FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
All right, which newspaper posed this question about the Occupy protests today: Is this an occupation or an infestation? Has to be the New York Post, right? Nope–they wouldn’t include a question mark. That’s the Washington Post, which went on to report that “recent news updates from Occupy protests read like a crime blotter.” And […]
Just because he wears cowboy boots and drops his G’s doesn’t mean he’s a dummy. Perry may be a small-town boy who went to an ag school (Texas A&M University), but he’s an extremely cagey and strategic politician who has been among the state’s most successful governors at getting what he wants. Put another way: […]
When the International Atomic Energy Agency is about to release a report on an official enemy like Iran, you can be fairly confident that contents of the report–or what people believe should be in it–will be leaked to elite newspapers by anonymous sources in or near the IAEA, who will tend to make more alarming […]
Opponents of the Keystone tar sands pipeline project–10,000 of them, by some reports–surrounded the White House on Sunday to call on Barack Obama to reject the deal. That generated a short Metro section story in the Washington Post on Monday. More revealing than that was the Post‘s preview story in Sunday’s paper, which presented the […]
Washington Post correspondent Juan Forero has a piece today (11/4/11) that attempts to compare the Greek economic crisis with other similar debt crises, particularly in Latin America. Unfortunately, he draws some misleading conclusions. Forero’s point is that there’s a lot about Greece’s problems that are reminiscent of troubles in Argentina and Uruguay just a few […]
On its Sunday front-page, the Washington Post published an incredibly dishonest attack on Social Security. Under the headline, “Social Security Adding Billions to U.S. Budget Woes,” reporter Lori Montgomery reported that “Social Security passed a treacherous milestone”—a moment where the program, largely because of the recession, spent more in benefits than it took in. What […]
When he’s not sharing his thoughts about Barack Obama’s birth certificate, Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry is apparently unveiling a tax plan. It’s a flat tax, with a few other details explained by the Washington Post (10/26/11): Perry also would reduce the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent; eliminate taxes on dividends […]
Last night by many reports the police crackdown on the Occupy Oakland encampment was severe: Tear gas and flash-bang grenades were used to disperse a crowd trying to retake the park. Reading about the events in the nation’s capital, though, and you got a different impression. The Washington Post–no stranger to minimizing the Occupy protests–ran […]
Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen (10/24/11), tipped off by at least one of his Post colleagues, decided to pay a visit to Liberty Plaza to see the festival of antisemitism firsthand. Lo and behold, he found none: Reckless Jew that I am, I muscled my way into the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Lower Manhattan […]
Squint or you’ll miss it–the Sunday front page of the Washington Post: In case you’re having trouble finding it, it’s in the lower right-hand corner: a blurb approximately one column inch long, directing people to page A20 to find news about protests in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street in “more than 900 cities in Europe, […]
Without further evidence, the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States is rather hard to believe. See Glenn Greenwald’s take, for example, to appreciate the need for skepticism about U.S. claims–and the eagerness of many elite pundits to take the government story more or less at face value. Jim Lobe’s […]
ABC This Week (9/25/11): CHRISTINE AMANPOUR: And coming up, Rick Perry on the ropes. PERRY: Yep, there may be slicker candidates and there may be smoother debaters, but I know what I believe in, and I’m going to stand on that belief every day. I will guide this country with a deep, deep rudder. AMANPOUR: […]
Charles Krauthammer‘s column today in the Washington Post (“Return of the Real Obama,” 9/23/11) reveals the Barack Obama, who’s apparently been hidden away for the past few years: In a 2008 debate, Charlie Gibson asked Barack Obama about his support for raising capital-gains taxes, given the historical record of government losing net revenue as a […]
From a Washington Post story today about Obama’s speech at the United Nations: In his remarks, Obama sought to celebrate the Arab Spring–the popular revolutions that have upended the political order of the Middle East–but his lack of support for the Palestinians’ U.N. bid may put him at odds with the region’s proponents of democracy. […]
There’s a category of media criticism we’ve often called “Seen and Not Heard.” It’s usually a protest that’s covered via a photo and caption, with no accompanying story to inform readers about what seems like an important issue. I came across this today in the Washington Post (9/16/11)–the caption headline (not pictured here) is “Nurses […]
The Washington Post today: Diplomatic Efforts Unable to Derail Palestinians’ UN Gambit “Gambit” is the kind of word that seems intended to send a certain message–as if there some kind of sneaky maneuver at work here. That’s especially true when it is contrasted with “diplomatic efforts.” In this case, the paper is referring to efforts […]
It seems like just yesterday that Michele Bachmann was in the “top tier,” thanks to her narrow victory in the mostly meaningless Iowa straw poll. She had “momentum.” Then came this week’s debate and, well, things are looking different. As the Washington Post described the scene at the debate: Meanwhile, any momentum that Rep. Michele […]
Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen (9/5/11) takes the eve of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 to say that he’s sorry: I went home on September 11 with my shoes dusted with the detritus of the World Trade Center. I felt a hate that was entirely new to me. Soon after, the anthrax attacks began, and […]
FAIR editor Jim Naureckas tweeted recently, “NATO’s installation of an Al Qaeda-friendly government in Libya is one of 2011’s most underreported stories.” He’s got a point. The Washington Post today published a pretty interesting look at how the Libyan government viewed the jihadist threat, thanks to some documents recovered in Tripoli: The documents were uncovered […]
Washington Post ombud Patrick Pexton dedicated his column this weekend (8/29/11) to addressing complaints about the skimpy coverage of Republican presidential contender Ron Paul. It’s hard to argue with the numbers he’s gathered: Still, the Post‘s coverage of Paul looks thin compared with its stories on Bachmann. In the past six months, the Post has […]
