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FAIR

FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.

Challenging media bias since 1986
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Articles about: War & Militarism
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August 5, 2011
Bill Hartung on military cuts, Rania Khalek on taping the police

Bill Hartung on military cuts, Rania Khalek on taping the police

[mp3-jplayer tracks=”CounterSpin080511 Bill Hartung and Rania Khalek @https://eadn-wc04-3257648.nxedge.io/audio/counterspin/CounterSpin080511.mp3″] Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin. The debt ceiling has been lifted; that fixed everything, right? Well, the Democratic base is unhappy with the White House capitulation, the ratings agencies still aren’t sure the United States has its fiscal house in order, and there’s nothing here to […]

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August 1, 2011

Extra! Contents

SoundBites Letters COVER STORY The Fires This Time In coverage of extreme weather, media downplay climate change by Neil deMause ‘Humanitarian War’ in Libya—or the Regular Kind? Factchecking the case for Obama’s bombing by Peter Hart Desperate for Democracy in Iraq Protesters fight for what U.S. media say they already have by Julie Hollar The […]

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August 1, 2011

‘Humanitarian War’ in Libya—or the Regular Kind?

Most wars—initiated by the United States or otherwise—require an official rationale. The stated reason for going to war needn’t be the real reason, and it can change over the course of the conflict, as the Iraq War ably demonstrated. As the Iraq War also proved, the media rarely apply much skepticism to the rationale given, […]

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August 1, 2011
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Libyan War Not About Oil—Unless It Should Be

That Libya has oil is not lost on the media; network newscasts occasionally mentioned oil in the context of the war. But it often came up as as by-product of some consumer concern: “Oil and gas prices are on the rise this morning. Military action in Libya pushed crude prices up more than $2 today […]

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August 1, 2011
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A Missing Voice at the Washington Post

Open the Washington Post to its editorial pages the day after the September 11 attacks, and war talk dominates. Henry Kissinger: “Destroy the Network.” Robert Kagan: “We Must Fight This War.” Charles Krauthammer: “To War, Not to Court.” William S. Cohen: “American Holy War.” There is no column by Colman McCarthy talking peace. From 1969 […]

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July 27, 2011

What WaPo Won’t Tell You About CIA’s Yemen Drone Base

In a piece today, the Washington Post’s Greg Miller reports on a CIA base that will be used to conduct drone strikes in Yemen: The agency is building a desert airstrip so that it can begin flying armed drones over Yemen. The facility, which is scheduled to be completed in September, is designed to shield […]

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July 1, 2011
Patrick Cockburn on Libya, Jordan Flaherty on New Orleans trial

Patrick Cockburn on Libya, Jordan Flaherty on New Orleans trial

[mp3-jplayer tracks=”CounterSpin070111 Patrick Cockburn and Jordan Flaherty @https://eadn-wc04-3257648.nxedge.io/audio/counterspin/CounterSpin070111.mp3″] Download MP3 This week on CounterSpin: Congressional debate over the Libya War shows an apparently bipartisan sense of frustration and outrage over the NATO mission. This has triggered a serious debate over the legality of the war, among other things. But there is almost no discussion of […]

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June 23, 2011

USAT: Anti-War Movement Applauds Obama Speech?

An analysis in USA Today (6/23/11) by Richard Wolf claims: President Obama’s decision to remove 10,000 troops from Afghanistan this year and a total of 33,000 by next September was deemed a step in the right direction Wednesday by a growing, and bipartisan, anti-war movement. Really? I’m not aware of many people in the “anti-war […]

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June 22, 2011

WaPo Defines Obama’s Afghan War Mission

The headline in today‘s Post, previewing Obama’s speech tonight: Obama’s Challenge: Leaving, but Not Too Quickly Funny how it’s not the other way around–leaving too slowly would seem to be a larger political problem, given the state of public opinion. The Post reports: President Obama will face a stiff political challenge Wednesday in presenting his […]

