FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
Moderators as Enforcers Debate questions seem designed less to inform voters than to steer candidates toward a corporate media-approved center. CNN’s Abby Phillip (1/14/20) asked: Senator Sanders, you have consistently refused to say exactly how much your Medicare for All plan is going to cost. Don’t voters deserve to see the price tag before you […]
This week: Watch ABC drum up fears about a terror attack on the United States. Plus we’ll take a look at the state of the debate over war, and how big papers spun a study of how fracking leads to water contamination into a story about how we shouldn’t blame fracking. Take a look:
A new study shows that gas leaks from fracking wells are responsible for water contamination. But some media outlets were keen to send the message that fracking isn’t causing these problems.
The New York Times and PBS NewsHour present very different looks at fracking. What’s missing from both? Climate change.
The UN’s panel of climate scientists have issued grave warnings about continued dependence on fossil fuels, but US policy seems to be looking more to the polluting energy source–with a fracking boom, the Keystone pipeline and, in the latest news, the White House’s opening of the Atlantic coast to oil and gas drilling. We’ll talk to Arjun Makhijani of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research about why none of this has to be this way.
Everyone seems to agree that Edward Snowden started an important debate over NSA surveillance. But on the Sunday chat shows, debate isn’t what you’re likely to see. And CNN and CBS add new contributors–but are they opening up or closing the discussion? Plus: USA Today cheers on the fracking boom in Texas.
USA Today touts Texans striking it rich in the oil/gas business–“OIL!” is the front-page headline, and that captures the tone of the piece.
This week on CounterSpin: Media tell us this week marks the fifth anniversary of the financial crisis since it was in September 2008 that global financial services firm Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy. Meanwhile 6 in 10 tell pollsters they don’t think the country could avoid another collapse, which the Washington Post write-up called a “pessimistic outlook.” But are people pessimistic or realistic in saying they just don’t think there’s been sufficient action taken to really change things? We’ll hear from financial blogger Mike Konczal of the Roosevelt Institute about that.
Also on CounterSpin today, a new study of the controversial gas drilling tactic known as fracking seems to be good news for the industry—no surprise, since they funded it. But are the findings about methane leaks as good as the press reports make them sound? We’ll put that question to Hugh MacMillan of the group Food and Water Watch.
America Abroad Media has responded to FAIR‘s recent Action Alert (5/31/13) about the public radio service’s pro-fracking public documentary (4/13) that was backed by funders with a financial interest in promoting natural gas. AAM acknowledged the need for a clearer explanation of fracking’s environmental risks, but unfortunately almost completely ignored the funding conflict in its […]
Who stands between the hard-working people of Upstate New York and money and jobs coming out of the ground? Why, it’s actor Mark Ruffalo.
There is no serious discussion of environmental costs borne by the public, and there is not one word about climate change–a pretty shocking oversight when one considers the potential ramifications of a massive new investment in a fossil fuel industry.
FAIR TV takes a look at how the U.S. media handled the Venezuelan election, how the Washington Post “greened” fracking and how the New York Times used a time machine to “fix” a headline about Israel/Palestine. Watch it, share it with your friends and please leave a comment below.
The Washington Post editorial page (10/5/12) weighed in on the contentious environmental issue of fracking. No surprise–they’re all for it. “Fracking’s Green Side” is the headline in the print edition. (The Web version is different.) The editors write: Those who would ban fracking or regulate it into oblivion ignore the exceptional benefits that inexpensive natural […]
You have to wonder: Do journalists covering energy issues imagine they and their loved ones are going to be living on another planet in the not-too-distant future? That seems like the only reason you would write a piece about the world discovering ways to extract and burn vast new quantities of hydrocarbons without mentioning one […]
If you watch TV news you’re bound to see a lot of commercials for oil companies. As Miranda Spencer reported in Extra! (2/12), there are far more commercials about energy companies and natural gas than there are actual news reports about controversial industry practices like hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” But then there are the news […]
The February 23 CBS Evening News segment on hydraulic fracturing gas drilling, better known as fracking, revealed how journalists can cover a highly controversial subject by removing the controversy. The report started off with references to high gasoline prices; the implication, then, is that domestic gas drilling will help solve that problem. As anchor Scott […]
