FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
Now that charges have been filed in the rape case, Kessler and the right-wing media have mud on their faces—but they refuse to apologize, or to acknowledge the misdirection their pieces caused.
The front page of the New York Times dwells on how Democrats are playing on “racial fears” in campaign advertising. But are the ads actually unfair–or do they simply talk about issues the corporate media would rather not discuss?
The new issue of Time magazine declares Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul the most interesting man in politics. Maybe that says something about Time, or about the state of American politics.
Stories about individuals losing their insurance policies are making the national news. But how often do those gaining insurance through the Affordable Care Act make the news?
Washington Post fact checker Glenn Kessler had his last election piece in the Sunday edition of the paper (11/4/12)– and it made you glad there won’t be any more. The article promised, in the headline at least, “The Best–or Worst?–Pinocchios of This Presidential Race.” What it delivered was something else: Eight themes of lying and […]
Washington Post “Factchecker” Glenn Kessler (9/6/12) doesn’t like the way Democrats talk about Republican Medicare plans: The claim that Republicans will “end the Medicare guarantee” has been a frequent refrain at the convention, perhaps in response to factchecker complaints about the incorrect charge last year that Republicans would “end Medicare.” But this phrase is a […]
“What if it turns out that when the press calls a lie a lie, nobody cares?” That’s the question asked by Atlantic editor-in-chief James Bennet (8/28/12) after a raft of Pinocchios and flaming pants failed to sway the Romney campaign from its position that “we’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by factcheckers.” […]
In an attempted factcheck of Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech at the Republican convention, AP‘s Calvin Woodward (8/30/12) takes on Romney’s big laugh line: President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family. Woodward looked into it and found […]
Factchecking ought to be an everyday part of each journalist’s job, but instead it’s relegated to a specialty feature. Maybe lack of regular practice explains why those side efforts are so disappointing. Take Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post‘s piece (6/21/12) on Barack Obama’s latest ad critical of presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Kessler gives […]
At his Beat the Press blog (4/23/11), Dean Baker caught this in the L.A. Times (4/23/11): Congress is on its first recess since Republican leaders unveiled a plan to end the federal deficit by dramatically changing Medicare, cutting other government programs and reducing taxes. As Baker points out, what the paper is referring to–the Paul […]
Lawmakers talking about U.S. policy issues are the bread and butter of the Sunday morning news shows—NBC’s Meet the Press, ABC’s This Week, CBS’s Face the Nation and Fox News Sunday. An Extra! study of the lawmakers who appear on these shows finds they have voting records that tilt to the right. Extra! studied the […]
Media blogger Eli Stephens (left i on the news, 7/2/09) has posted on a Washington Post lede claiming that “Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran.” Stephens explains how, as […]
