FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
[Note: this piece is a sidebar to “Fear & Favor 2005—FAIR’s Sixth Annual Report.”] At the beginning of the year, the Armstrong Williams scandal highlighted the disturbing practice of the Bush administration’s using taxpayer dollars to fund media that uncritically promote government policies and programs, without disclosing the source of the funding to readers or […]
(NOTE: Please see the Activism Update regarding this alert.) On February 15, ABC investigative reporter Brian Ross delivered an exclusive report on World News Tonight and Nightline that purported to be a bombshell. ABC had obtained tape-recorded conversations from mid-1995 that seemed to show that Iraq had been concealing its weapons of mass destruction program. […]
When George W. Bush announced on February 9 that an Al-Qaeda plot against a building in Los Angeles had been “thwarted,” many television newscasts took the administration’s claims as fact. ABC World News Tonight anchor Charles Gibson reported (2/9/06) that “President Bush today revealed some details of a terrorist plot that was foiled,” later putting […]
Does American reporting on Iraq paint a misleadingly optimistic narrative? Also on CounterSpin: The NYT and corporate press on Sago.
(NOTE: Please see the Activism Update regarding this alert.) By any standard, the New York Times‘ story of December 16 was a blockbuster: Reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau revealed that following the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration initiated warrantless wiretaps on hundreds of people within the U.S.–including U.S. citizens–even though a federal law, […]
In the December issue of Extra!, FAIR published a study of the guest list on C-SPAN‘s Washington Journal. Though C-SPAN‘s “flagship viewer call-in program” prides itself on its reputation for fairness, FAIR’s study found that reputation does not reflect reality. But C-SPAN‘s response thus far has been silence. Extra! studied Washington Journal‘s guestlist, tabulating all […]
Writer Naomi Klein joins CounterSpin to talk about what’s missing from the current mainstream discussion of torture– namely, the history of US support for the practice around the world. Also this week: Rolling Stone contributing editor Eric Boehlert on the media and the Sami Al Arian saga.
Since 1979, C-SPAN has provided an invaluable service to viewers with its no-frills coverage of congressional hearings, press briefings, demonstrations, book readings and other political events. By presenting public affairs with a minimal intrusion by hosts or reporters, C-SPAN has gained a reputation as a frictionless conveyer of raw political information to the public. In […]
On November 2, the Washington Post carried an explosive front-page story about secret overseas prisons set up by the CIA for the interrogation of terrorism suspects. While the Post article, by reporter Dana Priest, gave readers plenty of details, it also withheld the most crucial information—the location of these secret prisons—at the request of government […]
With polls showing growing opposition to the Iraq War and an increasing distrust for the White House, one might think that the press corps would be willing to re-examine how the threat from Iraq‘s supposed weapons of mass destruction was used to lead the country into war. But for many pundits, the origins of […]
This week on CounterSpin: We’ll talk with author and media critic Norman Solomon about getting out of Iraq. Also: Alternet contributor Onnesha Roychoudhuri discusses the Wall Street Journal’s tortured position on detainee abuse.
This week on CounterSpin: The press on George W. Bush’s fresh WMD claims. Also this week: Guardian columnist George Monbiot joins for a discussion about the US military’s use of white phosphorus against civilians in Fallujah and how the Pentagon has responded.
On November 2, the Washington Post carried an explosive front-page story about secret Eastern European prisons set up by the CIA for the interrogation of terrorism suspects. While the Post article, by reporter Dana Priest, gave readers plenty of details, it also withheld the most crucial information–the location of these secret prisons–at the request of […]
After televangelist Pat Robertson publicly called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frias (700 Club, 8/22/05), the editors of several major newspapers were quick to denounce his outrageous incitement to violence. However, in criticizing the conservative televangelist, the prestige press overlooked its own highly antagonistic treatment of Venezuela’s president, which surely contributed to […]
Judith Miller seems to have worked to to shield the public from things that a powerful government didn’t want us to know.
As Republican activist Cheryl Halpern takes the helm of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Republicans in Congress call for CPB funding cuts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, public broadcasting’s defenders look ahead once again to a fight to “save PBS.” But the broader issues remain overlooked: Is public broadcasting delivering on its promise […]
Veterans of the battles over public broadcasting know the script by now: Right-wing Republicans denounce NPR and PBS for being too “liberal,” threatening to cut their federal funding. Public broadcasting’s defenders rally to “save” Big Bird and the like. The difference this time around, though, is significant. The right-wing Republican is not a politician per […]
In March 1997, a joint poll by the Washington Post, Harvard University and the Kaiser Family Foundation asked Americans which area of federal expenditure they thought was the largest. Was it Social Security (which actually constituted about a quarter of the budget)? Medicare? Military spending? Sixty-four percent of respondents said it was foreign aid—when in […]
In his September 27 online column, NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin responded to FAIR’s September 21 Action Alert regarding a Morning Edition report on terrorism that implied that only “extremist groups” perceived a connection between the recent London subway bombings and Britain’s involvement in Iraq. Below is Dvorkin’s response. A ‘FAIR’ Question One more issue from […]
NOTE: Please see the update to this alert. In a story about a U.N. Security Council resolution on terrorism and incitement (Morning Edition, 9/15/05), NPR reporter Corey Flintoff attributed to “extremist groups” the view that there was a link between the July 7 subway bombings in London and Britain’s participation in the Iraq War. In […]
