There’s No ‘Vaccine Mandate’—but That Doesn’t Stop WaPo Asking People How They Feel About It
When journalists gin up controversy over lesser measures, they make progress in the fight against Covid that much harder.
‘The Filibuster Functions as a General Block on All Legislation’
“If Democrats just continue fiddling around and not accomplishing anything, it increases the likelihood that Republicans control the Senate next cycle.”
Laura Carlsen on Biden’s Central America Policy, Greg LeRoy on Texas Corporate Subsidies
The notion of real change after Donald Trump is undermined by a close look at Biden’s actual immigration policy.
Andrew Perez on the Filibuster
The filibuster is the crucial backdrop to any conversation about the Biden agenda, though media don’t always bring that point home.
Corporate Media Oppose Afghan Control of Afghanistan
Establishment reporting over the future of Afghanistan after Biden’s announcement demonstrated the imperialist mindset of corporate journalists, who presented Afghans controlling their own country as an unacceptable outcome.
For Sunday Shows, Border Is ‘Political Crisis,’ Not Humanitarian Emergency
Increasing numbers of migrants are attempting to cross the US/Mexico border, and unaccompanied children and teenagers are exceeding the capacities of government-run detention facilities. The right has declared a crisis, and national corporate media have largely followed suit. Department of Homeland Security chief Alejandro Mayorkas appeared on five of the six Sunday Beltway talk […]
Purging Inconvenient Facts in Coverage of Biden’s ‘First’ Air Attacks
The less clear the US population is about the frequency and scale of murderous violence its government carries out, the easier it is for the US ruling class to go about its wars. Fortunately for the US state, corporate media help manufacture collective amnesia by expunging US aggression from the record.
Trump Briefings? Always News. Biden Briefings? Not News.
Just a month into Joe Biden’s term, CNN has unceremoniously stopped airing daily White House press briefings.
Amid Scrutiny of Tweets, Tanden’s Role in Killing a Union Website Should Not Be Forgotten
Neera Tanden, president and CEO of the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) think tank, may or may not be confirmed by the Senate as the Biden administration’s budget chief. Republicans and one conservative Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, may reject her based on her past of posting overly personal attacks against […]
Journalists Praising Psaki Should Remember: Spin Doctors Are Not on Your Side
The fawning coverage of Jen Psaki’s performance suggests some in the press have forgotten that press secretaries at the highest levels of government are not friends of free discourse.
‘The US Has Been Obstructionist in Chief in Global Climate Talks’
“If we confine the narrative only to what seems politically realistic in today’s Congress, we are completely missing centuries of history and lessons from social movements, because what social movements do is they redefine what is politically possible.”
Basav Sen on Biden Climate Policy, Hannah Sassaman on Prometheus v. FCC
The disasters of climate disruption have next to no relationship to what corporate media say is “feasible” to address them.
On Sunday Shows, the Only Biden ‘Promise’ That Matters Is Compromise
To hear corporate media tell it, the most important promise—and the only one they will hold him accountable for—is one Biden never even made: to compromise with the GOP for the sake of compromising.
Media Allow Republicans to Use ‘Unity’ as Tool of Division
Media lay out the narrative the GOP will work for the next two years to build: that Democrats are the ones sowing division by refusing to work together to get things done.
Media Elevate Eugenicists, Sideline Disabled Voices in Discussions of Covid Rationing
Corporate media have elevated some experts without disclosing their troubling views on disability, aging and the value of human life.
Study of 2020 Debates Finds New Topics but Familiar Framing
A FAIR analysis of the 2020 general election debates found stunning breaks from past practices combined with tried-and-true tropes of national US debates.
Extra! January/February 2021 Soundbites
Missed Story: Latino Voting Surge Boosted Biden A common theme in post-election coverage was how well Donald Trump did with people of color, particularly Latinos. “How Democrats Missed Trump’s Appeal to Latino Voters” was one New York Times story (11/9/20); another (11/16/20) read, “Liberals Envisioned a Multiracial Coalition. Voters of Color Had Other Ideas.” While […]
‘US Leadership’—and Other Euphemisms for War
Joe Biden doesn’t become president for a month and a half, but already sections of the corporate media are calling on him to use US power to dominate the world.
ACTION ALERT: At NYT, Now You See Corporate Influence, Now You Don’t
By assigning particular reporters to the “corporate influence” beat, the New York Times seems to let others reporters off the hook in terms of providing relevant information about officials’ corporate influences.
Critics of Canceling Student Debt Aren’t Afraid It Won’t Work—They’re Afraid It Will
Canceling student debt doesn’t negate other policies that would benefit blue-collar workers or the unemployed.
