In the worsening economic climate, a growing number of these supposedly “uplifting” stories become unintentionally horrifying after a moment’s reflection.
Author Archive | FAIR
How the anti-democracy movement use media to command the narrative
As far back as 1835, perhaps our nation’s earliest and most astute observer, Alexis de Tocqueville, understood the power of the media. He described the press as “the chief democratic instrument of freedom.” But today our “instrument of freedom” seems to mean the freedom to enrich oneself privately, whatever it takes. How did we get […]
‘You can’t watchdog government if government’s watching all your communication’
“Congress Advances Bill to Renew NSA Surveillance Program After Trump Briefly Upstages Key Vote” was the headline on a Washington Post article. The lead described the bill as reauthorizing “the government’s authority to conduct foreign surveillance on U.S. soil.”
Think Tank-Addicted media turn to regime change enthusiasts for Iran protest commentary
Since the outbreak of mass demonstrations and unrest in Iran last week, U.S. media have mostly busied themselves with the question of not if we should “do something,” but what, exactly, that something should be. As usual, it’s simply taken for granted the United States has a divine right to intervene in the affairs of […]
‘Whether or not the Presidents change, the Generals remain connected’
CounterSpin interview with Suyapa Portillo on Honduras Electoral Chaos
Net neutrality repeal is only part of Trump’s surrender to corporate media
The FCC is under attack—and so too is the First Amendment. As the primary regulator of how media and information gets to our nation’s citizens, the Federal Communications Commission has a critical role to play in protecting the open Internet, free speech, and free press in our democracy.
WaPo’s one-sided cheerleading for coup and intervention in Venezuela
The Washington Post has put out 15 opinion pieces on issues surrounding Venezuela, and they are disturbing and far from the truth.
In month after Charlottesville, papers spent as much time condemning anti-nazis as nazis
Since the Charlottesville attack a month ago, a review of commentary in the six top broadsheet newspapers—the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, San Jose Mercury News and Washington Post—found virtually equal amounts of condemnation of fascists and anti-fascist protesters.
NYT claims U.S. opposed Honduran coup it actually supported
Have we in the U.S. have forgotten what happened in Honduras? Or is that many of us believe falsehoods about that history brought to us by media like the New York Times?
Centrist pundits paved way for Trump’s ‘alt-left’ false equivalence
Nominal media liberals, charged with opposing Trump and the emerging far right, have prioritized demonizing the left and in doing so have helped pave the way for Trump’s neo-Nazi whitewashing.
Talking about a revolution
The conflict between the needs of the majority and the interests of the few runs throughout our economy.
Corporate media largely silent on Trump’s civilian death toll in Iraq
Neither the recent report on the civilian deaths and war crimes in Mosul (published by Amnesty International), nor the broader issue of the civilian toll in the US war against ISIS, has come close to penetrating US corporate media. Can one imagine this frame in reporting on Russia’s siege of Aleppo? Can one imagine highlighting […]
Violent Media Rhetoric Beyond Tucson: When Some Calls for Violence Are Acceptable
The discussion of violent and paranoid rhetoric in the media is long overdue, whether or not it is ever determined that accused Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner was somehow influenced or motivated by such rhetoric. Before the shooting, there had been a remarkable surge of politically motivated violence (FAIR Blog, 1/12/11). Despite media efforts to […]
Inventing a Nation of Deficit Hawks
Republicans and conservative Democrats in Congress like to argue that public concern over federal budget deficits makes it impossible to pass a new round of job-creating stimulus spending. And corporate media like to echo these sentiments, despite there being little evidence that citizens are as concerned about these issues as inside-the-Beltway deficit hawks. In the […]
NYT Slams Single-Payer
NYT Fails to Include Advocates among ‘Diverse’ Experts The New York Times devoted some rare space on September 20 to discussing single-payer (or Medicare-for-all) health reform. The result? A one-sided account of why such a system couldn’t work. With a headline like “Medicare for All? ‘Crazy,’ ‘Socialized’ and Unlikely,” readers probably had a sense of […]
