Iraq and the Media: A Critical Timeline
Critical journalists and analysts raised serious questions at the time about what the White House was saying. Often, however, their warnings were ignored by the bulk of the corporate press.
Mahmood Mamdani on Darfur, Karen Greenberg on Guantánamo
Columbia professor Mahmood Mamdani joins CounterSpin to discuss how the U.S. press oversimplifies the story of Darfur. Also this week: Karen Greenberg describes a recent trip to Guantánamo and shares about her recent essay on the experience.
Robert Parry on Libby verdict, Paul Porter on Payola settlements
Reporter Bob Parry of Consortium News discusses the Scooter Libby verdict, and the limits of what trials like this reveal to the public. Also on the program: Paul Porter of Industry Ears joins to talk about payola and the radio business.
NYT Hypes Venezuelan Threat
A February 25 report in the New York Times on Venezuela‘s international arms purchases (“Venezuela Spending on Arms Soars to World’s Top Ranks”) used selective information and an alarmist tone to suggest that Venezuela’s military spending was a potential threat to regional stability. Reporter Simon Romero’s alarming lead read, “Venezuela’s arms spending has climbed to […]
Mark Benjamin on Iraq Vets, Sam Husseini on Washington Stakeout
This week on CounterSpin: While a Washington Post series has made the deplorable state of veterans’ health care a hot-button topic, we’ll speak with Salon.com reporter Mark Benjamin, who has been documenting sub-standard care for veterans for the past 4 years. Also on the show: DC-based media activist Sam Husseini discusses his new project WashingtonStakeout.com, which seeks to ask politicians the hard questions.
NYT Responds on Iran Coverage
On February 25, New York Times public editor Byron Calame responded to readers who were critical of the Times‘ coverage of claims that Iran was shipping explosives to Iraqi insurgents. FAIR encouraged activists to write to Calame in a February 16 action alert. The following letter is FAIR’s reply. Dear Byron Calame, I was surprised […]
Alfred McCoy on Torture, Ali Abunimah on Rice’s Mideast Trip
This week on CounterSpin: University of Wisconsin history Professor Alfred McCoy joins to talk about the shifting narratives surrounding torture, which have emerged in tandem with recent media portrayals of torture as effective and regrettably necessary. Also on the show: Was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s recent trip to the Middle East really as big of a success as the media is making it out to be, with author Ali Abunimah.
NYT Breaks Own Anonymity Rules
(NOTE: Please see the Activism Update regarding this alert.) In the wake of its disastrous pre-war reporting on Iraq, the New York Times implemented new rules governing its use of unnamed sources. Its lead story on February 10, promoting Bush administration charges against Iran, violated those rules. In the report, “Deadliest Bomb in Iraq Is […]
Juan Cole on Iran’s Iraq Meddling, Ann Jones on Afghanistan
This week on CounterSpin: How US media is pushing propaganda to manufacture consent for war against Iran, with University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole. Also on the show: Journalist and photographer Ann Jones joins to talk about Afghanistan, which was pushed to the media back-burner even before the invasion of Iraq had begun.
Won’t Get Fooled Again?
The most important lesson about the Iraq War for reporters was perhaps the simplest one: Don’t assume the White House is telling the truth. It’s a lesson that many reporters seem to be forgetting now that U.S. officials are escalating their claims about Iran’s role in Iraq. On January 29, CBS Evening News aired a […]
Staying Inside the Beltway
One day after an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C. attracted a crowd estimated at 100,000 by the Los Angeles Times, the networks’ Sunday morning talk shows remained mostly unaffected by the expression of broad opposition to the war, keeping their discussions confined to the narrow spectrum of Beltway elites. Despite overwhelming public sentiment opposing the […]
Rick Perlstein on Conservatives & Martin Luther King, Sarah Olson on Watada Subpoena
This week on CounterSpin we’ll talk to writer Rick Perlstein about why “Conservatives Still Don’t Get Martin Luther King.” Also on the program: Can journalists be forced to help the military make its case just for doing their job, with independent reporter Sarah Olson.
Ombud Concurs on NewsHour’s Iraq Panel
PBS ombud Michael Getler (1/11/07), responding to viewers who shared FAIR’s concerns about the balance of a recent NewsHour discussion of Iraq policy (1/8/07; FAIR Action Alert, 1/10/07), wrote that “I’m with the viewers on this one.” The segment, which featured two U.S. senators advocating for George W. Bush’s “surge” policy along with two legislators […]
Alexander Cockburn on NY Times & Iraq, Matt Zimmerman on Spocko & Disney
The New York Times complicity in calling for an escalation of the Iraq War, with CounterPunch proprietor and Nation magazine columnist Alexander Cockburn. Also this week: Matt Zimmerman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation on the conflict between ABC and a San Francisco blogger who decided to expose the nasty rhetoric featured on a local Disney-owned radio station.
Debating the Iraq ‘Surge’ on PBS
(NOTE: Please see the Activism Update regarding this alert.) With public opinion running heavily against the White House’s planned escalation of the Iraq War, one might think a debate on the issue on public television’s flagship newscast might reflect public sentiment. But the discussion on the January 8 edition of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer […]
Best of CounterSpin 2006
On this special Best of CounterSpin, program we look back over some of what was news for the mainstream media in 2006—and some of what wasn’t news, but should’ve been.
Invading Grenada
Urgent Fury, carried out 20 years before Operation Iraqi Freedom, has faded from public and political memory. Yet there is much to be remembered, as there are many cogent parallels between Grenada and Iraq.
Robin Andersen on media and war
This week on CounterSpin: A special conversation with media historian and scholar Robin Andersen whose new book A Century of Media, A Century of War traces media gullibility, official deception and propaganda through the years.
Tom Englehardt on Iraq Study Group, Yifat Susskind on World AIDS Day
This week on CounterSpin: The recent report from the Iraq Study Group, with Tom Englehardt of the Nation Institute. Also on the program: How unenthusiastic media coverage creates a major gap in the world’s collective understanding of AIDS and the conversation here in the US, with MADRE’s Yifat Susskind.
Withdrawing From Debate on Iraq
The forthcoming report from the independent Iraq Study Group, which according to press reports will possibly recommend a gradual and tentative withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq while rejecting any deadlines or timetables to carry it out, seems likely to further marginalize advocates of meaningful troop withdrawal in the media debate over Iraq. The group, […]
