FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
The Washington Post‘s Howard Kurtz (6/21/10) write aboutthe investigative journalism produced by the Center for Public Integrity, and wonders about its independence: The center has also received grants–including $300,000 last year–from the Open Society Institute founded by liberal philanthropist George Soros, sparking questions about whether its news agenda leans to the left. “We have a […]
FAIR has a new Action Alert (6/21/10) on misleading historical context about Gaza’s rockets in the coverage of flotilla attack in the New York Times and Washington Post. You can post copies of your letters to the papers, or responses on the alert, in the comments thread below.
In the aftermath of Israel’s May 31 raid on the Gaza humanitarian aid flotilla that killed nine activists, the Washington Post and New York Times have propagated an inaccurate historical context that serves to bolster Israeli claims. The conventional rendition is that Israel invaded Gaza at the end of 2008 in order to stop a […]
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement yesterday that promised to “liberalize the system by which civilian goods enter Gaza.” The announcement from Israel’s security cabinet came after widespread international pressure on Israel following a deadly Israeli naval raid on a humanitarian flotilla trying to break the three-year old blockade of […]
People have interpreted the Helen Thomas controversy any number of ways.Some were disappointed in her remarks, since they are overshadowing the fact that for years she’s asked questions about issues that the rest of the press corps didn’t care about. Others have suggested that Thomas’ questions about war and the killings of civilians were a […]
The Israeli raid on the Gaza flotilla that resulted in the deaths of eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American has led Israel and its supporters to argue (see The Weekly Standard, 5/31/10) that the Turkish government and a prominent Turkish humanitarian organization are “terrorist” sympathizers with ill intentions toward Israel and the United States. In […]
Under the headline “President Bush Is No Nazi Torturer,” Washington Post editorial writer Eva Rodriguez uses a blog post (6/9/10) to “take exception” to another Post blog item (6/9/10) written by Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel. The point of contention: vanden Heuvel, responding to a report that the U.S. government has been conducting research on […]
In a June 8 piece about a liberal summit in D.C. this week,the New York Times notes thatthe left’s support forprograms like Medicare and Social Security areoutof touch with fiscal reality, and that budget cuts elsewhere aren’t going to matter much: In truth, none of the cuts in annual appropriations will significantly reduce the long-term […]
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) organized protests in Maryland at the homes of several bank executives, along with follow-up rallies in Washington, D.C., at bank branches and offices. The events went largelyuncovered by the Washington Post, whichled Post ombud Andrew Alexander(5/29/10) to wonder why the paper missed a major labor story that was covered […]
Last week the Washington Post informed us that voters are “up in arms over the mounting federal debt”—and thus politicians were being forced to scale back a new bill that would, among other things, extend unemployment benefits and send money to state governments facing serious budget shortfalls. This made little sense, since polls do not […]
President Barack Obama does not like leaks coming out of his White House. Luckily, most of what is passed to reporters is not so damaging. Take this passage from the Washington Post (5/26/10): Although senior administration officials have voiced growing disapproval of BP, the company operating the rig and responsible for the cleanup, the mission […]
Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt wrote a piece today (5/24/10) headlined, “In the Absence of Debate, Iraq and Afghanistan Go Unnoticed.” Hiatt laments the silence surrounding U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ponders whether “the absence of debate reflects not full-bodied consensus but a wishful averting of eyes.” Fair enough. But what […]
The Washington Post has a story today (5/19/10) that leads with this: With voters up in arms over the mounting federal debt, congressional Democrats are growing increasingly queasy about adding to the nation’s tab,with some arguing that additional spending to prop up the economy and help the unemployed should be paid for or abandoned. The […]
The U.S. has drawnup a new round of proposed sanctions against Iran that they intend to present before the U.N. Security Council. Thisis obviouslya rebuke of Brazil and Turkey for negotiating their own deal with Iran. The Washington Post refers to the countriesas “two junior Security Council members” that ” swooped in with their own […]
“Elena Kagan Is Miles Away From Mainstream America” is the headline on Kathleen Parker‘s Washington Post column this morning (5/12/10). What exactly does that mean? Well, on first blush, it seems to have to do with where she’s from: “Coincidentally, she shares the same home town as the other two women on the court. Assuming […]
According to a Washington Post article (5/10/10) on the front page of its metro section, the traditional image of the U.S. suburb is being spoiled as they become less wealthy, white and native-born. No, really. Carol Morello’s story began: Ozzie and Harriet, R.I.P. The idealized vision of suburbia as a homogeneous landscape of prosperity built […]
Washington Post critic Tom Shales (5/11/10) didn’t think much of the debut of the PBS show Need to Know. Given the reactions from viewers at the Need to Know website, and those published by PBS ombud Michael Getler, he’s not the only one who found the show a disappointment–or, as Shales put it,a “monstrosity”and “a […]
George Will, defending Arizona’s draconian new immigration law, concludes his column (Washington Post, 4/28/10) with this today: Arizonans should not be judged disdainfully and from a distance by people whose closest contacts with Hispanics are with fine men and women who trim their lawns and put plates in front of them at restaurants, not with […]
Applebaum seems, like many journalists, to believe that the Tea Party protesters are pretty much like Perot voters.
A Washington Post article (4/23/10) about the International Monetary Fund focused on the advice it is offering for the United States. The piece notes that this is somewhat unusual. Even stranger, though, is the Post‘s description of IMF officials as folks who “have a long history of stabilizing economies and solving global financial problems.” This […]
