FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
Quoting John Dewey’s warning about “the proper role of the press in a democracy”–“a class of experts is inevitably so removed from common interests as to become a class with private interests and private knowledge”–Eric Alterman finds it (Nation, 5/6/09) “difficult to imagine a more telling–and disturbing–manifestation of Dewey’s prediction than the current torture debate […]
Blogging on how May 4 and 5 broadcasts “feature NPR continuing its function of justifying and sanitizing the U.S. torture regime,” dedicated public radio critic Mytwords (NPR Check, 5/5/09) plumbs the depths of NPR‘s aversion to “human rights or international law advocates or experts”–instead preferring “members or former members of various U.S. government agencies,” even […]
Even though “James Risen, David Johnston and Neil A. Lewis first told the world about waterboarding in May 2004,” Dan Froomkin (WashingtonPost.com, 5/4/09) is having to argue that “that doesn’t mean that the rest of us are as guilty as the people who committed the crimes–or that those who ordered those crimes should avoid accountability.” […]
In his latest Salon blog entry (5/1/09, ad-viewing required), Glenn Greenwald displays his find of “a perfect illustration of how severely our political spectrum has shifted in the last two decades and how depraved and extremist our political and media classes have become”–one quote of the Washington Post‘s Charles Krauthammer rebutting those who “believe you […]
Brad Jacobson has an incisive take (Media Bloodhound, 4/29/09) on the consequences of mealy-mouthed torture language at the New York Times, where public editor Clark Hoyt provides he said/she said examples to show how the public has reacted. But in doing so, in this context, he turns the very idea of news reporting–that it should […]
Sure that Andrew Sullivan “would be horrified” by the idea that he and Cindy Sheehan agree on anything, Jonathan Schwarz nonetheless quotes (A Tiny Revolution, 4/25/09) the Atlantic.com blogger’s declaration of “love” for the Internet, because “can you imagine what those thugs would have gotten away with without it?” Sheehan’s similar 2005 statement–“Thank God for […]
Quoting Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter’s strong words on the Keith Olbermann show about how “it’s important, historically, to look at the context of” the “effort in these OLC memos to try to dress [torture] up as something else,” Hullabaloo blogger digby takes issue (4/24/09) with his statement that “Dick Cheney stands almost alone” in still […]
David Swanson has noted (Consortium News, 4/23/09) that, as “much of elite U.S. punditry is backing away from torture,” the Boston Globe‘s Jeff Jacoby is bucking that trend with an April 22 column in which “he both opposes torture under all circumstances and excuses it given the current circumstances.” Jacoby’s main justification for U.S. torture […]
Writing at Salon (4/23/09, ad-viewing required) of how the “sheer criminality” of George W. Bush-era torture, “really for the first time, has exploded into mainstream political debates,” Glenn Greenwald is thoroughly unsurprised by their behavior as “media stars are forced to address it”: Exactly as one would expect, they are closing ranks, demanding (as always) […]
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: While it’s pretty clear that Bush-era torture occurred, and that U.S. and international treaties oblige the U.S. to investigate, the hot media discussion centers not on when investigations will begin, but on whether President Barack Obama—not the Justice Department—thinks they should go forward. We’ll talk to Glenn Greenwald of […]
Brad Jacobson has a new Media Bloodhound post (4/21/09) lauding CNN anchor Anderson Cooper for his “refreshing” refusal of “a generic phony Devil’s advocate stance” when scholar Mark Danner “torpedoed” CNN analyst David Gergen’s claim that the number of people who were interrogated [by U.S. personnel] with these harsh and, I think, torturous techniques was […]
Blogging from his regular Salon perch (4/20/09, ad-viewing required), Glenn Greenwald notes that the public wants to investigate U.S. torture (that’s what the polls tell us), but: These facts about public opinion are virtually always excluded from establishment media discussions, and those who advocate investigations and prosecutions–the view held by large percentages, if not majorities, […]
A Tiny Revolution blogger Jonathan Schwarz (4/18/09) samples the response to Mike Allen of Politico‘s quote of “a former top official in the administration of President George W. Bush” calling the publishing of U.S. torture memos “damaging because these are techniques that work“: This, from Andrew Sullivan, is a representative example of the reaction: Allen […]
Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Sick Around America, the recently aired documentary on PBS‘s Frontline purported to ask why the US can’t finance universal health care the way other developed countries do. But the picture was at best incomplete, since it seems some options were considered off the table. We’ll hear from reporter and […]
[mp3-jplayer tracks=”CounterSpin013009 Dean Baker and Michael Ratner @https://eadn-wc04-3257648.nxedge.io/audio/counterspin/CounterSpin013009.mp3″] Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: After several weeks of media debate, the House passed a nearly 900 billion dollar economic stimulus package. White House efforts to reach out to Republicans resulted in exactly zero GOP voters, leaving some in the media to wonder if Obama was […]
Far from holding the feet of the powerful to the fire, “liberal” Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen is the very model of the establishment-protecting beltway hack. Glenn Greenwald walks us through Cohen’s history of cheering for the capital’s criminal class, with a focus on the columnist’s latest call to sweep torture under the rug.
Looking back on the good old days when we all supported torture, Richard Cohen writes today in the Washington Post (1/27/09): “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” So goes an aphorism that needs to be applied to the current debate over whether those who authorized and used torture should be […]
I don’t know whether George W. Bush will issue a slew of pardons in his last weekend in the White House, but I would expect such pardons to receive less scrutiny than those issued by his predecessor. And if he attempts to pardon those who committed crimes on his behalf, you can count on large […]
[mp3-jplayer tracks=”CounterSpin011609 Phyllis Bennis and Charles Kaiser @https://eadn-wc04-3257648.nxedge.io/audio/counterspin/CounterSpin011609.mp3″] Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Listeners have likely seen some horrific and affecting images from Gaza, where the death toll has exceeded an estimated 1,000 overwhelmingly Palestinian people as, as the New York Times had it, “the Israeli military operation continued apace.” We’ll hear from author […]
Newsweek‘s Mark Hosenball writes (12/22/08): The head of Obama’s intel transition team, John Brennan, was the leading candidate for CIA chief until he was slammed by liberal bloggers for not doing enough while serving as a top CIA and anti-terror official to oppose Bush. Actually, “liberal bloggers” hadn’t “slammed” Brennan for “not doing enough…to oppose […]
