Dictator: Media Code for ‘Government We Don’t Like’
The “dictator” label is also a powerful cue, used by media to prime the reader to see a particular country or leader a certain way.
Can the NYT Call a Coup a Coup?
“A Coup? Or Something Else?” is the question a New York Times headline is posing today about the U.S. government’s response to the military’s removal of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. But what is the New York Times calling it?
NYT’s Fisk Factcheck Fail
The United States sent former ambassador Frank Wisner to Egypt to talk to Hosni Mubarak. Wisner garnered headlines when he declared support for Mubarak staying in power, causing the White House to try and argue that wasn’t the message the White House was trying to send. But Wisner’s background was worth more attention. As Pratap […]
NYT Documents U.S. Support for Egypt’s Torturer
The White House position on Egypt would seem to back the transfer of some level of official power to Omar Suleiman, who Hosni Mubarak recently named vice president. Suleiman’s former role as intelligence chief made him a key player in Egypt’s use of torture, against Egyptian citizens and in connection with CIA-backed rendition. That part […]
USA Today Shows How Not to Report on Egypt Protests
Start with USA Today‘s headline (2/3/11): Mubarak Supporters Weigh In: Anti-Government Rallies Shaken by Rival Protesters The forces attacking the pro-democracy demonstrators in Tahrir Square were not “rival protesters”; they were government agents, complete in many cases with police ID cards that were confiscated when violent provocateurs were apprehended by activists (Al Jazeera English, 2/2/11). […]
Arab TV vs. Polite People Like You
An accidentally revealing moment fromRachel Maddow’s interview with Martin Indyk of the Brookings Institution last night (MSNBC, 1/31/11): MADDOW: Well, let me ask you about one tactical question in this diplomatic dance, I guess. Are American officials making appearances on Arabic language TV channels at this point? Should they be prioritizing doing that right now? […]
The Joe Biden Rules
Joe Biden on non-dictator Hosni Mubarak and “high-tech terrorist” Julian Assange.
NYT vs. Guardian on Egypt WikiLeaks
The New York Times: Cables Show Delicate U.S. Dealings With Egypt’s Leaders The Guardian: WikiLeaks Cables Show Close U.S. Relationship With Egyptian President That reminds me of something Times executive editor wrote in a forthcoming piece on WikiLeaks, where he explains the difference between The Newspaper of Record and the Guardian in handling theAfghanistan documents: […]
Defining a Dictatorship: The U.S. Role in Egypt
Yesterday (FAIR Blog, 1/27/11) the Washington Post tried to argue that U.S. policy under the Obama administration has shifted to one of open support for pro-democracy movements in Egypt and Tunisia. There was little, if any, evidence to support this idea. Today (1/28/11) the New York Times steps in with a report based largely on […]
We’re (Anonymously) With You! WaPo Touts U.S. Support for Arab Democracy
Now this is a head scratcher.”As Arabs Protest, U.S. Speaks Up” is the headline today over a story by Scott Wilson and Joby Warrick in the Washington Post. The storyattempts to arguethat the Obama administration is backing protests in Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon–in the first two cases, regimes backed strongly by the United States (Egypt […]
Six Years On, Fox Still Can’t Find Iraq
In a previous post “showing Fox News‘ tendency to mislabel badly behaving Republicans as Democrats,” one of Canadian blogger Joey deVilla’s commenters has pointed out “this map of the Middle East shown on a Fox News in segment where Neil Cavuto interviewed John Bolton.” Noting a problem with the country marked “Egypt”–“that’s not Egypt, that’s […]
