lack of media interest.
Drone Strike Testimony: Not News?
In a moment when media are fixated on terrorism and the possibility that some people might be motivated to carry out acts of violence against the United States in part because of the effects of U.S. wars, a Yemeni writer’s account of the effects of drone strikes on his village would be well worth covering.
The Pope and Politics
Argentine cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was chosen as the new pope this week. But coverage often glossed over the most intense political controversies about him.
Jack Lew, One More Anti-Business Obama Appointee
Republicans and various right-wing commentators have had a thing for talking about the supposedly “anti-business” tilt of the Obama administration. It’s never made much sense–and it doesn’t make any more sense now that pundits are reacting to news that Obama will tap his current chief of staff Jack Lew to be his next Treasury secretary.
Yousef Munayyer on Gaza, Amy Goodman on ‘The Silenced Majority’
CounterSpin talks to Yousef Munayyer, the director of Washington, D.C.’s Jerusalem Fund, about what happens when the smoke clears in Gaza. And we’ll talk to Amy Goodman about her new book, The Silenced Majority, and what she thinks media needs to do to serve the public.
After London Police Killing, Media Focus on Problem of Police Restraint
Much of the media coverage of the riots in England dwells on the issue of police restraint. There is a “public backlash against police restraint,” the Washington Post explained (8/11/11), with some wanting “a tougher response to the rash of disturbances that has sullied Britain’s image.” The problem is the “seemingly halting, even timorous, policing,” […]
Is the Justice Department Holding Torturers Accountable?
The answer might depend on which media outlet you rely on. I read the headline at Democracy Now! on Friday: “Justice Dept Drops 99 of 101 Cases Against CIA for Abuse and Torture” The New York Times, on the other hand, offered a different sort of emphasis: “U.S. Widens Inquiries Into 2 Jail Deaths”
Democracy Now!: Moyers on the Media
Bill Moyers appeared on Democracy Now! this morning (6/8/11) to discuss his new book about his days at PBS, The Conversation Continues. Interviewed for the hour by anchors Any Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Moyers said, “The consensual seduction of the mainstream media by and with the government is one of the most dangerous toxins at […]
Noam Chomsky on Democracy Now!
Today’s broadcast of Democracy Now! featured an excerpt of Noam Chomsky’s address at FAIR’s 25th anniversary celebration. Watch it: Want to see the whole event–with more of Chomsky, Michael Moore, Glenn Greenwald and Amy Goodman? Buy the DVD from FAIR today.
Glenn Beck’s Dangerous Obsession With Frances Fox Piven
In addition to his repeated murder fantasies, Glenn Beck harbors apocalyptic fantasies of mass death–suggesting, for instance, that if the direction of the country doesn’t change, “God will wash this nation with blood.” (Barack Obama, are you listening?) But the Fox News host harbors many deranged obsessions. He has long obsessed over Frances Fox Piven, […]
FAIR Out There
–On Democracy Now! (11/8/10): While Keith Olbermann’s donations became front-page news, little attention has been paid to the massive amount of political spending by MSNBC‘s parent company General Electric, one of the nation’s largest military contractors. Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting reports GE made over $2 million in political contributions in the 2010 election cycle. […]
‘Fawning Corporate Media’ as ‘Acrobatic Cheerleaders’
Under the succinct Consortium News subhed “Too Late the Leak” (7/24/09), former CIA analyst Ray McGovern revisits the Downing Street Minutes–which he says should represent the kind of documentary evidence after which trial lawyers, intelligence analysts–and serious investigative journalists–lust. Though the unauthorized disclosure did not come early enough to head off the war, which had […]
John Pilger’s ‘Historic Opportunity’ to Change Media
Independent investigative journalist John Pilger recently (7/6/09) gave Democracy Now!‘s Amy Goodman his view of the broad media landscape, informed by the fact that “we have many alternative sources of information now, not least of all your own program, though I wouldn’t call that alternative“: But for most people, the primary source of their information […]
On Corporate Journalism as ‘Popularity Contest’
The unlikely news source Voice of America (6/15/09) has Adam Phillips’ profile of Amy Goodman and “the largest public media collaboration in the United States,” Democracy Now!, in which Goodman lays out “her job as a journalist” as “to bring out ‘the voices of people closest to the story at the grassroots’”: In Goodman’s program, […]
Media Unconcerned with Real Torturers Still at Gitmo
Amy Goodman recently interviewed independent journalist Jeremy Scahill on her Democracy Now! show (5/19/09) regarding the fact that, in Scahill’s words, “while much of the focus has been on the tactical use of torture at Guantanamo, almost no attention had been paid to a parallel force” known as the Immediate Reaction Force. Describing the methods […]
Pentagon Faces Reality Still Denied in MSM
The current Democracy Now! (5/8/09) features New York Times Pentagon Pundits reporter David Barstow giving Amy Goodman the background on the U.S. military’s retraction of a report clearing itself of domestic propaganda wrongdoing: So the report comes out in January, and it effectively exonerated the program. Now, one thing your viewers should know is that […]
Secret to Journalistic Survival: Real Journalism!
Interviewing Progressive magazine editor Matt Rothschild on Democracy Now! (5/1/09), Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman get the now 100-year-old magazine’s high-minded take on the threatened existence of other periodicals: Rothschild: Well, the magazine industry is in crisis. The newspaper industry is in crisis. A lot of the news weeklies donâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢t know how to function right […]
Spanish Torture Indictments Dead?
Reading some of the latest headlines, one might think that Spanish investigations and possible indictments of six former Bush officials for alleged involvement in torture were dead in the water. As the Associated Press banner put it (4/17/09): “Spain: No Torture Probe of U.S. Officials,” while the Los Angeles Times headlined a news brief (4/17/09), […]
Who’s ‘More of an Advocate Than the Corporate Press’?
In a discussion with Jessica Newman of Campus Progress (2/17/09), Democracy Now!‘s Amy Goodman gives her motivations for entering journalism: “I just always saw it as a way to pursue issues of social justice, to hold those in power accountable, to really work hard to get at the truth.” When asked if she sees “a […]
