On US TV, Israel is ‘Striking Back’
Israeli airstrikes in response to the murder of 3 teenagers are framed as retaliation–even though those targeted may very well have had nothing to do with the tragedy.
Spinning Away Israel ‘Gaffes’
In recent months, media consumers have received a heavy dose of spin masking the reality of Israeli policy, as journalists rushed to cover Chris Christie’s and John Kerry’s utterances on the country.
Netanyahu Can Disinform on Iran Just as Well as Iraq
NBC’s David Gregory says that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “well-briefed” on the US position on Iran’s nuclear program. But that shouldn’t be confused with being knowledgeable.
FAIR TV: Right-Wing Terrorism, CNN on Israeli Occupation, USA Today’s Walmart Party
This week: Media cover right-wing domestic terrorism–without calling it terrorism. Plus CNN’s left/right discussion of Israeli occupation left a lot to be desired, and USA Today calls Walmart protesters “party poopers.” Watch:
Crossfire Clueless on Israeli Occupation
CNN’s Crossfire is ostensibly a debate between the left and the right. But the show’s debate over Hillary Clinton’s new book show how the format can become meaningless,
FAIR TV: Snowden, Palestinian Brass Knuckles, Rubio’s Climate Denial
This week: ABC talks about a “raging debate” over Edward Snowden. They must mean the one that’s not on their show. Plus: The New York Times takes a long time to correct a story about Palestinian teen’s imaginary brass knuckles, and ABC‘s Jonathan Karl has the wrong response to Marco Rubio’s climate nonsense. Watch:
Disappearing Brass Knuckles: An NYT Correction
A video of a tense confrontation between an Israeli soldier and Palestinian youths made it into the New York Times–along with an erroneous suggestion that one of the Palestinians threatened the soldier with brass knuckles.
FAIR TV: Iran Nuke Tall Tales, New Benghazi Nonsense, White Guys on Affirmative Action
On the show this week: CNN goes to Iran nuclear expert… Benjamin Netanyahu? Plus new nonsense on Benghazi, and Meet the Press presents a discussion on affirmative action with mostly conservative white guys–showing media’s need for some affirmative action of their own.
Netanyahu on Iran (This Time Without the Cartoon Bomb)
With peace talks on hold, Israeli prime minister is back on US television talking about Iran’s supposed nuclear threat. Good thing for him his claims are so rarely challenged.
FAIR TV: Obamacare Numbers, Mideast Media Muddle, O’Reilly and Moses
Right-wing pundits spin the new Obamacare numbers. Media botch the timeline on Israel/Palestine negotiations. Bill O’Reilly finds Judeo-Christian roots on the Supreme Court walls–but misses everything else that’s there.
Botching the Israel/Palestine Talks Timeline
Some stories are easy to understand–or would be, if media reported the facts without so much spin. As hard as it might be to believe, the roots of the current Israel/Palestine negotiating impasse is one of those stories.
FAIR TV: Russian Troops, Christie’s ‘Gaffe,’ Torture Without the T Word
Russian troops are massing on the border with Ukraine, set to invade–so say corporate media, relying on unnamed intelligence sources. Plus straight-talking Chris Christie apologizes for straight talk, and the Washington Post’s scoop on CIA torture can’t say the word “torture.”
‘Straight Shooter’ Chris Christie and the Occupied Territories
What happened when Republican ‘straight shooter” Chris Christie accurately called the West Bank occupied territory? He apologized.
Miguel Tinker Salas on Venezuela, Ali Abunimah on Palestine
This week on CounterSpin: Venezuela’s violent demonstrations, which began a month ago, have begun to wind down. Has anything been resolved between the largely middle and upper class opposition, and the democratically elected government they want to leave? We’ll talk with Pomona College professor and the author of The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture and Society in Venezuela, Miguel Tinker Salas.
Also this week: The news from Israel-Palestine is usually quite bleak, and this week is no different. But are the Palestinians winning? That’s what Ali Abunimah argues in his new book The Battle for Justice in Palestine. He’ll join us to explain.
What if NYT Factchecked Netanyahu’s Claims?
If the New York Times pointed out that Israel was making debunkable claims about Iranian weapons programs, it might make readers less inclined to accept Israel’s unverifiable claims about Iranian weapons shipments.
The Good Kind of Protesters—and the Bad Kind
The complex anti-government protest movements in both Venezuela and Ukraine were boiled down by US corporate media to send a clear message to their domestic audience: These are the good guys.
USA Today and SodaStream: Illegal Settlements Are a Matter of Opinion
USA Today calls the West Bank “a region…on Israel’s eastern border” and fails to explain that the Israeli settlements there violate international law.
TV Hires That Keep the Debate Narrow
Corporate media aren’t looking to expand the debate on important issues. They’re interested in keeping things as narrow as they already are.
Max Blumenthal on ‘Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel’
This week on CounterSpin: People watch how media cover an array of political issues, of course, but there is probably not a single issue that attracts as much scrutiny as coverage of Israel-Palestine. There are enormous sensitivities to how media cover Israel, and serious pressure campaigns have been directed at outlets that are deemed too negative about, or too critical of, Israel.
So it might not be a surprise that a book that is highly critical of the country is being more or less shunned by US media outlets. Today CounterSpin talks to Max Blumenthal, author of the new book Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel. He’ll tell us about the larger story he is trying to tell in the book– a story that he thinks goes mostly unreported in US media. And he’ll explain what the reactions to the book tell us about our own political culture.
Anonymous Israeli Official Tells Post: You Can’t Trust Persians
Today the Washington Post (10/1/13) has a piece about how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not pleased with the thaw in US/Iran relations. That’s not surprising. But I was a little surprised that reporters David Nakamura and William Booth allowed this: Israeli leaders fear that the international community, and the United States in particular, […]
