FAIR is the national progressive media watchdog group, challenging corporate media bias, spin and misinformation.
Sometimes words fail. Joe Klein, writing in the new issue of Time, wonders: How on earth do we get saddled with such creepy clients as Karzai and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, over and over again? Yes, why do they keep doing this to us?! His piece is a pox-on-both-houses rant about U.S. foreign policy: The […]
New York Times TV reporter Alessandra Stanley (2/2/11) had a piece discussing why you can’t watch Al Jazeera English on your television. After noting that “demand was pretty low” for the channel until recently (unlike, I don’t know, Fox Business Channel, which must have dozens of die-hard fans), Stanley warned that zeal sometimes outstrips the […]
Start with USA Today‘s headline (2/3/11): Mubarak Supporters Weigh In: Anti-Government Rallies Shaken by Rival Protesters The forces attacking the pro-democracy demonstrators in Tahrir Square were not “rival protesters”; they were government agents, complete in many cases with police ID cards that were confiscated when violent provocateurs were apprehended by activists (Al Jazeera English, 2/2/11). […]
In late 2009 and early 2010, right-wing activist James O’Keefe concocted a story that got widespread media coverage. The tall tale went like this: O’Keefe and his associate went to offices affiliated with the community organizing group ACORN in order to solicit advice on running a brothel and evading taxes. The problem was that nothing […]
NBC Nightly News reporter Richard Engel held up a tear gas canister on the air to show that it was stamped “Made in the USA.” But something else he said on the January 28, 2011 newscast struck me: But what’s scattered on the streets of Cairo right now are these little canisters. These were the […]
An accidentally revealing moment fromRachel Maddow’s interview with Martin Indyk of the Brookings Institution last night (MSNBC, 1/31/11): MADDOW: Well, let me ask you about one tactical question in this diplomatic dance, I guess. Are American officials making appearances on Arabic language TV channels at this point? Should they be prioritizing doing that right now? […]
Washington Post columnist (and CNN host) Kathleen Parker turned in some thoughts (1/30/11) about what she didn’t hear Barack Obama’s State of the Union address: He didn’t say it. That word: “exceptional.” Barack Obama described an exceptional nation in his State of the Union address, but he studiously avoided using the word conservatives long to […]
The New York Times: Cables Show Delicate U.S. Dealings With Egypt’s Leaders The Guardian: WikiLeaks Cables Show Close U.S. Relationship With Egyptian President That reminds me of something Times executive editor wrote in a forthcoming piece on WikiLeaks, where he explains the difference between The Newspaper of Record and the Guardian in handling theAfghanistan documents: […]
Yesterday (FAIR Blog, 1/27/11) the Washington Post tried to argue that U.S. policy under the Obama administration has shifted to one of open support for pro-democracy movements in Egypt and Tunisia. There was little, if any, evidence to support this idea. Today (1/28/11) the New York Times steps in with a report based largely on […]
Jay Carney was a Time magazine reporter, bureau chief and frequent TV talking head. He is married to ABC reporter Claire Shipman. He left journalism to be Joe Biden’s communications director, andwas just namedBarack Obama’s next press secretary. It used to bemore common to see people criticize thismedia/politics revolving door. Journalists who jump over the […]
From the post-State of the Union discussion on the Charlie Rose Show (1/25/11): CHARLIE ROSE: With respect to his base, where are they tonight? They listened to him move to the center– JOHN SUNUNU: On the Upper West Side. JOHN HEILEMANN: Drinking heavily on the Upper West Side. (LAUGHTER) The discussion went on to explain […]
It’s normal for the opposition party to deliver a rebuttal address to the State of the Union. Last night Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin was given that responsibility. But further-to-the-right Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota delivered the “Tea Party” response to the State of the Union, which was initially scheduled to air on the Tea […]
Anonymous Israeli officials are weighing in at the New York Times today. Let’s remember the Times has some rules regarding the use of anonymous sources: The use of unidentified sources is reserved for situations in which the newspaper could not otherwise print information it considers reliable and newsworthy. When we use such sources, we accept […]
Bob Herbert, today in the New York Times (1/25/11): There has always been feverish opposition on the right to Social Security. What is happening now, in a period of deficit hysteria, is that this crucial retirement program is being dishonestly lumped together with Medicare as an entitlement program that is driving federal deficits. He’s right. […]
On Friday it was announced that General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt would be the chair of the White House’s Council on Competitiveness and Jobs. Given the fanfare of the announcement (Obama toured a GE plant with Immelt as part of the official rollout), it was considered big news. But let’s compare two nightly news broadcasts. […]
Today the New York Times reports on the debate over spending, deficits and the State of the Union (1/24/11): The public itself seems split, or perhaps confused. Americans overwhelmingly say that in general, they prefer cutting government spending to paying higher taxes, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll published last week. Yet their […]
Big news in the New York Times today (1/21/11): According to their new poll, Americans overwhelmingly support slashing military spending. Wait–that’s not the news. According to the story by Jackie Calmes and Dalia Sussman (headlined “Poll Finds Willingness to Cut Spending, Just Not Medicare or Social Security”), the real story is that people don’t like […]
Someone wanted to set off a bomb at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day parade in Spokane, Washington. Luckily the suspicious bag holding the bomb was spotted,which likelysaved lives. As the Washington Post reported today: “The device appeared to be operational, it appeared to be deadly, and it was intended to inflict multiple casualties,” said […]
When I saw the headline (1/19/11), “Vocal Physicians Group Renews Health Law Fight,” I thought maybe–just maybe–the New York Times might be talking about Physicians for a National Health Program, the group comprised of “18,000 physicians, medical students and health professionals who support single-payer national health insurance.” But no. The Times story is about the […]
From comedian Joan Rivers’ Twitter feed (read from the bottom up if you can): Fox says, for the record, that Rivers wasn’t canceled due to the joke; the show was overbooked, and she’llbe rescheduled. As someone who has been booked–andthen canceled–by Fox a couple of times, I’m skeptical of Fox‘s story here.
