FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
Whatever lesson you want to draw the midterms, the nation’s top editorial pages want to make one thing perfectly clear: Now is the time to move on bipartisan, corporate-friendly “free trade” agreements. “A time for free trade,” was the Washington Post‘s November 7 headline. “The Democratic majority in the House was heavily influenced by organized […]
Washington Post columnist David Broder sees one way for Barack Obama to demonstrate leadership after the midterms–push for war with Iran. Lest one be accused of misrepresenting his argument, this is what he wrote in his October 31 column, which starts out talking about the how a president can influence the economy: What else might […]
CIA whistleblower Phil Agee’s papers are headed to a library at New York University. A Washington Post article by Jeff Stein (10/27/10) notes that Agee, who died in 2008, revealed information that was”arguably more damaging than anything WikiLeaks has produced.” But Stein, an intelligence blogger for the Post, devotes some time to critiquing the library’s […]
Amy Gardner’srecent reporting on the Tea Party in the Washington Post has been very insightful. Today’s piece (10/27/10) deals with the activists’ views of the media.There’s astandard right-wing whine about mainstream media neglect, but actual Tea Party activists see things differently: Most local tea party organizers interviewed in an extensive canvass this month by the […]
One strand of conventional wisdom among elite D.C. reporters is that losing the midterm elections would be a good thing for the White House. Hence New York Times reporter Peter Baker (10/24/10): WASHINGTON — Let there be no mistake: President Obama wants the Democrats to win next week’s midterm elections. His voice has gone hoarse […]
I clicked on the Washington Post website on Sunday and saw this: We Overreact to Prejudice Instead of Airing It Out By Kathleen Parker Only someone who’s pondered Barack Obama’s “fullbloodedness” and Elena Kagan’s distance from “mainstream” America (hint: She’s Jewish, and from New York!) can do this. Parker also wrote a memorable column about […]
Rep. Paul Ryan is the Republican leader most often touted as a seriouspolicy wonk.His plan to “fix” Social Security was recently evaluated by the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration. As the Washington Post notes inan article today (10/21/10), Ryan’s plan”would slice initial benefits by about a quarter for middle-income Americans who turn 65 […]
David Broder–or an automated David Broderesque column-generator–bemoaned once again (Washington Post, 10/14/10) that “As the Gulf Between GOP and Democrats Widens, the Center Is Lost.” To illustrate this dire situation, Broder (or the Broderbot) cited congressional voting patterns: Bill Galston, the Brookings Institution’s resident political philosopher, was the first of the day to point out […]
Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein wrote a piece yesterday (10/13/10) headlined “Wage Cuts Hurt, but They May Be the Only Way to Get Americans Back to Work.” The point–in case you didn’t catch the drift ofthe headline–is that workers are going to need to take pay cuts in order to get the U.S. economy back […]
In light of the recent and tragic spate of gay youth suicides, the Washington Post‘s On Faith blog chose to honor National Coming Out day with a guest post (10/11/10) by raging homophobe Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. The post, titled “Christian Compassion Requires the Truth About Harms of Homosexuality,” accused “homosexual activist […]
Sunday’s Washington Post (10/10/10) featured a story by Jon Cohen and Dan Balz that led with this claim: If there is an overarching theme of election 2010, it is the question of how big the government should be and how far it should reach into people’s lives. The piece is actually an explanation of the […]
In his Washington Post column yesterday (10/10/10), George Will offered the kind of analysis one has come to expect from George Will: Today, Barack Obama, a chronic campaigner, is out and about trying to arouse the masses against the inequity of not raising taxes on “the rich.” He opposes extending the Bush tax rates–they are […]
Apparently not, judging by theWashington Post‘s October 3 story (“Military Drones Aid CIA’s mission”) about the CIA’s expansion of its drone war in Pakistan.It is “part of a high-stakes attempt by the Obama administration to deal decisive blows to Taliban insurgents,” and also “a significant evolution of an already controversial targeted killing program.” Post readersget […]
Longtime Hugo Chavez critic Jackson Diehl leads his Washington Post column today (9/27/10): Debate in Washington about Hugo Chavez —to the extent that it exists—generally centers on whether the Venezuelan strongman is a genuine threat to the United States or a buffoonish nuisance who is best ignored. This narrow debate over Chavez’s rule in Venezuela […]
The New York Times‘ Sheryl Gay Stolberg (9/22/10), writing about “brusque and brilliant economist” Lawrence Summers stepping down as President Obama’s chief economic adviser, cited House minority leader John Boehner’s charge that “Mr. Obama’s team lacked ‘real-world, hands on experience,’ a direct shot at Mr. Summers’ career as an academic.” She followed this by writing, […]
The Washington Post‘s editorial page weighed in (9/7/10) on the Israel/Palestine negotiations by noting that the news in the West Bank has been far less encouraging. In two shooting attacks last week, four Israelis were killed and two others wounded, interrupting what had been nearly three years of peace in the territory. My colleague Jim […]
Barack Obama has long supported the idea of extending the “Bush” tax cuts for 98 percent of the population. The highest-earning 2 percent, meanwhile, will see their top tax rates go back up to where they were in the 1990s. The Washington Post has a story today (9/8/10)that more or less explains this fact. The […]
Some in the media just can’t let go of John McCain. David Broder’s column today is really headlined, “John McCain, Your Country Is Calling.” He explains that he wasn’t “bothered by the doctrinal compromises the senator made to convince Arizona voters that he was, in fact, a conservative. McCain has always been a realist, doing […]
“CIA Sees Increased Threat in Yemen” is the Washington Post‘s headline today (8/25/10) over astory thattells of a”sober new assessment” of Al Qaeda-related activities that has “helped prompt senior Obama administration officials to call for an escalation of U.S. operations there–including a proposal to add armed CIA drones to a clandestine campaign of U.S. military […]
Washington Post ombud Andy Alexander devoted his August 22 piece to lauding how the paper handles storiesabout its parent company and itsvarious business entanglements–which, as he explains, are rather extensive. The Washington Post Co. owns Newsweek, several television stations, and the Kaplan company, which runs the for-profit Kaplan University,the subject of recent critical media reports. […]
