Action Alert: Face the Nation Needs NSA Debate
A new FAIR Action Alert (8/14/13) asks where Face the Nation‘s dissenters are on NSA surveillance. Please leave copies of your messages to CBS, or comments on the alert, in the comments thread below.
FAIR TV: Terror Alerts and the NSA, Snowden’s Asylum, Covering Weiner
The media are using the government’s warnings about a terror attack to boost NSA surveillance. Plus media get mad about Russia’s decision to grant whistleblower Edward Snowden temporary asylum. But what’s the U.S. record on extradition? Plus ABC covers the Anthony Weiner campaign–and can’t much figure out why it’s doing so. Watch it all […]
NSA Defenders Take to the Airwaves
After intelligence reports about a possible Al-Qaeda attack , the Sunday chat shows were packed with politicians claiming that this meant that the NSA had been vindicated.
The Whistles That Didn’t Blow on the PBS NewsHour
It would be good to hear why the interview the NewsHour announced with two NSA whistleblowers never made it to the air.
Washington Post’s WikiLeaks/Snowden/Greenwald Conspiracy Theory
To Washington Post columnist Walter Pincus, something about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden just doesn’t smell right. Lucky for him he gets space in a prestigious newspaper to work out his hunch–apparently without any editors or factcheckers to get in his way.
Schieffer Hopes the Government Will Explain Its Secret Spying Program to Him
So a serious TV journalist might want to grill Michael Hayden on his role in the warrantless wiretapping scandal. But he was on Face the Nation, and Bob Schieffer wasn’t conducting that kind of interview.
Nima Shirazi on Argo, Mitra Ebadolahi on Warrantless Spying
Argo won the Best Picture Academy Award. The film claims to be ‘based on’ the true story of the Iranian hostage crisis. But just how far removed is it from that true story, and why does it matter? We’ll hear from Nima Shirazi of the blog WideasleepinAmerica.
Also on the show: The Supreme Court has determined that the government doesn’t have to reveal who it’s targeting with its domestic spying programs, but civil liberties groups can’t challenge the spying because… they can’t prove they’ve been targeted. Mitra Ebadolahi of the ACLU’s National Security Project will explain.
Risen’s Blogger-Bashing Over Afghan Report
There’s been plenty of commentary about Monday’s front-page New York Times story (6/14/10) announcing, “U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan.” Reporter James Risen‘s lead: The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and […]
Probable Cause for Alarm
When FEMA Director Michael Brown claimed not to be aware of the evacuee crisis at the New Orleans Convention Center following Hurricane Katrina (NPR, 9/1/05), many journalists expressed astonishment that a high-ranking official could be so uninformed about a crucial aspect of his job (e.g., Nightline, 9/1/05). But when Gen. Michael Hayden, principal deputy director […]
