FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
“It doesn’t have to be about just showing the destruction and carnage. There are ways that you can empower people to take action.”
The point of this lawsuit is to intimidate anyone who speaks out against antisemitism, white supremacy and other forms of bigotry.
Filmmaker Charles Ferguson announced that he was no longer going to make a nonfiction film for CNN about Hillary Clinton. The reasons why he’s pulling out of the project are interesting–and disturbing.
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.
TV news veteran Ted Koppel has done two pieces on NBC‘s Rock Center that attempt to critique the partisanship of today’s media system. But what the reports really illustrate is that some people aren’t very good at playing media critic—especially when they feel obligated to suggest that “both sides” are equally at fault. Koppel’s first […]
On Wednesday (5/2/12), MSNBC host Chris Matthews played a long clip from the Daily Show, where Jon Stewart mocked Republicans who are complaining about Barack Obama’s celebration of the killing of Osama bin Laden. Stewart naturally recalls George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” photo op stunt from 2003. Stewart points out that if Republicans are angry […]
Conservative talker Rush Limbaugh used to tell his listeners that the government was trying to silence him, based on a completely bogus tale about what the Fairness Doctrine would do. This time around, it’s an ad campaign by the liberal group Media Matters for America directed at some of the stations that air Limbaugh’s show. […]
Glenn Beck’s temporary replacement in the 5 p.m. slot on Fox News, Eric Bolling, has started out with a bang. On the July 13 edition of his new show the Five, the host declared: “America was certainly safe between 2000 and 2008. I don’t remember any attacks on American soil during that period of time.” […]
In citing how Talking Points Memo creator Josh Marshall “has talked many times about the ways in which the Washington establishment is ‘wired for the GOP,’” Steve Benen (Political Animal, 9/13/09) notes that “the Washington Post offers a helpful example today”–as posted on Media Matters: “Behold the media’s glaring double standard. Today, the Post puts […]
Think Progress‘ Matt Corley (8/19/09) has the depressing, if predictable, news that recent polling shows “‘all the misinformation out there’ about healthcare reform proposals in Congress is taking root with many Americans.” Corley is discouraged to see that, “for instance, 45 percent believe the false claim that legislation includes ‘death panels‘ while 55 percent believe […]
Media Matters research director Jeremy Schulman (8/12/09) writes that “Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaughand Lou Dobbs have used their radio and television shows to incite hatred and push wild conspiracy theories, leading several of Beck’s advertisers to reportedly pull out of his broadcasts”–one of the hazards inherent in for-profit media. But “many advertisers have nonetheless sponsored […]
Writing that “the swine flu outbreak that wrecked Mexico’s economy this spring, and that the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic last month, may become a case study in reckless journalism,” Miami Herald Latin America correspondent Andres Oppenheimer (7/8/09) admits that he “had taken it for granted that the disease had started in Mexico” […]
Demonstrating his trademark ability to move effortlessly from belligerent grandstanding to completely fictive political commentary, Fox star Bill O’Reilly claimed on April 22 that current and former attorney generals “Eric Holder and Janet Reno put the wall up between the FBI and the CIA, which led to the 9/11 attacks.” But Media Matters points out […]
