FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
Note: This article is a sidebar to “Media Moguls on Board: Murdoch, Malone and the Cato Institute“ In 1995, during the national debate over welfare reform, the Cato Institute released a study called “The Work Vs. Welfare Trade-Off.” The report was packed with statistics culled from Cato’s research: “In 40 states welfare pays more than […]
One man’s prison rape story doesn’t come close to filling this kind of vacuum and mis-reporting in the newspaper of record. “Newspapers in New York could have a full time corrections reporter, there’s so much out there,” says Gary Craig. Not a bad idea.
Last fall, when News Corporation owner Rupert Murdoch joined the board of directors at the Cato Institute, the announcement went unreported in major media. Perhaps it seemed routine for one of the world’s most powerful media moguls to take a leadership post at one of the most influential think tanks in Washington. At future meetings, […]
“It is a crisis of staggering proportions.” So says ABC News’ Ted Koppel at the beginning of a Nightline segment (8/27/97) on the most recent of a series of reports on the alarmingly high—and rising—numbers of African-Americans under the control of the criminal justice system. (See The Sentencing Project’s “Young Black Americans and the Criminal […]
The Public Broadcasting Service last year refused to air Out At Work, a film about workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians, because it was partially funded by unions. The rejection was an unsettling example of the obstacles labor advocates face in participating in media discussion. PBS‘s defense of the funding double standard—which penalizes not just […]
The “Promise Keepers” rally in Washington, D.C., was, if nothing else, a victory of public relations over professional journalism. Media coverage was decidedly skewed toward the shallow end of the press pool. At best, both print and broadcast journalists glossed over the Keepers’ homophobic agenda. At worst, they supported it. Promise Keepers was founded nearly […]
How much change should you get back after putting down $3 to pay for a 60-cent cup of soup and a $1.95 sandwich? Would you believe that exactly 56.3 percent of American college graduates were unable to figure this out? Would you believe more than half can’t even read a bus schedule? Syndicated columnist John […]
Criminalization of youth of color by the media is not a new problem. But lurid press reports of teen “superpredators” have recently spawned federal legislation that may soon extinguish the rehabilitative intent of the juvenile justice system.
