Breaking News: AOC’s District Has Opinions
Ocasio-Cortez is an obvious target for both establishment papers like the New York Times and conservative outlets like the New York Post.
Manchin’s Coal Conflict of Interest Not of Interest to Corporate News
Corporate media don’t tell their audience that Sen. Joe Manchin has a giant conflict of interest in the matter of fossil fuels.
Study of 2020 Debates Finds New Topics but Familiar Framing
A FAIR analysis of the 2020 general election debates found stunning breaks from past practices combined with tried-and-true tropes of national US debates.
Media’s Messaging Debate Eclipses Policies—and the Crises They Address
In coverage of Democratic positions on healthcare and climate change, the overwhelming emphasis was on electoral strategy, and not on the problems these policy proposals were designed to solve.
When Centrists Lose, Corporate Media Blame the Left
Joe Biden hadn’t even been declared the victor of the 2020 election before establishment Democrats, in the face of poorer-than-expected results in House and Senate races, began pointing fingers at the left—with corporate media giving them a major assist.
Press Worries About a Fracking Ban’s ‘Risk’ to Democrats—Not Fracking’s Threat to Planet
Whenever there are discussions about enacting a national fracking ban, corporate media seem to prioritize the supposed short-term potential “risks” to Democrats’ electoral prospects, or potential economic downturns, over the long-term prospects for human civilization’s survival.
First Debate Calls for More Than Cutting Off Mics
When you have a candidate—who also happens to be the sitting president—who will not respect the rules of debate, who deliberately casts doubt on the legitimacy of the election, and who issues directives to white supremacist groups from a national stage, the only reasonable thing for journalists to do is to not just call for an end to the debates, but to call for an end to the Trump presidency.
ACTION ALERT: With Planet at Stake, Moderators Must Make Climate a Focus of Debates
Contact the debate moderators today and tell them to make the climate crisis a key focus of the debates.
Voters Should be Wary of USA Today’s False Balance on Election 2020
Outlets like USA Today overstate Trump’s support and create the impression of a balance that doesn’t exist.
SoundBites
Better to Mislead Than to Take a Side In the third paragraph of a report on the stimulus program in the New York Times (2/18/10), readers were told, “There is little dispute among economists that the measure has kept the jobless rate from being even higher than it is.” Clear enough. But since reporting must […]
Cyrus Safdari on Iran, Robert Alvarez on nuclear power
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen says it’s time to “fight crazy with crazy” on Iran’s nuclear policy. If that passes for discussion of diplomacy in the corporate press, maybe we should look beyond them for interpretation of the latest International Atomic Energy Agency report. We’ll be talking with analyst […]
David Swanson on healthcare debate, Bruce Dixon on the ‘public option’
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Making sense of the health care debate. In the past week we’ve supposedly seen the comeback of public and political support for the public option, in some form or another. We’re also told that Democratic majority leader Harry Reid must gather 60 votes to pass any bill. Is any […]
Christy Harvey on Senate Filibuster, Ross Gelbspan on Climate Change
According to Republicans, Democrats are unfairly– and perhaps unconstitutionally– blocking the White House’s judicial nominees. How are reporters handling this story? Also on the program: media debate on climate change continues to be dominated by a small group of industry-paid commentators, whose input is increasingly contradicted by overwhelming scientific consensus. Journalist Ross Gelbspan discusses his recently article “Snowed” for Mother Jones, which unpacks this situation.
Conventional Wisdom
Coverage of the 1992 Democratic convention often drew sharp contrasts with earlier conventions–that were covered in almost exactly the same terms.
