FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
[Note: this piece is a sidebar to Katrina’s Vanishing Victims] CNN’s Anderson Cooper was the first journalist to be made into a star by Hurricane Katrina: The image of Gloria Vanderbilt’s son leaning into gale-force winds had barely faded from the nation’s screens when he was elevated to replace Aaron Brown as CNN’s top news […]
[Note: this piece is a sidebar to Katrina’s Vanishing Victims] Of the broadcast network news anchors, NBC’s Brian Williams distinguished himself for taking the plight of New Orleans’ poor residents to heart. Shortly after NBC’s Bob Faw (9/1/05) declared that “disasters do not treat everyone alike” and called Katrina “a catastrophe shedding light on class, […]
In an eight-minute report (6/5/05) in which she rode in a U.N. armored personnel carrier and extolled the bravery of U.N. soldiers, NPR correspondent Lourdes Garcia-Navarro cited “human rights organizations” as saying that “things have improved since the Aristide days.” The NPR report interviewed two members of the U.N. force, one U.S. police trainer, one […]
[Note: this piece is a sidebar to Move Over—Over and Over: Media’s rightward push for Democrats] Political reporters looking to identify a new obstacle standing in the way of Democratic electoral success often find it online, where party activists and progressives congregate around liberal blogs and websites. Writing under the headline “Blogs Attack From Left […]
As the 2006 mid-term elections near, it is worth looking at the way the press handled the important claims of vote fraud in the last election. Extra! examined the 2004 post-election coverage of major news outlets, focusing on the New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today, along with network TV news coverage on ABC, […]
An Extra! analysis of media coverage since Katrina—of the hurricane’s aftermath along the Gulf Coast and of poverty issues in general—found that with few exceptions, the media’s rediscovery of impoverished Americans lasted barely a month.
[Note: This piece is a sidebar to “Subverting, Not Preserving, Democracy.”] One of the many issues raised in Rep. John Conyers’ report on the 2004 Ohio election but not tackled in the press was the accusation that the electronic voting company Triad had provided a “cheat sheet” for election officials participating in the Ohio […]
The mainstream US press observed a virtual blackout on the state-sponsored violence perpetrated by the US-backed interim Haitian government.
It’s an article of faith in the elite ranks of journalism: Political virtue and electoral success reside in the ideological center. Though it’s not overwhelmingly popular with the American public, centrism is the dominant message of national political pundits and journalists—at least for Democrats. While few commentators would disagree with the conventional wisdom that Republican […]
[Note: this piece is a sidebar to Move Over—Over and Over: Media’s rightward push for Democrats] So who do political reporters now expect to close the “cultural gap” that supposedly prevents Democrats from winning at the polls? Many look to Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who represents many of the centrist qualities media insiders prescribe for […]
At a time of dramatic increases in gasoline prices and jaw-dropping oil profits, NBC’s Sunday morning talkshow Meet the Press has convened two panel discussions dominated by guests close to those interests—with no input from environmental or citizen groups critical of the energy industry. On April 30, Meet the Press devoted its entire hour to […]
There is a growing grassroots campaign demanding the impeachment of George W. Bush. Across the nation, towns and cities have been passing pro-impeachment resolutions. Websites promoting impeachment keep springing up. In several states, bills have been introduced in state legislatures that, if passed, would become formal bills of impeachment in the U.S. House of Representatives, […]
To several observers in the U.S. media, Latin America’s leftward shift is the misguided product of a naïve populace that can’t understand economics and demagogic leaders who need to be scolded back into line.
[Note: this piece is a sidebar to The Morales Moral] Mainstream U.S. media have portrayed Bolivian President Evo Morales’ efforts to renegotiate Bolivia’s oil and natural gas contracts as a leftist conspiracy orchestrated by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. The New York Times (5/3/06) reported, “Bolivia’s nationalization of its energy industry, announced Monday by President Evo […]
New York Times foreign affairs columnist Tom Friedman is considered by many of his media colleagues to be one of the wisest observers of international affairs. “You have a global brain, my friend,” MSNBC host Chris Matthews once told Friedman (4/21/05). “You’re amazing. You amaze me every time you write a book.” Such praise is […]
They’re All We’ve Got “The only check-and-balance we have left is the media. That is, we didn’t find out about the N.S.A. domestic surveillance program, which is a federal crime, we didn’t find that out from members of Congress, we found it out from the media. . . . That doesn’t mean that the media […]
Don’t Shut Down Dobbs Regarding the CNN TV program Lou Dobbs Tonight (“CNN’s Immigration Problem,” Extra!, 5-6/06), I watch this program and wish to tell you what I learned from it. Lou Dobbs: 1. Does not talk against legal immigrants or legal immigration. 2. Often has people speak in favor of illegals; presents many sides […]
