FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
With the presidential debates now behind us, the struggle for the White House will tilt even more toward decentralized media battles for electoral votes. Between now and Election Day, vast resources will go toward spinning local news coverage in swing states while launching carefully targeted commercials on radio and television. For the Bush campaign and […]
The now-infamous report about George W. Bush’s National Guard service has been covered ad nauseam by the press. But why has CBS just decided to kill a critical story about the Bush administration’s justification for war in Iraq? Also this week: an official of the Environmental Protection Agency has recently directed staff to not talk to the press. More on that gag order, among other concerns, with Jeff Ruch.
In an outrageous politicization of journalism, CBS announced it would not air a report on forged documents that the Bush administration used to sell the Iraq war until after the November 2 election (New York Times , 9/25/04). A network spokesperson issued a statement declaring, “We now believe it would be inappropriate to air the […]
September 16, 2004 The secretary of George W. Bush ‘s National Guard commander, coming forward to describe memos supposedly written by her boss as “correct” but “not real” (Dallas Morning News, 9/14/04), has deepened the mystery about the disputed documents. Marian Carr Knox is a compelling witness who provides substantive reasons to doubt the authenticity […]
In the past week, a handful of stories have cast doubt on whether George W. Bush fulfilled his National Guard obligations 30 years ago. Reports by the Associated Press (9/7/04), Boston Globe (9/8/04) and U.S. News & World Report (9/20/04) have all raised new questions about Bush’s military service. Though each of these stories has […]
After many months of dismal job creation numbers, three months starting in April produced statistics that George W. Bush could cite positively. With John Kerry having devoted much effort to pointing out the poor economic performance under the Bush administration, the new numbers produced a strong media consensus: The Kerry team would have to change […]
When the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in November 2003 that the state could no longer deny gays and lesbians the right to marry, it touched off a string of events that have kept gay marriage in the media spotlight for months. With that new-found prominence has come scrutiny from watchers of the media, with […]
August 30, 2004 A group of Vietnam veterans called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have managed to dominate campaign coverage recently with a series of inaccurate and unfounded allegations about John Kerry’s Vietnam War service. But instead of debunking the group’s TV ads and numerous media appearances, the press corps has devoted hours of broadcast […]
May 20, 2004 Recent media coverage of Democratic presidential contender John Kerry has often focused on alleged gaffes or misstatements, ranging from convoluted explanations of his Senate voting record to whether or not he owns a sports utility vehicle. But while these relatively trivial aspects of John Kerry’s record have come under intense and prolonged […]
When presidents appear at the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner, it’s traditional for them to tell a few jokes. But when George W. Bush appeared at this year’s dinner (3/24/04), he made a series of “jokes” about the failure to find the banned weapons that had been the central justification of his invasion of […]
As more Iraqi civilians continue to be killed in Fallujah, CounterSpin explores how US journalism is covering this crucial moment. Also: the Bush administration makes another attempt to sell the public on the Patriot Act, with little interference from media despite deception and inaccuracies.
When presidents appear at the annual Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner, it’s traditional for them to tell a few jokes. But when George W. Bush appeared last week (3/24/04), he made a series of “jokes” about the failure to find the weapons of mass destruction that had been the central justification of his invasion of […]
Is media coverage clarifying the potential impact of the $2.4 trillion package, or just making a confusing issue more confusing?
Despite criticism of the media by the Bush administration and its allies, U.S. TV news coverage of the Iraq situation continues to be dominated by government and military officials, according to a new study by FAIR. The few critics of military operations that find themselves on the nightly news broadcasts rarely question the war as […]
In a recent action alert (12/2/03), FAIR pointed out that New York Times international affairs columnist Thomas Friedman had unfairly criticized anti-Bush protestors in London (11/30/03). Friedman claimed that protesters had nothing to say about the bombings of British targets in Istanbul, which were carried out on the same day as the protest: “Sorry, but […]
If Friedman had actually listened to what speakers at the rally had to say, he would have heard plenty of discussion of the day’s violence.
The cover of the November 17 U.S. News & World Report reads: “Bush’s Way: The Promise and Peril of Seeing the World in Black and White.” But the article inside provides an evaluation of the Bush administration’s foreign policy that relies primarily on the Bush administration itself, to the exclusion of Bush critics. The piece […]
Now, after all the national media have done for George W. Bush, the guy’s complaining. “There’s a sense that people in America aren’t getting the truth,” he says. What an ingrate! “I’m mindful of the filter through which some news travels,” the president groused recently, “and sometimes you have to go over the heads of […]
Media coverage of the nine Democratic candidates for their party’s nomination presents some as valid contenders, others as ineffective has-beens or laughable distractions.
“Every government is run by liars, and nothing they say should be believed,” legendary investigative journalist I.F. Stone once noted. That’s advice that latter-day reporters might ponder as they twist themselves into knots trying to avoid saying that George W. Bush lied in his State of the Union address when he said that “the British […]
