FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
Misleading and inaccurate reports about Nicaraguan beef could have drastic consequences for that country when it is already struggling to deal with US sanctions, the pandemic and the aftermath of two damaging hurricanes.
Ryan wants to change his public image, and is relying on media coverage to help him do that. The NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff was unsurprisingly doing her part.
The New York Times and PBS NewsHour present very different looks at fracking. What’s missing from both? Climate change.
The NewsHour invited Anthony Cordesman to consider possible policy options for “both sides” in the Israel/Gaza conflict. The problem is that Cordesman is on the record as advocating the option of brutality against Palestinian civilians.
When US journalists talk about what “the world” thinks of Iran’s nuclear program, it’s important to remember that they’re not usually talking about “the world”– just one very powerful part of it.
Covering the media’s rush to misjudgment on the Boston Marathon attack, which acts of terrorism are called “terrorism,” and PBS’s “debate” over Social Security–in which both sides call Obama “brave” for trying to cut benefits.
New York Times reporter John Burns admires Margaret Thatcher’s legacy. But when he claims she lifted millions to prosperity, does he have any evidence?
On the PBS NewsHour (4/12/13), the left/right debating duo of Mark Shields and David Brooks took up the issue of Social Security and “chained CPI”–and found that they didn’t have a lot to debate on the virtues of Barack Obama’s benefits-cutting plan.
When the PBS NewsHour took a look at military spending cuts, the segment unfortunately presented a very narrow view of the issue–one that mimics the kind of coverage we see elsewhere in the corporate media.
A FAIR Action Alert (10/24/12) criticized the PBS NewsHour for reporting that “Iran’s nuclear weapons program has been a particular flash point” in the presidential race. As we noted, there is no hard evidence that Iran has such a weapons program; in fact, international inspections have consistently found no evidence that Iran has diverted uranium […]
On the new episode of FAIR TV: Is a new Obama ad…racist? We’ll take a look at how PBS is misreporting Iran, and also take a look at Joe Klein’s remarkable defense of killing four-year-old girls in other countries. Take a look–and please spread the word.
A new FAIR action alert takes the PBS NewsHour to task for reporting claims about Iran having a nuclear weapons program as if they were facts. If you write a letter to to the NewsHour, please consider posting it in the comments section below.
It’s no secret that U.S. media outlets don’t have much love for left-wing Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. A PBS NewsHour segment (10/5/12) just ahead of the recent election showed just how far you could go. Correspondent Ray Suarez opened by calling the election “a watershed moment for the world’s second-largest oil-producing nation and a critical supplier […]
The new episode of FAIR TV is here, featuring misreporting on Iran’s nuclear energy program, NewsHour lecturing labor leaders on Labor Day, and some of the most embarrassing biographical puffery for a presidential candidate you’re likely to ever hear. Please share it with your friends, and let us know what you think in comments below.
Some campaign disputes can be tricky to sort out. Others are not. That’s why media coverage that takes the both-sides-have-a-point approach can be so disappointing, if not dangerous. Take Mitt Romney’s recent claim that the White House was “gutting” the work requirements in the 1996 welfare “reform” law. As a Romney TV ad put it: […]
PBS NewsHour host Judy Woodruff introduced a panel discussion on the Supreme Court’s Affordable Care Act decision (6/28/12) as a chance to get “some reaction and assessment from those who will deal with the law or had worked to overturn it.” That set-up sounded like it a pretty narrow discussion was to follow—and it did. […]
By the tone of some of the media coverage, you might have thought Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced a plan to slash military spending yesterday. On the front page of USA Today (1/27/12), under the headline “Panetta Backs Far Leaner Military,” readers learn in the first paragraph: The Pentagon’s new plan to cut Defense spending […]
Evaluating reporting and commentary about Iran could be reduced to one simple rule: There is no evidence that Iran is working on a nuclear weapon. Statements that suggest otherwise are misleading. Reports that fail to point this out are doing readers/viewers/listeners a disservice. That sounds simple enough. But don’t tell that to the outlets that […]
As if tensions between the United States and Iran weren’t high enough, here’s PBS NewsHour anchor Margaret Warner (1/9/12): The Iranian government insists that its nuclear activities are for peaceful energy purposes only, an assertion disputed by the U.S. and its allies. On CBS yesterday, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta repeated international demands that Iran […]
The PBS NewsHour did a pretty strong piece last month (8/16/11) on inequality in America. So perhaps it was a sense of “balance” that drove them to do a follow-up segment on September 21 that argued that things aren’t so bad after all. As anchor Jeffrey Brown put it: NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solman has […]
