How Racist Do You Have to Be Before the New York Times Calls You a Racist?
The New York Times offers readers a lengthy obituary for racist New York talk radio icon Bob Grant. But can they call a racist a racist?
NYT Benghazi Bombshell: They Reported It Last Year Too
What Meet the Press’s David Gregory described as “a bombshell report in the New York Times [that] could change the debate over the deadly attack” in Benghazi, Libya, was actually old news to careful readers.
FAIR TV: CBS and the NSA, Yemen Drone Attack, Afghanistan
This week on FAIR TV: The NSA has been having a rough time, but 60 Minutes did them a favor with a long piece that was more like public relations than journalism. Also on the show: a look at how the New York Times covered a suspected US drone strike in Yemen, and what it […]
Media Lean Left, Say Journalists Who Don’t Really Say That
When establishment journalists were asked about whether media leaned left, so little in their responses addressed what would seem to be the fundamental question: Does what is actually in the media suggest a liberal bias?
A Wedding Was Bombed—Don’t Worry, It Was by the US, Not in the US
What seemed to be a US drone strike hit a wedding convoy in Yemen, killing over a dozen people. What kind of coverage does an event like that get on US television?
NYT Takes Mandela’s Death as a Chance to Mock His Fight to Free His Country
In his obituary for Nelson Mandela, the Times’ Bill Keller went into detail about Mandela’s armed efforts to overthrow the apartheid state–seemingly in an effort to belittle them.
Why Can’t Karzai Be More Blase About US Killing Kids–Like US Press Is?
It’s not unheard of for journalists to express strong opinions about how the United States should conduct its wars. But sometimes reporters express their opinions by attributing them to others.
Obamacare as a ‘Big Government’ Failure
Pundits’ discussions of the Affordable Care Act rollout assumes that the law represents some kind of “activist government” intervention to disrupt the normally smooth workings of the private sector. But that is neither the intent nor the effect of the law.
Pretending a Name Is Still Secret—in the Name of the Cult of Secrecy
The name of the CIA’s station chief in Pakistan is out, and it’s been out for a long time; concealing it from US readers doesn’t make anyone any safer. But it does help bolster the cult of secrecy,
Maybe Don’t Take Travel Tips From the New York Times
The New York Times found a place where Americans don’t encounter the lack of gratitude they find in countries occupied by US troops. You may have heard of it.
How Many Unnamed Officials Does It Take to Deny Civilian Deaths?
What do you do when the president of another country says US forces killed civilians there? You get US and other allied officials to anonymously deny it.
NYT Miscounts Obama’s Afghan Troops Numbers
Most people know that Obama did not take office in 2010. So why offer that as the starting point in an analysis of how Obama is “bring[ing] the troops home” from Afghanistan?
Peculiarly Oriental Iranians
But the idea that Iranians are inherently more suspicious is widespread. Time magazine’s Karl Vick wrote a piece for the Time website that asserted that “Iranians are masters of what has been termed ‘Oriental indirection.'”
Obama’s Deadly Website Compared to Katrina
To some people, a new law that is running into technical problems with a poorly designed website is not really the same as a massive disaster in one of America’s iconic cities that killed almost 2,000 people.
Iran’s Suspicious Smile
Tom Friedman of the New York Times opened up his November 13 column with this: It goes without saying that the only near-term deal with Iran worth partially lifting sanctions for would be a deal that freezes all the key components of Iran’s nuclear weapons development program It goes without saying that this is deeply […]
Attributing Weather Events to Climate Change Is the Easy Part
Climate change caused Typhoon Haiyan–in the basic and obvious sense that Haiyan would not have happened in the absence of climate change.
Typhoon Haiyan and Climate Change: Why ‘We Can’t Say for Sure’ Is Wrong
In a rational world, Typhoon Haiyan would get media talking about climate change. But at the moment, it’s barely part of the conversation.
Anonymous Diplomats Tell Other Newspapers…
The New York Times reports what anonymous officials apparently told other reporters in order to blame Iran for the failure of nuclear talks.
iPads, Flying Pets and Other Things More Newsworthy Than Deadly Drone Strikes
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch both released reports on civilian deaths from US drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen. Despite being front-page news in the New York Times, the reports were absent from the network evening newscasts.
‘Searing Memories of Defaults’—and Selective Memory at the New York Times
It’s true that Mexico’s default on its debts in 1982 was followed by years of hard times. But Argentine and Russian memories of default are far less “searing”
