FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
“Some Democrats Look to Push Party Away From Center,” read the headline at the New York Times. But the “center” doesn’t actually mean what one might think it means–especially in the context of the political views of the American public.
As Bradley Manning’s court martial trial gets underway, journalists face real obstacles in trying to report on it, and they should be facing the constitutional issues the case raises. We’ll be joined by Michael Ratner, president emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights and U.S. attorney for WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.
Also on the show: Are parents keeping their kids from learning how to read, so they can get a disability check from the state? The claim has come from some high places in elite media, which you won’t be surprised to learn, doesn’t make it true. We’ll speak with author and journalist Neil deMause about this not-so-new media canard.
Concealing a Spy Who Hid Torture; Misremembering Thatcher; PBS’s Debate on Social Security
The “center” doesn’t usually indicate where most of the public is, but rather where elites have determined an appropriate middle between opposing arguments.
Decrying “the ability of well-funded extremist groups to thwart the will of the overwhelming majority,” Time’s Joe Klein cites defenders of Social Security–who, of course, are trying to thwart the will of an overwhelming minority.
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.
The White House plan to cut Social Security benefits has been praised by major media as a brave move towards the “middle” by Obama, as well as an effort to use a more “accurate” measure of inflation. Neither claim is credible. Part of the White House plan is to change how inflation is calculated, by […]
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.
“Today there’s an elephant in the room: a huge, yet ignored, issue that largely explains why Social Security is now on the chopping block…. That problem is U.S. militarism and perpetual war.”
Media remember Margaret Thatcher for turning around Britain’s economy. But do the numbers tell a different story? Also: Barack Obama’s plan to cut Social Security and Medicare is inexplicably deemed a move to the “center,” and pundits are monitoring the 2016 election by paying close attention to… Hillary Clinton’s haircut?
The new White House budget proposal is getting a lot of attention because it explicitly connects the Obama administration to an agenda that includes cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits. Some pundits see this as a way to appeal to the “middle.” But does anyone– in the middle or anywhere else–really want to cut the safety net?
Here’s a proposal for Social Security that was on the New York Times‘ op-ed page yesterday (2/20/13): The top third of beneficiaries (by lifetime income) [would] receive no annual cost-of-living adjustment in retirement. The middle third would get half of today’s adjustment, and the bottom third would receive the same annual increase they do now. […]
Tom Friedman wrote a column about how government policies are harming the recovery. What we need is some kind of grand bargain to, as the headline puts is, “unparalyze” the economy and spur new growth. What’s that mean? Cuts to Social Security and Medicare, along with “tax reform.”
This week on FAIR TV: Can Chuck Hagel really be considered anti-war? Pundits are mad about the fiscal cliff tax deal–they wanted more Social Security and Medicare cuts. And Murdoch’s New York Post made another attempt to link Occupy Wall Street to crime–and other media outlets went along.
Wealthy pundits didn’t like the outcome of the “fiscal cliff” tax deal– mostly because it didn’t do more to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits.
Dean Baker cuts through the media spin on the “fiscal cliff” and Social Security cuts. And is the hit Showtime drama “Homeland” a deeply Islamophobic show? Laila Al-Arian joins us to discuss her recent piece for Salon.com.
Don’t expect much help from corporate media on understanding the “Chained CPI,” because selling the “grand bargain” requires citizens not really knowing what this part of the deal entails.
What should the U.S. do about the so-called “fiscal cliff”? Who better to ask than Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, “one of the world’s most influential bankers”? That’s what CBS Evening News must have been thinking, anyway, when they did a segment last night (11/19/12) all about Blankfein’s opinions. CBS‘s Scott Pelley began: “When we […]
Time magazine’s Joe Klein found the lesson (11/7/12) in Obama’s re-election. And it involves… wait for it… moving to the right: It will, and should, be argued that the election was a mandate for moderation. The last month of Mitt Romney‘s campaign, when he rushed to the center and suddenly made it a race, ratified […]
This week on FAIR TV: Who factchecks the debate moderators? What Does Chris Matthews Think is in the Constitution? And why not just let advertisers write the “news”? Please take a look– and spread the word.
