Trump’s Asylum Ban Hasn’t Disappeared—but Media Outrage Over It Has
In place of 2020’s concern over “shelved safeguards,” the Washington Post justifies a policy that two years ago was viewed as extreme.
‘There Is Plenty of Evidence to Request the Arrest of Trump’
“Bringing criminal charges when there is probable cause to believe that Trump committed federal crimes is what the law requires.”
Marjorie Cohn on Prosecuting Trump, Mike Liszewski on Marijuana Justice
This week on CounterSpin: He wanted to go to the Capitol on January 6, Donald Trump tells the Washington Post, but the Secret Service wouldn’t let him. He hated the violence, and was furious Nancy Pelosi wasn’t putting a stop to it. He doesn’t remember getting many phone calls, and he didn’t destroy any […]
Lack of Media Urgency Over GOP Efforts to Steal 2024 Elections
Despite alarming scenarios, many corporate media outlets are omitting the Republican Party’s efforts to subvert the 2024 election for Trump.
Right-Wing Cop-Bashing Didn’t Start With Trump
The right and the Republican Party have shown hostility toward federal law enforcement agencies for decades.
‘They’ve Been Looking to Bolster the Claim the Election Was Stolen’
“There’s a bit of a vacuum in government-run election processes that’s opaque, and allows the conspiracy theories to trickle in.”
Extra! April 2021 Soundbites
Trump Briefings? News. Biden Briefings? Not News. Nowadays, corporate media would have you believe they are appalled by Donald Trump: They had to cover the liar and cheat because he was president, but they held their nose the whole time, and now they can’t wait to get back to serious reporting on policy. The only […]
Limbaugh Leaves Behind a Nation Transformed by His Resentment and Deception
Rush Limbaugh left behind a legacy of lies, bigotry, science denial and conspiracy mongering—as well as a media and political system significantly transformed by his influence.
Media Find ‘Heroes’ in Republicans Who Oppose Trump…and Also Democracy
Corporate media’s rejection of Trumpism and the Big Lie goes hand in hand with the elevation of a “reasonable” or “admirable” wing of the GOP, whose own extremism and undermining of democracy are thereby whitewashed.
Extra! Soundbites March 2021
The real test is not whether corporate media were able to condemn a president’s seditious acts, but whether they go back to business as usual.
Trump Briefings? Always News. Biden Briefings? Not News.
Just a month into Joe Biden’s term, CNN has unceremoniously stopped airing daily White House press briefings.
Limbaugh Helped Create the Conservative Movement—and Paved the Road for Trump
Rush Limbaugh left behind a legacy of lies, bigotry, science denial and conspiracy mongering—as well as a media and political system significantly transformed by his influence.
Impeachment Trial Is Not About Convincing GOP Senators—Many of Whom Were Trump’s Co-Conspirators
Just because the Democratic impeachment managers have decided that it’s strategically unwise to point out the culpability of half of the jurors in their trial doesn’t mean the media must adopt the same framing.
US Media Require No Evidence for Claims of Electoral Fraud—in Venezuela
Corporate outlets have summarily denounced Trump’s bogus claims of vote fraud, thought for years they have faithfully echoed similarly spurious accusations made about elections held by official enemies.
‘The Lost Cause in Some Ways Won the Civil War’
“I think we’ve underestimated how much you can whip up racism and xenophobia by just saying, ‘You were robbed of this, you’ve got something to be angry over, you’ve got something to be aggrieved about.’”
Trump’s Twitter Ban May Be Justified, but That Doesn’t Mean Tech Giants’ Power Isn’t Scary
We urgently need to rethink the power of these social media behemoths, because there are plenty of examples where their enforcement of their rules has been arbitrary and non-transparent.
‘Being Neutral in the Face of a Fascist Threat Is Not an Acceptable Journalistic Value’
“It’s not that they were unprepared, it’s that they were prepared for white nationalists, which to them is not a crisis in the same way that Black people demanding rights is.”
Dorothee Benz on January 6 Insurrection, Mara Verheyden-Hilliard on Police Responsibility
Media who egged on Trump’s candidacy, trivialized his venality and normalized as extreme-but-within-range his and his party’s every anti-democratic outrage, are poorly placed to take principled umbrage when that juggernaut takes the course that everyone and their mother said it would.
As Far Right Storms Capitol, Media Need to Look at Their Own Role in How We Got Here
After both sides–ing the political situation for four years of Donald Trump, the storming of the Capitol by an armed rebellion incited by Trump himself has brought out swift and strong words from some in corporate media.
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.
