FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
University of Virginia Law professor Rosa Brooks discusses NYT reporter Judith Miller, whose faulty reporting helped the White House take the country to war in Iraq in 2003. Also this week: director Patrice O’Neill on his new documentary film, The Fire Next Time.
Media and the debate over the Central American Free Trade Agreement. Also on the program: a discussion on NYT columnist Thomas Friedman’s new book, with Amitabh Pal, managing editor of The Progressive magazine.
Tony Blair’s visit to the White House stoked debate over debt relief and aid to Africa– but what was missing from the media coverage? Salih Booker of Africa Action joins CounterSpin to discuss. Also on the program: while the Pentagon says that they don’t do body counts, direct quotes from military officials suggests otherwise. Journalist Mark Benjamin of Salon.com examines this development, which he says is a troubling practice born of the military’s desperation to show progress in the Iraq War.
Why is the press so uninterested in the Downing Street memo, despite the compelling evidence it provides that the Bush administration was intent on invading Iraq? Also this week: how does corporate media report on class divide?
The Washington Post headline on March 18 seemed straightforward enough: “Senate Rejects GOP Budget Cuts; House Deficit-Reduction Moves Thwarted.” The U.S. Senate, in passing its budget bill the previous afternoon, had, reported Post writer Jonathan Weisman (3/18/05), “dealt a slap to President Bush and the Republican leadership, approving a 2006 budget that would gut much […]
Despite traction in Congress, the Central American Free Trade Agreement is getting minimal media attention. . . Why is that? Also on the program: the London Times recently published a piece validating the legitimacy of the Downing Street memo. And yet there remains very little coverage in the US. Former CIA official Ray McGovern joins CounterSpin to discuss the memo and its significance.
This week the House is voting on bankruptcy legislation, although the media seems to be confusing the public on what those changes would actually accomplish. Also on the show: Sarah Posner discusses right-wing Christian broadcasters.
On February 7, FAIR issued an action alert criticizing USA Today‘s re-writing of George W. Bush‘s Social Security rhetoric. Bush has said a number of times that the system will be “flat bust,” “exhausted” and “bankrupt” in the year 2042. In describing Bush’s position, USA Today changed those misleading claims, reporting that Bush has said […]
Richard Kogan on the new Bush fiscal policy, which slashes spending on foot stamps, low-income childcare, and the like. Also: viewers have long suspected that television networks embrace a double standard when it comes to what ads they accept or reject. Now one group is calling for networks to clarify their policy once and for all.
NOTE: Please see the update to this alert. In its February 3 edition, USA Today not only failed to challenge a George W. Bush distortion about Social Security— it actually changed Bush’s remarks to make them more accurate. Summarizing Bush’s case for privatizing the program, reporter Judy Keen explained: “Two days after winning re-election, Bush […]
As the debate over Social Security privatization continues, so do the mainstream media distortions of the debate. On January 11, ABC News muddied the waters further with two one-sided and inaccurate reports. On World News Tonight, anchor Peter Jennings started off the distortions in the show’s “A Closer Look” segment. Having allowed that there is […]
George W. Bush has announced that Social Security privatization will be one of the top priorities in his second term. Luckily for him, much of the media have already bought into the key premise on which his policy is based: the erroneous notion that Social Security is about to go bust. Scaring the public about […]
Everyone knows the federal budget deficit is a lurking danger, a dagger pointed at the heart of our economy. We know this in large part because newspaper editorials keep telling us so. The budget deficit is one of the few issues on which editorialists feel free to challenge both political parties, where they regularly advance […]
Heidi Boghosian of the National Lawyers Guild on protests against the Republican National Convention and the media tendencies that encourage the stifling of free speech. Also this week: what’s the deal with job creation?
After many months of dismal job creation numbers, three months starting in April produced statistics that George W. Bush could cite positively. With John Kerry having devoted much effort to pointing out the poor economic performance under the Bush administration, the new numbers produced a strong media consensus: The Kerry team would have to change […]
What’s the real deal on the economy? And how have harsher immigration policies impacted foreign reporters in the US?
Is media coverage clarifying the potential impact of the $2.4 trillion package, or just making a confusing issue more confusing?
Election season came to Germany last fall, and in time-honored fashion, the New York Times spent the campaign bemoaning the high wages of German workers. Whether workers in a distant country are overpaid may seem like an odd fixation for an eminent newspaper, but for years the Times has treated no other factor as more […]
Trade ministers from across the Western Hemisphere gathered at the Marriott Hotel in Quito, Ecuador from October 31-November 1. The occasion: the 2002 ministerial meeting on the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Thousands of other people gathered in Quito that weekend too–in the streets. Organized by a coalition of indigenous, labor, environmental […]
A dozen years after the Gulf War, public perceptions of it are now very helpful to the White House. That’s part of a timeworn pattern. Illusions about previous wars make the next one seem acceptable. As George Orwell observed: "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past." It’s not […]
