FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
Remember how corporate media’s campaign coverage used to offer wide-ranging, diverse perspectives? Me neither. But Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank apparently thinks that’s the way the world used to work, until Twitter came along and the press corps turned into one giant exercise in groupthink. He writes today (10/24/12) that campaign reporters have one eye […]
The Obama campaign has released a new ad criticizing Mitt Romney for having a Swiss bank account and wanting to keep tax breaks for corporations that offshore jobs. The commercial’s most devastating line: Romney once railed against the deadly pollution from a coal plant. I know what you’re thinking: Totally racist, right? That’s sort of […]
Over the past few weeks of the presidential campaign we’ve been hearing a lot—maybe too much—about the September 11, 2012, attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. It’s been turned into a campaign issue by the Romney team, which has used the incident to charges […]
FAIR TV takes a look at how the U.S. media handled the Venezuelan election, how the Washington Post “greened” fracking and how the New York Times used a time machine to “fix” a headline about Israel/Palestine. Watch it, share it with your friends and please leave a comment below.
The lesson seems to be: Make sure your lie is really devastating, since the fact that it’s a lie won’t matter much.
The Washington Post editorial page (10/5/12) weighed in on the contentious environmental issue of fracking. No surprise–they’re all for it. “Fracking’s Green Side” is the headline in the print edition. (The Web version is different.) The editors write: Those who would ban fracking or regulate it into oblivion ignore the exceptional benefits that inexpensive natural […]
Deep Throat Not What He Used to Be The Washington Post’s Dan Balz (8/14/12) somehow convinced a “senior Romney advisor” to reveal a stunning secret that could only be disclosed “on the condition of anonymity”—that Mitt Romney felt good about his vice presidential pick: “He was very confident in himself, in Paul Ryan, in the […]
Washington Post ombud Patrick Pexton (9/30/12) presents conservative opinion as a prima facie case for a left-wing slant in corporate news media: “Republicans think the news media are being too easy on Barack Obama…. Everyone sees more bias, and Republicans see it more than other groups.” Offering this as evidence of a left media bias […]
The protests and violence in Egypt, Libya and Yemen have caused a notable uptick in media discussions about, as Newsweek‘s cover puts it, “Muslim Rage.” Part of the corporate media’s job is to make sure real political grievances are mostly kept out of the discussion. It’s a lot easier to talk about angry mobs and […]
The Washington Post had a two-page spread in its September 11 edition devoted to a “debate” on energy policy. But industry critics were missing from the picture. Why? Perhaps because the oil industry, undisclosed to Post readers, was sponsoring the discussion.
FAIR’s new action alert shows how the Washington Post failed to disclose to readers that a two-page spread on the election-year energy debate was based on events the paper co-sponsored with the American Petroleum Institute. We’re asking people to write to the Post‘s ombud about this conflict. Please feel free to share your letter in […]
If you’re a profit-seeking outfit, which do you prefer, the appearance of fairness or the inner peace that comes with knowing you’ve done the right thing?
You can get away with almost anything if you’re attacking teachers’ unions in the corporate media. New York Times columnist Joe Nocera (9/11/12) explains that while the so-called “reform” movement hasn’t come up with the right answers on schools: On the other hand, the status quo, which is what the Chicago teachers want, is clearly […]
Washington Post “Factchecker” Glenn Kessler (9/6/12) doesn’t like the way Democrats talk about Republican Medicare plans: The claim that Republicans will “end the Medicare guarantee” has been a frequent refrain at the convention, perhaps in response to factchecker complaints about the incorrect charge last year that Republicans would “end Medicare.” But this phrase is a […]
When it comes to journalists socializing and otherwise cozying up to the powerful, there’s not a lot new under the sun. More than 20 years ago, then-FAIR associates Martin Lee and Norman Solomon wrote about it in their book Unreliable Sources: TV’s top journalists are part of the wealthy and influential elite, often socializing with people […]
“What if it turns out that when the press calls a lie a lie, nobody cares?” That’s the question asked by Atlantic editor-in-chief James Bennet (8/28/12) after a raft of Pinocchios and flaming pants failed to sway the Romney campaign from its position that “we’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by factcheckers.” […]
The release of a new International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran was greeted as an ominous development by some major outlets. But are they playing down what could be the most important news in the report? The IAEA’s latest made it to the New York Times (8/30/12) under the headline, “Inspectors Confirm New Work […]
In an attempted factcheck of Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech at the Republican convention, AP‘s Calvin Woodward (8/30/12) takes on Romney’s big laugh line: President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family. Woodward looked into it and found […]
The Washington Post (8/17/12) has a story on Iran and the threat of war that begins with this: Preparations in Israel for a possible war are focusing new attention on whether Israel will attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and forcing an unwelcome debate in the thick of a presidential campaign about the U.S. role in stopping […]
