Both-Sidesing Democracy to Death
As Trump has solidified his grip on the right, elite journalists have largely returned to their perfunctory both-sides reporting.
There’s No ‘Vaccine Mandate’—but That Doesn’t Stop WaPo Asking People How They Feel About It
When journalists gin up controversy over lesser measures, they make progress in the fight against Covid that much harder.
Gushing Coverage of the Billionaire’s Space Race
Media companies deemed the future of space tourism more newsworthy than the exploitation that has, at least partially, funded its infancy.
WaPo Obscures Republican Role in Killing Equal Pay
The GOP no doubt cackles with delight at coverage like the Washington Post’s which deflects blame away from them.
Jeff Bezos’ Fake News in the Newspaper He Really Owns
A front-page, “truthy-looking” Washington Post ad about Amazon’s corporate benevolence is designed to deflect from troubling realities.
In Media Framing, Trans Kids Are Problems to Be Solved—Not People With Rights
Instead of centering trans voices in coverage of bills that target them, journalists at the New York Times and Washington Post have tended to cover the story as primarily one of political debate,
WaPo Curates the Memory of George Shultz
Assessments that judge George Shultz to be one of “the good guys,” with a commitment to things like freedom, human dignity and humanity, necessarily gloss over his role in both the Iraq War and the Iran/Contra scandal.
Leading Papers Talked Up Establishment’s Senate Candidates
Democrats celebrated dual Georgia Senate race victories this week, which gives them, with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tiebreaker vote, a bare majority in the Senate. But not all Democrats are created equal, and the one-vote margin makes the politics of each individual in that majority more consequential. In 2020, several states witnessed competitive Democratic […]
Absolving Trump Means Erasing the Harm Done to Millions
The call to coddle Trump—like the same outlets’ insistence that it would be mean to send bankers whose fraud derailed the economy to jail—is evidence of the total divorce between real people’s lives and experiences, and the puppets and caricatures in media’s narrative.
As US Teeters on Authoritarianism, WaPo Pushes ‘Both Sides’ Fantasies
In the extensive genre of corporate media obfuscation about right-wing paramilitary violence, a WaPo piece stands out even amidst some tough competition.
Democracy Dies in Obfuscation
In the extensive genre of corporate media obfuscation about right-wing paramilitary violence, a WaPo piece stands out even amidst some tough competition.
At Washington Post, Defunding Police Is a Step Too Radical
Washington Post coverage has paternalistically painted police defunding as a radical utopian fantasy that would hurt Black communities.
Extra! August/September 2020 Soundbites
Lack of a BLM Covid Spike Should Make Us Listen to Epidemiologists Though joined by many other outlets, the Atlantic was particularly urgent in its warnings that protests against police violence would create a new spike of Covid-19 cases. “The wave of mass protests across the United States will almost certainly set off new chains […]
New York State Tries to Suspend Democracy; NYT and WaPo Shrug
Giving a two-person unelected board the discretion to cancel an election when candidates have not terminated their campaigns is something you would think newspapers would take a bit more seriously.
Gov. Hogan’s Purchase of Korean Covid Tests Looks Like a PR stunt—and Media Fell for It
The Maryland governor offers an irresistible profile for the media: a Republican—yes, a Republican!—who criticizes Trump. Having checked that box, little else mattered.
Lives or Profits? For Corporate Media, It’s a Tough Question
It is perhaps not surprising that the view that profits are more important than lives has been treated as a reasonable opinion by corporate media.
As Construction Continues Amidst Covid-19 in DC Area, Bezos’ WaPo Raises Few Objections
Despite the Washington Post’s unique ability to bring about area-wide change, the paper has mostly kept quiet about the DC region’s dangerous construction sites, thereby inviting human tragedy.
To Stop Bernie Sanders, WaPo Willing to Risk Americans’ Lives
Election Focus 2020: Seeing its chance to thwart Sanders’ second bid for the presidency, the Washington Post risked voters’ health by staying silent about the dangers of in-person voting, even encouraging it.
Democracy Dies in Blah Blah Blah
Election Focus 2020: Reporters may think this is tactful, grown-up language, when it’s actually misleading, milquetoast language that does the opposite of what journalism is meant to do
When the Invisible Hand Gives You the Finger
Given the blasé response to the market’s inability to deliver life-saving equipment to those who need it, because it’s not “sufficiently profitable,” it is perhaps not surprising that the view that profits are more important than lives has been treated as a reasonable opinion by corporate media.
