Our Boss Is Great! How MSNBC Covered Comcast Merger
How did MSNBC cover the mega-merger between its parent company and Time Warner cable? Hardly at all–except for a segment glorifying their boss.
14th Annual Fear and Favor Review
Private corporations care very much about the content of the news they sponsor or, as outlet owners, produce—that it not be too downbeat, or provide a platform for anyone asking hard questions about corporate America.
Pete Seeger: ‘It’s Hard for Me to Talk About the Media Without Getting Angry’
“If the United States or the world goes down in disaster, I would blame the media first of all, because the people running it are intelligent people.”
An Open Letter to the Washington Post
In recent weeks we have learned from the Post much about Bezos. What we have not been told is how the newspaper is going to shield itself from Mr. Bezos’ far-flung business interests in order to maintain reader credibility and trust.
FAIR TV: Obamacare Context, CBS’s CIA PR, TV Networks Shilling
Media are showing keen interest in stories about problems with individual insurance policies. But are they getting the story right? And did CBS ask tough questions of the former deputy director of the CIA–or did they throw softballs? Plus NBC and ABC offer examples of corporate synergy at work, using their news divisions to promote […]
FAIR TV: Hearing Malala’s Message, Zakaria’s CEO Panel, Networks Do Self-Promotion
US media ignore one part of Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai’s message. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria talks about inequality and Occupy Wall Street with….three CEOs? And corporations view the news networks they own as vehicles to promote their other properties.
Income Inequality? The TV Industry Is on Top of It
TV bosses are in the top 20 percent of big corporations in terms of how much more they make than their employees.
The Price of Twitter Is Based on the Cost of You
On the verge of an IPO, Twitter is estimated to have a market value of $15-16 billion. What does that mean for our society?
FCC Wants to End Persecution of Media Moguls
The L.A. Times (11/6/12) reports that following the election, the Federal Communications Commission appears likely to ease cross-ownership rules—because supposedly nobody cares about that stuff anymore. The article by reporter Jim Puzzanghera tries to work up sympathy for media moguls: Paul Boyle, senior vice president for public policy at the Newspaper Association of America, said […]
Politicians in Tampa, Charlotte Massaged by Media—Literally
When it comes to journalists socializing and otherwise cozying up to the powerful, there’s not a lot new under the sun. More than 20 years ago, then-FAIR associates Martin Lee and Norman Solomon wrote about it in their book Unreliable Sources: TV’s top journalists are part of the wealthy and influential elite, often socializing with people […]
Disney Makes the World a Better Place, Reports Disney’s Network
On Tuesday (6/5/12), ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer introduced a news segment: Michelle Obama appeared today with the CEO of our parent company, Disney, because Disney decided to do something historic to help fight childhood obesity and called in the big guns to do it, including a very, very famous mouse. The “historic” […]
New Conflict of Interest at NYT Jerusalem Bureau
After the news broke that New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner had a son who enlisted in the Israeli army (Extra!, 4/10), Times public editor Clark Hoyt (2/6/10) noted that it was problematic for Bronner to continue reporting on “one of the world’s most intense” conflicts while his son took up arms for […]
Public TV’s Biz Show Now Owned By….
The public TV show Nightly Business Report has gone through some serious changes over the past year or so–sold by the public station that had produced it for years to a somewhat mysterious private company run by an entrepreneur whose been the subject of various controversies and lawsuits. The show’s been sold once again, and […]
We Can’t Talk About Class Because We Can’t Talk About Why We Can’t Talk About Class
In the L.A. Times today (9/21/11), media reporter James Rainey asks a very important question: In a week that saw the number of people in poverty hit a half-century high and President Obama propose a tax increase on those with million-dollar incomes, will America and the American media finally dig in for a serious conversation […]
‘We Are a Profit-Driven Industry’
“I mean, we are a profit-driven industry. And if you want the most eyeballs, you have to go with the thing that people are most talking about. But if you’re trying to do a quality program, then maybe you have got to go with Iraq and Iran.” —Politico‘s Julie Mason, explaining the amount of coverage […]
NPR Journalists Worry About (Some) Money
NPR ombud Alicia Shepard has a piece (5/25/11) about internal discomfort with a recent $1.8 million grant from the George Soros-connected Open Society Foundation. Shepard writes: The money is for a worthy purpose. NPR is using the two-year grant as seed money to start a local-national initiative, known as the Impact on Government project. Eventually, […]
Why Did Olbermann Really Leave MSNBC?
Keith Olbermann popped up on the David Letterman show and gave one reason—perhaps one big reason—why he left MSNBC. As transcribed by MediaBistro’s TVNewser (where you can also watch the video): At some point in the last few years that I have been doing the news in the way that I do, it has occurred […]
USA Today’s Advertiser-Friendly Future
A condensed version of an AP story (3/23/11) about USA Today‘s new business plan: The nation’s second-largest newspaper is expanding its coverage of advertising-friendly topics, designing content for smartphones and tablet computers and refreshing the look of its print edition, whose circulation has fallen by 20 percent over the past three years…. For readers, it […]
Do Paid-For Local TV Segments Violate the Law?
Los Angeles Times columnist James Rainey (9/15/10) takes a look at “experts” appearing on local newscasts who are actually paid spokespeople for commercial interests–without viewers being made aware of this fact. He focuses on “toy expert”Elizabeth Werner, who makes appearances on local stations to talk up new products–on behalf of a company paid by toy […]
Conflicts and Transparency at the Washington Post
Washington Post ombud Andy Alexander devoted his August 22 piece to lauding how the paper handles storiesabout its parent company and itsvarious business entanglements–which, as he explains, are rather extensive. The Washington Post Co. owns Newsweek, several television stations, and the Kaplan company, which runs the for-profit Kaplan University,the subject of recent critical media reports. […]
