CPB Is Dead, But We Need Public Media More Than Ever
With the Project 2025 dream of pulling the plug on CPB realized, what happens next for public broadcasting?
Farewell to Bill Moyers, Who Showed What Public TV Could Be
The 1967 Carnegie Commission called for public TV to “provide a voice for groups…that may otherwise be unheard.” Bill Moyers exemplified that ideal.
Taibbi Cites Government Attacks on Media to Defend Government Attacks on Media
Taibbi’s invocation of “Putin” and “Russia” as a reason why we should not be concerned about Trump’s attacks on public broadcasting is such an illogical non sequitur
Cuts to PBS, NPR Part of Authoritarian Playbook
Going after public broadcasters is also a part of the neo-fascist playbook authoritarian leaders around the world are using to clamp down on dissent.
How Trump Will Seek Revenge on the Press
Given Trump’s constant attacks on media, journalists fear that he will use the power of the state to intimidate if not destroy the press.
PBS and BBC Team Up to Misinform About Brazil’s Bolsonaro
Rise of the Bolsonaros tells the story of Brazil’s far-right president through sources like Steve Bannon and Bolsonaro’s son Flavio.
Did Public TV Doc Promote Peaceful Coexistence—or the UAE?
A film that offers an entirely uncritical and glowing portrait of the UAE ought to make PBS take a closer look at the film’s funding.
‘Independent Media Is About Introducing People to Each Other’
“The reality that we live in today is not immutable. It is the product of choices, of power dynamics, of motivations of certain sectors over others, a set of priorities that we can shift. And not just in some abstract, pie-in-the-sky, theoretical thinking, but actually right here, right now.”
PBS Decides What Debate Watchers Need Is More Talk From Pundits
Election Focus 2020: Debates are one of the few opportunities most voters outside of the early voting states have to hear directly from the candidates without being filtered by journalist spin. At least–they used to be.
Ken Burns’ Vietnam War: An Object Lesson in the Failures of the Objective Lens
In striving to present all sides and simply lay out the facts for the viewer, Ken Burns nonetheless pulls his punches when it comes to assigning blame and culpability for the disastrous war.
Sonali Kolhatkar on Afghan Women, Karl Grossman on Space Weapons, T.R. Reid on Healthcare Debate
What have decades of unending war in Afghanistan actually done toward the ostensible goal of liberating Afghan women? Plus: The weaponization of space and the constraints on the healthcare conversation.
Euphemism as Journalism: Distracting the Audience by Focusing on Trump’s Skill at Distraction
Euphemism isn’t journalism, but conflating the two can be irresistible for mainline journalists when candor might seem overly intrepid.
FAIR TV: Keystone Misinformation, War ‘Works’ and NPR’s Cosby Questions
The Keystone XL pipeline is back in the news–and so is a lot of the same old misinformation. Plus we’ll look at how some TV journalists think about how war “works,” and at what exactly NPR’s Scott Simon asked comedian Bill Cosby.
PBS to Treasury Official: ‘Why Can’t You Just Bomb Them?’
It seems it’s hard to talk to an elite media host for very long before they start fantasizing about blowing things up.
On Iran Policy, America Is Not ‘the World’
When reporters talk about what “the world” thinks about Iran, they really just mean the United States.
Nonvoters Are People Too
Could there be any clearer expression of voter disgust with the political system than the decision to not vote at all?
Chuck Todd, Militarism and Media Diversity
Chuck Todd wants to make Meet the Press more diverse–but he doesn’t appear willing to try all that hard.
FAIR TV: Perception vs. Reality, 60 Minutes & the FBI, NPR Takes Netanyahu’s Side
60 Minutes cheers on the FBI, NPR takes Netanyahu’s side on settlements, and media blur the difference between perception and reality.
FAIR TV: Media in War Mode, Calling for Civilian Deaths and PBS Hits Harper’s
On this week’s show: The ways corporate media cover war, a Fox News pundit wants to see more civilian deaths in Syria, and PBS uses its ad dollars to punish a magazine. All of that on this week’s show:
PBS Goes Easy on Paul Ryan
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.
