FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
Victor Davis Hanson notes that one reason for American exceptionalism may be that we did not inherit from England “a large underclass of only quasi-free people attached to barons as serfs.” Sadly, a worse institution took root here, but never became part of the national psyche. —Rich Lowry & Ramesh Ponnuru (National Review Online, 3/8/10, […]
While many are opening their hearts and purses to Haiti’s suffering, it’s important to note the corporate media’s high profile exceptions. Televangelist Pat Robertson, carried on Disney‘s Family Channel, suggested Haiti invited the disaster by making a deal with the devil 200 years ago (FAIR Blog, 1/14/09). Radio big Rush Limbaugh discouraged donating to Haiti […]
John K. Wilson (Obamapolitics, 10/16/09) on Rush Limbaugh and fake quotes: When it came to people repeating false quotes about Limbaugh that Limbaugh himself had never bothered to deny, Limbaugh was outraged: “we are in the process behind the scenes working to get apologies and retractions with the force of legal action against every journalist […]
In the wake of Rush Limbaugh being booted from a group of investors bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams football team, a minor media tempest has been stirred by conservative commentators who charge that Limbaugh has been falsely accused of making racist remarks. Central to their charge are two quotes allegedly made by Limbaugh–in […]
“Rush the Racist?” is the headline over a commentary written by retired NFL receiver Keenan McCardell on the Washington Post‘s sports blog, the League–and the question many football fans might ask upon hearing the news that Rush Limbaugh is bidding to become co-owner of the St. Louis Rams. That’s because Limbaugh has a long record […]
On his Media Citizen blog, Free Press’ Timothy Karr (9/17/09) has compiled some astounding Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Lou Dobbs quotes propounding a “fear that’s laced with paranoia, stoked by misinformation and prejudice and fed to millions of people via powerful media”–namely that “the most anti-American notion of the lot is the idea that […]
Former President Jimmy Carter’s statement (NBC, 9/15/09) that “I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he’s African-American,” has generated widespread discussion in the corporate media. But few of the many analyses of Carter’s remarks give you […]
Media Matters research director Jeremy Schulman (8/12/09) writes that “Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaughand Lou Dobbs have used their radio and television shows to incite hatred and push wild conspiracy theories, leading several of Beck’s advertisers to reportedly pull out of his broadcasts”–one of the hazards inherent in for-profit media. But “many advertisers have nonetheless sponsored […]
Glenn Greenwald has responded via his regular Salon feature (8/6/09, ad-viewing required) to Rush Limbaugh, “speaking to his audience of 15 million, compar[ing] Barack Obama to Adolph Hitler and Nancy Pelosi to Nazi leaders,” by asking you to instead compare (a) the way that a single anonymous person’s comparison of Bush and Hitler swamped our […]
Progressive critic Dr. Roberto Rodriguez has a new commentary (New America Media, 6/2/09) demonstrating how the miserable press reaction to Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s U.S. Supreme Court “nomination clearly shows us is that what this nation needs is more incisive journalism, not less.” But, Rodriguez laments, “to be sure, the rise of right-wing media, which include […]
CBS anchor Bob Schieffer was profiled byMarketwatch, where we learn: But don’t get the false impression that Schieffer is a pushover for his important guests. When I asked him how he feels when subjects lie to him on the air or try to mislead the audience, he got right to the point. “I want to […]
Political Animal‘s Steve Benen (5/12/09) notes a recent Rush Limbaugh broadcast (5/11/09) that makes the racist subtext of the right’s critique of Barack Obama virtually explicit: The [economic] deterioration reflects lower tax revenues and higher costs for bank failures, unemployment benefits and food stamps. But in the Oval Office of the White House none of […]
In his op-ed “Take the Limbaugh Challenge” (L.A. Times, 3/29/09), conservative writer Andrew Klavan states as a “certainty” that L.A. Times readers don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh’s show: If you are reading this newspaper, the likelihood is that you agree with the Obama administration’s recent attacks on conservative radio talker Rush Limbaugh. That’s the likelihood; […]
Over on Media Matters’ County Fair blog (3/12/09), Jamison Foser asks, “Is there any major-newspaper reporter who is more consistently wrong than Andrew Malcolm?” The latest gaffe by the Laura Bush flak-turned-L.A. Times writer comes in response to filmmaker Michael Moore’s explaining what he sees as the difference between Democratic framing of Rush Limbaugh as […]
“10 Things You Didn’t Know About Rush Limbaugh,” item #10: 10. Limbaugh shares a secluded 24,000-square-foot beachfront mansion in Palm Beach with his cat, Pumpkin. A life-size oil portrait of Limbaugh hangs on the wall of the main staircase.
With all the recent headlines posing Rush Limbaugh as the GOP’s de facto leader, Media Matters’ Julie Millican and Nathan Tabak provide a timely look back (3/3/09) at the well-documented record of hateful views espoused by the most popular talk radio host in the United States: On August 23, 2006, discussing the CBS reality TV […]
Finding new ways to keep his name in the news, far-right radio personality Rush Limbaugh has apparently decided that reporters who are (in his view) too fond of Barack Obama should be called “butt boys.” TVNewser reported (3/4/09) that CNN‘s Ed Henry was one name on Rush’s list (“Ed, you’re a butt boy”), but that ABC‘s […]
Greg Sargent has some observations (Plum Line, 3/4/09) about the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s new website up called “I’m sorry, Rush” that lampoons the many GOPers who have been forced to prostrate themselves before Rush Limbaugh after criticizing him and enduring the Wrath of Rush or his listeners. The site appears to be off to […]
Huffington Post journalist Sam Stein thinks (2/19/09) that “coming off of a tone-deaf cartoon that compared the author of the stimulus bill with a crazed, shot-dead chimpanzee, it seemed likely that, for the time being, provocative political metaphors would be put on hold”–but that would be discounting the offensive superpowers of hate radio staple Rush […]
FAIR issued a press release today (2/4/09) challenging the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation over false and biased claims made by its ombud after the CBC came under pressure from a campaign launched by groups that advocate for uncritical coverage of the Israeli government. The campaign was launched in response to CBC‘s October 23, 2008 airing of […]
