FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
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 […]
Former TV Newser Brian Stelter’s article (New York Times, 8/7/09) about MSNBC and Fox News having “resumed their long-running feud this week after the New York Times reported that their parent companies, General Electric and the News Corporation, had struck a deal to stop each other’s televised personal attacks” states that “the deal extends beyond […]
In the wake of an August 1 expose in the New York Times, an agreement reportedly reached by executives at the parent companies of Fox News Channel and MSNBC to rein in the networks’ two stars’ criticism of each other seems to have fallen apart. The behind-the-scenes deal-making, though, still illustrates the corrosive effect on […]
Asking his readers to “remember” that, on NBC, Chuck Todd “is billed as a reporter covering the White House, not a pundit expressing opinions,” Salon‘s Glenn Greenwald (7/15/09, ad-viewing required) examines a Todd appearance on the MSNBC show Morning Joe “discussing reports that [U.S. Attorney General] Eric Holder is likely to appoint a prosecutor to […]
New York Times editorialist Lawrence Downes (5/4/09) has some good questions about Pete Seeger‘s big 90th birthday party. The broadcast surely is bound to “be a PBS special made in pledge-week heaven,” but Downes has to “wonder, though, how many of the angry moments will survive”: Will we hear the Native American musicians pleading for […]
“Co-director of Press Pass TV, a youth organization in Boston,” Cara Lisa Powers (Women In Media & News, 3/31/09) is telling how, having “shot a story at the home of a community member who had a scare Friday night when shots were fired outside his childrenâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s bedroom,” her group “sent the story to local media […]
Want to know if “the media did a great job” covering Barack Obama’s second major presidential press conference? Jason Linkins says (Huffington Post, 3/25/09) you can “just ask the media! Because they’ll tell you!” But “at the same time, the media is also quick to point out that the press conference was ‘totally boring!’” Among […]
Women In Media & News guest blogger Sarah Werthan Buttenwieser’s examination (3/12/09) of the “media firestorm” that “erupted… when Nadya Suleman gave birth to octuplets” shows that in initial “stories playing on the well-worn ‘wow factor’”–like “the AP‘s piece, posted on Fox News‘ website, [that] bore a cutesy headline: ‘8 Is Definitely Enough‘”–“basic information was […]
The night before Obama’s big healthcare summit, NBC Nightly News offered some advice. “There’s a place where policymakers could look for some tips on how an affordable, well-run system operates,” anchor Brian Williams told viewers. “It is already running here in the U.S.” Correspondent Robert Bazell explained: “Many experts agree that whatever happens in the […]
From the end of the NBC Nightly News (3/3/09): CHUCK TODD: And finally, let’s close with Michelle Obama. Amazing numbers for a new first lady. Sixty-three percent positive rating. What makes it more remarkable, six months ago you and I were talking about at the Democratic Convention, she might be a liability if he’s not […]
David Gregory sticking up for bank stockholders on Meet the Press (2/22/09): There’s a larger point here, which is, first of all, the more…the shares of…these banks gets talked down…the closer you get to wiping out the shareholder completely. And it’s, it’s not clear to me that everybody understands that the investor in this country, […]
According to a report in the New York Times (2/11/09), NBC is launching a new series to track down and expose war criminals. The network’s planhas attracted some criticism from U.S. officials and human rights experts, who are concerned that the network’s journalists might be publicizing false accusations against the suspects they’re “confronting” on the […]
The roundtable on Sunday’s Meet the Press (2/1/09) sure didn’t look promising: Republican flat tax enthusiast Steve Forbes, former McCain economic adviser Mark Zandi and CNBC reporter Erin Burnett. It was Burnett, though, who delivered a head-scratching defense of the$18 billion bonuses recently doled out at Wall Street firms (many of which are still standing […]
A recent New York Times article (11/29/08) offers fresh documentation of conflicts of interest involving one of TV’s most famous retired generals, Barry McCaffrey, who continues to be employed as an NBC military analyst even as he rakes in profits from military contractors. The story of how McCaffrey and at least 74 other retired generals […]
Tom Brokaw, the interim host of NBC‘s Meet the Press, and NBC analyst Chuck Todd expressed bafflement on last Sunday’s Meet the Press (10/26/08) at how Latinos had “turned on the Republican Party” and their “friend” John McCain: TODD: I mean, this, this Hispanic–one of the things we–underreported story of the cycle is how Hispanics […]
NBC‘s Meet the Press anchor and Washington bureau chief Tim Russert died of a heart attack on June 13. The outpouring from media and political elites only underscored Russert’s status as one of most important figures in mainstream journalism. But amidst all of the accolades, critical assessments about Russert’s record were scarce. It would be […]
After the August 7 Democratic debate, MSNBC reporter David Shuster weighed in with what the cable channel called a “truth squad” segment, ostensibly intended to fact-check various claims by the candidates. But the result had less to do with clarifying the facts than with protecting Bush from harsh criticism. In concluding his report, Shuster singled […]
On April 29, FAIR issued an action alert pointing out that G. Gordon Liddy, who appeared on a Scarborough Country segment on violent talk radio rhetoric (MSNBC, 4/27/05), had on his own radio show advocated shooting federal agents. FAIR received this response from the show’s host, Joe Scarborough: Just saw your site’s write up on […]
NOTE: Please see the update to this alert. In an April 27 debate about extreme talk radio rhetoric, MSNBC‘s Scarborough Country turned to an unusual guest: right-wing talker G. Gordon Liddy, who ten years ago called for the killing of federal agents. The purpose of the MSNBC segment was to discuss a skit from Air […]
His CNN show Crossfire was canceled, but conservative pundit Tucker Carlson already appears to have a new cable news home lined up: a primetime show on MSNBC (USA Today, 12/20/04; Daily Variety, 12/21/04). With the departure of host Deborah Norville, MSNBC is reportedly considering Carlson to fill the 9 p.m. timeslot. His show would lead […]
