Dobbs’ Choice
CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight devoted abundant broadcast time to what anchor Dobbs described as an influx of “illegal aliens who not only threaten our economy and security, but also our health and well-being.”
A Little Help From Media Friends
While conservative pundits frequently charged that the L.A. Times‘ expose was motivated by partisanship, the LA Weekly‘s Hollywood reporter, Nikki Finke (9/12/03), was one of the few to draw attention to the fact that right-wing radio was explicitly campaigning to recall incumbent Democrat Gray Davis. The websites of Disney’s KABC-AM in L.A. and its KSFO-AM […]
Saddam’s ‘Bluff’
Once the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq produced nothing but a few false alarms in the media, a new theory was being advanced by some outlets: The idea that Iraq had such weapons was really a well-orchestrated bluff by Saddam Hussein, telling the world false tales about his imaginary weapons. The Los […]
Covering for a Predator?
In 1992, many suspected that Clarence Thomas would not have become a Supreme Court justice if U.S. media had taken women more seriously. A decade later, it’s hard not to feel the same way about Arnold Schwarzenegger. Given different media coverage, Californians might still have elected him governor on October 7, but Schwarzenegger would surely […]
Gaga for Galileo
CNN’s Frank Buckley (9/21/03) could hardly contain himself. “Dr. Johnson, we admire the heck out of you!” Buckley exclaimed on-air as he finished interviewing Dr. Torrance Johnson, project scientist for NASA’s Galileo space probe mission, minutes after it plunged into the atmosphere of Jupiter after an eight-year voyage through the solar system. Buckley’s excitement was […]
With Friends Like These
Black Americans are “insane,” “predators,” “running wild,” “killing each other,” perpetrating “self-destructive sexual behavior and drug use,” and in need of “thundering” condemnations from leaders to halt their culture-driven recklessness. A vicious attack by far-right, race-baiting commentators like Michael Savage or Ann Coulter? No, these are routine disparagements by the New York Times‘ well-respected, progressive […]
Networks Didn’t Follow the Money in Medicare Story
The nightly network newscasts devoted significant broadcast time to the debate over the restructuring of Medicare. But while some reports described the corporate interests that stood to gain under the plan to offer a prescription drug benefit, few addressed the question of why Congress would pass a law so beneficial to the healthcare industries. In […]
Saddam and Osama’s Shotgun Wedding
The funny thing about the Weekly Standard’s “exposé” purporting to offer proof of a longstanding Iraq/al-Qaeda alliance (11/24/03) is the aura of tight-lipped secrecy the magazine tries to impute to the Bush administration’s case against Saddam Hussein. As everyone knows, hardline officials have spent the last two years leaking stories, writing op-eds, holding private briefings […]
