FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
The New York Times‘ reassuring reporting on the radioactive plume drifting across the U.S. continues the paper’s troubling tradition of parroting comforting words from officials in the midst of modern-day environmental crises–like the environmental fallout post-9/11. Let’s compare headlines: “Radiation Over U.S. Is Harmless, Officials Say” (3/22/11) “Workers and Residents Are Safe, Officials Say” (11/2/01) […]
The radioactive plume from Japan wafting from west to east across the U.S. is absolutely nothing to worry about, writes William J. Broad in a New York Times report today (“Radiation Over U.S. Is Harmless, Officials Say,” 3/22/11) about the radiation threats posed by the Japanese nuclear plant disaster. Broad writes: Health experts said that […]
At a time when the Japanese prime minister is describing his country’s nuclear crisis and the growing threat of radiation exposure as “very grave,” it must have been comforting for Fox News watchers to turn on the O’Reilly Factor last night (3/17/11) to see Ann Coulter telling them that radiation is actually good for you. […]
The New York Times (3/17/11) presents a look at the Japanese government’s lack of candor about the Fukushima nuclear disaster. At first we’re given the impression that this is something cultural: “The less-than-straight talk is rooted in a conflict-averse culture that avoids direct references to unpleasantness.” We don’t have that problem, I guess. Then, we’re […]
If you’ve tracked media coverage of nuclear power, you know that every few months or so nuclear power is about to enjoy a comeback. The “nuclear renaissance” has always been right around the corner, we’ve often been told. Take the New York Times, for example: -Few industries have enjoyed the kind of renaissance that nuclear […]
There was a lot of chatter about editor Tina Brown and the “new” Newsweek, which debuted last week. None of it struck me as all that interesting–a column up front from Leslie Gelb warning about the threat of Arab democracy and an anti-Social Security harangue from Robert Samuelson made it feel very much like the […]
A deal between Iran, Brazil and Turkey to ship some of Iran’s uranium out of the country to be enriched in Turkey and returned for use in a Iranian medical reactor has elicited some elite media panic. An early New York Times Web headline read, “Iran Offers to Ship Uranium, Complicating Sanctions Talks.” The Wall […]
A space probe with 50 pounds of plutonium aboard–theoretically enough if dispersed to give everyone in the world lung cancer–made an extremely risky low-level “flyby” of the Earth in December 1992. But you wouldn’t have known any danger was involved by reading most of the mainstream U.S. media. Indeed, the New York Times‘ Dec. 8 […]
One of the claims of the nuclear industry is that it is subject to constant criticism from the media. But a five-month sample of clippings gathered by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission indicates that the majority of editorials, columns and news stories on nuclear power in U.S. newspapers are supportive of nuclear power. Extra! conducted a […]
Time magazine’s April 29 cover story asked the question: “Nuclear Power: Do We Have a Choice?”–and answered it in the negative. Time mirrored the arguments of the nuclear industry and nuclear enthusiasts in the Bush administration–without investigating their validity. For instance, Time cited an April report by the National Academy of Sciences on the greenhouse […]
“Revive the Atom,” proclaimed the New York Times (12/8/89), trumpeting a campaign to resurrect nuclear power we will hear much of in the coming years. “Nuclear power is not inherently unworkable,” editorialized the Times. “Technology is the easiest part–a new generation of safer, cheaper nuclear power plants is already on the drawing boards. The tough […]
“Doing your job too well at the Plain Dealer, when it interferes with the business relations of the management, can be hazardous to your occupational health.”
Shouldn’t we demand that media disclose their financial ties when they produce news stories that could impact the profits of their corporate parent?
