FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
“People will…use the filing of the lawsuit itself as its own form of proof, even though the lawsuit itself doesn’t contain proof.”
Trump’s “Big Lie” attorneys are not so much returning to the field, but actually never left.
The recent Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act is bound to bring voter ID laws back into the media discussion. And, unfortunately, that means some of these discussions will suffer from a familiar problem: The unwillingness to point out that the problem such laws are allegedly fighting–voter fraud– doesn’t exist.
Don’t Look to NYT to ‘Litigate’ the Facts Margaret Sullivan, the new New York Times public editor (9/16/12), used the topic of “voter fraud” to illustrate the concept of “false balance”―when two sides are treated as equivalent even when one side has reality on its side. Despite Republican efforts to pass laws to prevent voting […]
As usual, comedian Jon Stewart explained reality on a fake news show better than most “real” news outlets. On the August 16 broadcast of Comedy Central’s Daily Show, Stewart imagined a world where peanut butter was treated with “huge amounts of hydrochloric acid to dissolve any potential dragon bones.” Sure, people die from the acid—but the dragon bone problem is […]
In today’s Washington Post (12/13/11), Jerry Markon reports on the news that the White House “will wade into the increasingly divisive national debate over new voting laws.” But the article’s explanation of the concept of “voter fraud”–the ostensible rationale for these Republican efforts to restrict voting–leaves a lot to be desired. Markon writes that liberal […]
USA Today‘s Fredreka Schouten reports (6/20/11) on states adopting photo ID laws to crack down on the nearly non-existent problem of voter fraud. Schouten lays out the argument: Proponents say the measures prevent vote fraud. Opponents say they are designed to stifle turnout among students, poor people and minorities, who are more likely to vote […]
Throughout 2004, the “swing state” of Ohio was in the media spotlight. Prior to the election, it was a site of alleged voter fraud and suppression; as Extra! reported (12/04), the news media tended to portray the charges as partisan ploys rather than significant threats to the electoral process. Then, on November 2, Ohio became […]
