More Pointless Campaign 2016 Journalism
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced that he sort of could be running for the Republican presidential nomination. Of course, that drew substantial media attention.
Is Keystone Coverage Getting Worse?
The Keystone XL pipeline is back in the news. But some of the coverage is as bad as ever—if not worse.
ABC’s ‘Middle Ground’ on Climate Change: Who Knows?
A more evasive kind of climate change denial isn’t really a “middle ground.”
Reluctant Warrior Bombs Yet Another Country
Can a president who has launched military strikes on seven countries really be called a ‘reluctant warrior?’
This Sunday, a Different Kind of Iraq War Booster: Bill Clinton
NBC Meet the Press taps Bill Clinton to talk Iraq. But will viewers know that Clinton was also a crucial supporter of the invasion?
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:
The Wrong Response to Rubio’s Climate Nonsense
Rising GOP star Marco Rubio doesn’t believe in climate change. But watch how the reporter who asked him about it reacts.
‘Troop Buildup on the Border’–We’ve Heard This Before
Claims about a Russian buildup on Ukraine’s border are being made based on intelligence that very few people have likely seen. NBC correspondent Jim Maceda went to the border area to check out the claims of Russian troop presence and couldn’t turn up much.
The Real Mitt Romney Should Have Run for President!
The documentary Mitt is causing many journalists to wonder why the Mitt Romney in the film wasn’t the one who ran for president. It’s a bit like asking why drinking a particular brand of beer doesn’t make you as popular with attractive strangers as the beer ads promised.
FAIR TV: What David Gregory Doesn’t Know, NBC’s News-Ads, Karl Plays Bush Softball
This week on FAIR TV: David Gregory knows one thing about Obamacare–and it’s not true. We take a look at some NBC “reporting” that looks a lot like advertising. Plus ABC‘s Jonathan Karl gets an interview with George W. Bush, and pitches all softballs.
Rehabilitating Bush at ABC News
George W. Bush doesn’t speak to the press much, but based on the fawning treatment he got from ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, he might want to re-consider.
Yes, You Can Be for Press Freedom and Still Think Journalists Ought to Do Their Jobs Well
The reality is that it is possible to both protest government intrusions on press freedom and to condemn bad journalism of the sort practiced by Jonathan Karl. It’s important for protect journalism from official control for the same reason that it’s important for media outlets to do a good job.
ABC Botches the Brennan Hearing
TV news is often not all that informative. Sometimes that’s because the reports are so short–a few hundred words. But then there are TV reports that manage to use their short space to garble the details of a story completely. ABC correspondent Jonathan Karl’s piece about the Senate confirmation hearing for Obama’s CIA pick John Brennan fit into the latter category.
Chuck Hagel, Dove?
Barack Obama nominated Republican ex-Senator Chuck Hagel to be his next Defense secretary today. The story can seem a little bit confusing–often because of misleading recaps of Hagel’s career, which can make him sound like more like Dennis Kucinich than like the Republican who voted in favor of the Iraq War.
Mittmentum: Reporters Thought He Might Win Because He Said So
Asked about the pre-election sense that Mitt Romney might win the election, CNN reporter Candy Crowley told viewers (11/7/12): There was an optimism in the Romney camp. But it wasn’t based on the numbers. It was based on the feel of things. And one thing you know when you cover a campaign, the feel of […]
What if Paul Ryan Isn’t Really a Wonk? Krugman vs. Campaign Reporters
If you know anything of substance about Paul Ryan, it’s that the Republican vice presidential pick knows his numbers. A Washington Post profile today by Michael Leahy (8/20/12) tells us: He got his start on Capitol Hill as a 19-year-old intern working in the mailroom of Sen. Bob Kasten (R-Wis.). That led in time to […]
ABC’s Unrealistic Paul Ryan Reality Check
Campaign rhetoric, we’re led to believe, can be hard to sort out. If Paul Ryan says his budget plan protects Medicare and the Democrats say it “ends” it, what should we believe? Those are the kinds of questions journalism is supposed to answer. Which is why ABC World News‘ August 14 “Reality Check” on Medicare […]
Harry Reid, the New Joe McCarthy
Senator Harry Reid started a whole lot of trouble on the campaign trail when he told some Huffington Post reporters that he’d heard that Mitt Romney paid no taxes. As in zero. For an entire decade. Now there are reasons to be skeptical of Reid’s account. As Dana Milbank pointed out, Reid’s record does not […]
Jonathan Karl Plays the Freddie/Fannie Blame Game
News that Newt Gingrich was receiving millions of dollars to advise Freddie Mac has to be a little unsettling for at least some conservative voters, who are accustomed to demonizing the government-sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for causing the housing bubble, and hence the recession. But it’s not just right-wing pundits like Bill […]
Chris Christie Doesn’t Say He’s NOT Running for President!
The New York Times had a headline on Saturday that read, “Imagining a Christie Campaign for President.” That seems appropriate–if we’re talking about how it’s the corporate media doing the imagining. On ABC‘s This Week (10/2/11), Jonathan Karl announced that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie‘s speech at the Reagan Library “was the most electrifying event […]