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June 6, 2011

ABC’s Raddatz, Citing Her ‘Combat Mission,’ Says Bombs Must Go On

Afghan president Hamid Karzai denounced once again U.S./NATO airstrikes that killed civilians. In this recent incident, 14 were killed, including 11 children. This prompted ABC World News anchor Diane Sawyer (5/31/11) to call in ABC reporters to sort things out, leading to this exchange with Pentagon reporter Martha Raddatz: SAWYER: He’s talking to the Afghan […]

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May 31, 2011

George Will: All Over the Map on the War Powers Act

On Sunday George Will wrote a strong Washington Post column about Obama, the Libya War and the law: In a bipartisan cascade of hypocrisies, a liberal president, with the collaborative silence of most congressional conservatives, is traducing the War Powers Resolution. Enacted in 1973 over President Nixon’s veto, the WPR may or may not be […]

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May 23, 2011

Libya and the Law

Media debates over the U.S./NATO war in Libya have often amounted to proponents arguing for “humanitarian” intervention while conservative critics worry about Barack Obama’s management of the war. But the question of the war’s legality should be a front and center concern. Obama’s decided to wage war on Libya without seeking congressional approval. Under some […]

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May 10, 2011

The Iraq War’s New ‘Complications’

The Washington Post today (5/10/11) has a perplexing article by Aaron Davis about U.S. troops leaving Iraq. Here’s the lead: BAGHDAD — The United States’ pleas for Iraq’s government to decide “within weeks” whether American troops should stay beyond a year-end deadline to leave will not be met, Iraqi politicians say, complicating plans for the […]

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May 10, 2011

The Shifting Standard for Indiscriminate Killing

I was struck by the contrast between two passages I came across recently: Misurata’s population is roughly 400,000. In nearly two months of war, only 257 people–including combatants–have died there. Of the 949 wounded, only 22–less than 3 percent–are women. If Gadhafi were indiscriminately targeting civilians, women would comprise about half the casualties. –Alan J. […]

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May 9, 2011

On Second Thought: The White House’s Shifting Story on bin Laden Raid

Certain features of the White House story about the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound were irresistible to the media: A fierce firefight. The feared terrorist leader crouching behind his wife as the Navy SEALs approached, before resisting or possibly even reaching for a weapon. And on and on. Of course, those details have been […]

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May 5, 2011

Navy SEALs: Subtle, Brainy Superhumans

Salon.com‘s Justin Elliot has a good piece about media adoration for the Navy SEALs, focusing on an NBC report. Lest anyone think that report is a weird outlier, here are some quotes from the May 3 broadcast of ABC World News (you can watch it here, if you must): DIANE SAWYER: Tonight, details are surfacing […]

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May 2, 2011

The Wrong Time to Talk About the Afghan War?

During an interview on CNN last night (5/1/11) with New York firefighter and 9/11 first responder Kenny Specht: BLITZER: Did you ever give up hope, Kenny, that the U.S. would kill bin Laden? SPECHT: No, but I’d be lying to you, Wolf, I’d be lying to you if I thought about it every night. No, […]

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May 1, 2011

On Libya, Opinion Pages a No-Debate Zone?

In the month before the UN Security Council approved international military action against Libya, U.S. media frequently discussed the possibility of military intervention, usually in the form of a no-fly zone over the country to stop Moammar Gadhafi’s attacks from the air. But rather than hosting a robust debate, the country’s most influential newspapers gave […]

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May 1, 2011
Media Grade Obama’s Bombing

Media Grade Obama’s Bombing

Whether it’s called a war or a humanitarian “kinetic military action,” there are certain patterns in corporate media coverage when the U.S. is engaged in military action, and the bombing of Libya is no exception—from a parade of officials to a narrow range of debate to an emphasis on the infallible precision of U.S. weapons. […]

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May 1, 2011

Narrow Afghan Debate on Cable’s ‘Liberal’ Channel

Of the cable news channels, MSNBC has the most progressive image, based largely on the persona of now-fired anchor Keith Olbermann, but also reflecting the presence of hosts like Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz and Olbermann’s replacement Lawrence O’Donnell. To test how much this left-leaning reputation actually reflects the content of MSNBC’s news, Extra! looked at […]

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