Friedman Goes After Trump: Hey, Massive Bombing Was MY Idea!
Where could Donald Trump have gotten the idea that his “infantile threats of massive bombing” would be taken seriously as foreign policy proposals? Maybe he reads Thomas Friedman’s column.
Alice Slater on Nuclear Abolition, Tim Karr on Internet.org
When the topic is eliminating nuclear weapons, media could hardly care less. Plus: Internet.org, the Facebook mogul’s new application intended to provide limited free internet access in the developing world, is meeting strong resistance.
Colombian Report on US Military’s Child Rapes Not Newsworthy to US News Outlets
Explosive claims that US military soldiers and contractors had sexually abused at least 54 children in Colombia thus far seem to have received zero coverage in the mainstream US press.
Marjorie Cohn on ISIS AUMF, Laura Flanders on Worker Co-Ops
Would an Authorization of Use of Military Force actually make attacks against ISIS legal? And are such attacks really the solution to the crisis? Plus we’ll discuss a different way of organizing work in our increasingly unequal society.
The New York Times’ Nuclear Uncertainty Principles
When it comes to nuclear weapons, basic facts seem to be subject to political revision at the New York Times.
NBC: Someday We Might Learn That Drones Kill Civilians
Meet the Press covers US drone attacks. But why do they want viewers to think it’s too hard to know how many innocents have died?
FAIR TV: Keystone Misinformation, War ‘Works’ and NPR’s Cosby Questions
The Keystone XL pipeline is back in the news–and so is a lot of the same old misinformation. Plus we’ll look at how some TV journalists think about how war “works,” and at what exactly NPR’s Scott Simon asked comedian Bill Cosby.
War Works—So Why Isn’t It Working?
“About 800 airstrikes so far against ISIS. Why isn’t this working?” What makes a seemingly innocuous question like that noteworthy is the assumption that airstrikes are supposed to “work” in the first place.
No Debate on War
Today I was pleased to visit Democracy Now! to talk about FAIR’s new study documenting the lack of debate over the wars in Iraq and Syria. Watch the interview here:
Chuck Todd, Militarism and Media Diversity
Chuck Todd wants to make Meet the Press more diverse–but he doesn’t appear willing to try all that hard.
FAIR TV: ABC’s Factcheck Fail, Chuck Todd’s DQ, and Malala’s Message
ABC botches an easy ISIS factcheck, and NBC’s Chuck Todd “disqualifies” a Senate candidate who gave an iffy response to a trivial question. Plus Malala Yousafzai wins the Nobel Peace Prize–but US media doesn’t seem interested in her peace message.
Missing Malala’s Message of Peace: Drones Fuel Terrorism
The new Nobel Peace Prize winner had some choice words for another Peace Prize winner’s wars. But most media aren’t telling us about that message of peace.
FAIR TV: Media in War Mode, Calling for Civilian Deaths and PBS Hits Harper’s
On this week’s show: The ways corporate media cover war, a Fox News pundit wants to see more civilian deaths in Syria, and PBS uses its ad dollars to punish a magazine. All of that on this week’s show:
Fox Pundit: Civilians Die—Get Over It!
A Fox News military analyst is not afraid to talk about civilian deaths in Syria: He seems to want to see more of them.
TV Generals and Precision Bombs: Corporate Media Go to War
Generals, former generals and not much more: Corporate media are covering war the only way they know how.
Reluctant Warrior Bombs Yet Another Country
Can a president who has launched military strikes on seven countries really be called a ‘reluctant warrior?’
FAIR TV: ISIS & the ‘Homeland,’ Pro-War Pundits and ‘Don’t Blame Fracking’
This week: Watch ABC drum up fears about a terror attack on the United States. Plus we’ll take a look at the state of the debate over war, and how big papers spun a study of how fracking leads to water contamination into a story about how we shouldn’t blame fracking. Take a look:
The PBS Left: ‘Airstrikes Are Wonderful’
The voice from the left on PBS wants a serious debate over Obama’s war plan–but also makes it clear that airstrikes are great.
Our New War Will Be Different Because…
The New York Times seems to suggest that the ongoing wars in Yemen and Pakistan are limited to attacks on “leaders.” That is “a totally false statement,” one analyst notes.
