FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
For years prominent corporate media pundits have told us that the world—and the media—would embrace a dramatic, non-violent Palestinian resistance movement. If only such a movement—perhaps led by a Gandhi-like figure—were to finally emerge, we are told, the media coverage will come, and sympathy from across the world will strengthen support for the Palestinian cause. […]
The conventional understanding you get from the media is that Israel is worried that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a serious threat to the country’s existence. Is that really what’s happening, though? Another interpretation is that Iran might want nuclear weapons not to launch any such an attack but to prevent an attack on its […]
When armed militants crossed the Egyptian border last August and launched a multi-pronged attack on Israeli civilians and soldiers in Eilat that killed eight people, U.S. media repeated the Israeli government line, blaming the attack on Palestinians from Gaza. Three months later, Israel itself has concluded that the attackers were Egyptian—but U.S. media have failed […]
When armed militants crossed the Egyptian border last August and launched a multi-pronged attack on Israeli civilians and soldiers in Eilat that killed eight people, U.S. media repeated the Israeli government line, blaming the attack on Palestinians from Gaza. Three months later, Israel itself has concluded that the attackers were Egyptian—but U.S. media have failed […]
Of course Newt Gingrich (you know, the “big thinker” in the Republican campaign) made a lot of news by declaring that the Palestinians are an “invented” people. As As’ad AbuKhalill–aka Angry Arab—pointed out, the New York Times ran a piece on this controversy on December 10 quoting exactly two sources: former U.S. ambassador to Israel […]
[mp3-jplayer tracks=”CounterSpin092711 Neil deMouse and Phyllis Bennis @https://eadn-wc04-3257648.nxedge.io/audio/counterspin/CounterSpin092711.mp3″] Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Census Bureau data showing one in six Americans live in poverty was received soberly by the press corps, but should it have surprised them? And what about next week, when the government doesn’t release a report and people are still poor? […]
The Washington Post today: Diplomatic Efforts Unable to Derail Palestinians’ UN Gambit “Gambit” is the kind of word that seems intended to send a certain message–as if there some kind of sneaky maneuver at work here. That’s especially true when it is contrasted with “diplomatic efforts.” In this case, the paper is referring to efforts […]
The coverage of the Israeli attacks on Gaza is following some predictable patterns. The New York Times has a headline today (8/26/11), “Israeli Strikes in Retaliation Kill Nine Gazans.” Readers should ask: Retaliation for what? It’s widely understood that this violence stems from the attack last week in the southern Israeli town of Eilat. As […]
In today’s New York Times, Jennifer Steinhauer notes the remarkable number of Congressmembers– more than 80–who are heading to Israel thanks to a program affiliated with AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobbying force. Steinhauer sizes up the political backdrop– the White House has strained relations with the current Israeli government, and there’s more: the Palestinians are […]
The first sentence of Mark Landler’s piece in the New York Times today (7/21/11): It is a truism of Middle East peacemaking that the United States is the pivotal player–the most credible broker between the Israelis and the Palestinians. If by “truism” he means “something most people don’t believe to be true,” then this makes […]
Here’s the headline and subhead in a Newsweek piece (7/10/11) about the Egyptian presidential election: Egypt’s Rising Power Player Amr Moussa is on track to succeed Mubarak. And that spells danger for Israel. Reporter Dan Ephron characterizes Moussa like this: “long and vocal history of anti-Israel diatribes” “his anger against Israel” “one of Israel’s most […]
When I saw the July 3 New York Times headline “Setting Sail on Gaza’s Sea of Spin,” I expected the worst. Times reporter Ethan Bronner’s analysis piece on the Gaza humanitarian flotilla starts off predictably enough, saying there’s blame to spread all around: Almost everything about the flotilla stuck in Greece and waiting to challenge […]
When Bill Keller announced that he would soon be stepping down as the New York Times’ top editor, he was hailed as the man “who rebuilt the confidence of the New York Times newsroom after the Jayson Blair scandal” (Forbes, 6/2/11). Rem Rieder of American Journalism Review (3-4/11) wrote that Keller “righted the ship” and […]
Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen writes (6/7/11): I once worked for an editor who banned the word “oxymoron.” I don’t know why. It’s a good word, meaning a contradiction in terms. The dictionary offers some examples: “wise fool” and “legal murder.” I would like to cite another: Barack Obama. He sends contradictory messages. That sounds […]
When it was released in September 2009, the United Nations Human Rights Council investigative document known as the Goldstone Report offered a detailed, shocking accounting of Israel’s 2008-09 invasion of the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of civilians were killed, scores of buildings were leveled, and water and sanitation infrastructure was attacked. The meticulous cataloguing received modest […]
In today’s New York Times (5/25/11), columnist Tom Friedman issues yet another call for Palestinians to practice non-violence: May I suggest a Tahrir Square alternative? Announce that every Friday from today forward will be “Peace Day,” and have thousands of West Bank Palestinians march nonviolently to Jerusalem, carrying two things–an olive branch in one hand […]
[mp3-jplayer tracks=”CounterSpin052011 Ali Abunimah and Glenn Greenwald @https://eadn-wc04-3257648.nxedge.io/audio/counterspin/CounterSpin052011.mp3″] Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: The Israeli defense minister says that major protests like those on Israel’s borders May 15th require new responses; but what if anything is new about US journalists’ approach to Palestinian protests and rights? Journalist Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada will join […]
What’s the Israeli government’s new “plan” for peace? Reading the New York Times doesn’t help your understand where they stand. Earlier this week, the Times‘ Ethan Bronner (5/17/11) praised a speech by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for exhibiting “greater flexibility on territory.” Bronner wrote that he showed “more willingness to yield territory than he […]
The New York Times has a piece today (5/18/11) previewing Barack Obama’s Israel/Palestine speech, calling it a “chance to reshape the debate,” whatever that’s supposed to mean. One thing to always pay attention to in coverage of this issue is the language used to frame the discussion. The piece mentioned Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’ recent […]
At Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah challenges the skewed history coming from Ethan Bronner in the New York Times (5/15/11). In trying to explain the context for the recent Palestinian protests, Bronner wrote: After Israel declared independence on May 15, 1948, armies from neighboring Arab states attacked the new nation; during the war that followed, hundreds […]
