FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
On Sunday (7/15/12), Meet the Press host David Gregory caught Barack Obama in a big-time flip flop on taxes. At least, that’s what he seems to think. Gregory said: What the president would like to do is extend the Bush tax cuts for those making less than $200,000, or $250,000, as a family, and then […]
In corporate media there is always a race to be first to report a breaking story seconds before your competitors. It means nothing to the rest of the world–we’re talking a matter of seconds, much of the time–but it’s a point of pride in the news business to be first. Being right is more important, […]
Getting independent, skeptical coverage of official claims about Iran—from its supposed nuclear weapons program (Extra!, 9-10/05, 1/12) to its alleged plans to launch terrorist attacks across the world (Extra!, 3/12)—is essential. One place you might expect to see more critical coverage is on supposedly left-leaning MSNBC. But when it comes to Iran, in what little […]
Sometimes it’s the little moments that tell you something–like this from a Meet the Press panel discussion (4/22/12) about potential running mates for Mitt Romney: DAVID GREGORY: E.J., the point though also about Paul Ryan is that if you want to send a message you’re serious about the budget you could do that with Paul […]
The Beltway press is remarkably fixated on two stories: A “scandal” over an $800,000 General Services Administration (GSA) conference in Las Vegas, and the unfolding saga involving prostitutes and some Secret Service and military officers in Colombia. The White House thinks both are bad, of course, but not worth the amount of coverage they’re getting. […]
Now here’s an anti-war argument I hadn’t heard before, courtesy of conservative blogger/journalist Andrew Sullivan (on NBC‘s Chris Matthews Show, 3/18/12): SULLIVAN: Again, it just shows that America colonizes without any real colonial talent because this is a country built on escaping colonialism, not actually imposing it. MATTHEWS: Yeah. Well… SULLIVAN: You’re doing something against […]
From Politico (3/20/12): David Gregory, host of NBC‘s Meet the Press, and Bret Baier, host of Fox News‘s Special Report, are among the latest applicants to the Chevy Chase Club, the historic social club that has catered to Washington’s wealthiest for over a century. The Club’s recent “Membership Report” shows that both Gregory and Baier […]
On the one hand, NBC‘s Meet the Press gives us Republican Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (2/5/12): DAVID GREGORY: Governor Daniels, one of the things you hear from the campaign trail, Mitt Romney said it just the other day, is that the recovery should have been so much stronger. You know, it’s very difficult to prove […]
Alarmist corporate media coverage of the “threat” from Iran is everywhere, thanks to a Senate appearance yesterday by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. But Clapper said very little in his remarks that would justify the propagandistic coverage we’re seeing. His main point was that Iran could launch attacks if it felt threatened. It is […]
During an interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski (1/25/12), NBC‘s Today host Ann Curry said this: Well, one of the key topics that we have been hearing a lot about is all of this concern about Iran. You know what’s been happening, the concerns, the tensions in the Straits of Hormuz, the concerns about Iran’s rise in […]
No comment. NBC Nightly News (1/29/12) LESTER HOLT: And a sign of the times tonight on a football field in Hawaii. The NFL is relaxing its strict social media policy and allowing players to use Twitter to interact with fans during the Pro Bowl in Honolulu. There’ll be one designated computer on each sideline, no […]
At a time when millions of Americans are are experiencing massive unemployment, a painfully slow economic recovery, wage stagnation and the after-effects of the bursting of a multi-trillion dollar housing bubble, isn’t it time someone demanded that they suffer a little bit? Of course not, you might say. But that’s why you don’t work in […]
Three moments, actually: —NBC‘s Chuck Todd yesterday on Meet the Press (12/10/11), commenting on Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich: Well, first of all, those are a couple of nimble debaters. They are pretty good. I think we have seen it. This is the final two. I’m old enough to remember when Todd had the campaign […]
One more thing about free speech hero Michael Bloomberg’s shutdown of Occupy Wall Street. During the early morning raid on the Occupy Wall Street camp journalists were blocked from covering much of what was happening. Josh Stearns from Free Press has a rundown—as he points out, “By dawn, 10 journalists, including reporters from NPR, the […]
The general line in corporate media coverage of the so-called “Supercommittee” tasked with coming up with a long-term budget plan is that both sides aren’t willing to budge: Republicans won’t agree to raise taxes, and Democrats want to protect “entitlements” like Social Security and Medicare. While some might find the idea of Democrats standing up […]
The New York Times reports that Chelsea Clinton will be a full time special correspondent for NBC News, starting more or less immediately. Salon‘s Glenn Greenwald connected this news to the media careers of Meghan McCain (MSNBC), Luke Russert (NBC) and Jenna Bush Hager (NBC), and reached this conclusion about the state of our meritocracy: […]
The Michele Bachmann presidential campaign–formerly treated as atop-tier juggernaut by Beltway media–has been floundering for weeks. Which makes right now as good a time as any for them to grab some headlines by shouting about liberal media bias. The Bachmann campaign was furious about email correspondence concerning a possible Bachmann appearance on a CBS Web […]
ABC This Week host Christiane Amanpour (11/6/11) kicked the show off with a pretty funny joke: Clash of the titans in Texas last night, as Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich met for the first of a series of one-on-one Lincoln/Douglas-style debates. Less funny was the show‘s very imbalanced roundtable discussion: So let’s bring in our […]
NBC’s Chris Matthews Show (10/30/11): CHRIS MATTHEWS: Welcome back. Bob, tell me something I don’t know. BOB WOODWARD: That the White House has a secret plan to win the election and it’s complex and it’s secret, but it–look, Barack Obama wants to win so badly, as I understand it, everything in the White House is […]
On the Meet the Press roundtable on Sunday (10/30/11), talk turned to Steve Jobs. And, as one might expect from the avalanche of hero worship that accompanied news of his death, the chatter concerned how we might all one day live up to Jobs’ legacy. Here’s host David Gregory, speaking to Tom Brokaw: Tom, it’s […]
