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Progressive media promoted a false story of ‘conflict beef’ from Nicaragua
Reports by Reveal (10/21/20) and PBS NewsHour (10/20/21) called for a boycott of “conflict beef” from Nicaragua. The Center for Investigative Reporting’s Reveal claims to be “fair and comprehensive” and PBS to be “trusted,” but their misleading and inaccurate reports could have drastic consequences for Nicaragua, at a time when the country is already struggling […]
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‘The U.S. has been obstructionist in chief in Global climate talks’
CounterSpin interview with Basav Sen on rejoining the Paris accords.
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Covering school reopening, Chicago papers pit unions against parents
As FAIR (12/9/20) has reported, the New York Times has pushed for reopening public schools over teachers union concerns in New York City.
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NYT’s China syndrome
Imagine a parallel world where the U.S. brought Covid under control in two months, while China still struggled with it, a year and hundreds of thousands of deaths later.
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Corporate Media’s leaked Chinese documents confirm China didn’t hide COVID-19
Several reports on China’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic came out late last year, based on what U.S. outlets like CNN, the New York Times and ProPublica claimed to be leaked Chinese documents. Although these reports implied that China was responsible for how bad the pandemic has been because of its downplaying of numbers and censoring of critical information, these narratives are themselves misleading in several ways.
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Media Elevate Eugenicists, sideline disabled voices in discussions of Covid rationing
In the sticky conversations around rationing life-saving treatments and vaccines during the Covid pandemic, corporate media have elevated some experts without disclosing their troubling views on disability, aging and the value of human life. Meanwhile, media outlets have largely sidelined the voices of disabled activists and others who could speak on behalf of those most affected by the pandemic.
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Crying wolf on election fraud is OK at NYT—if targets are official enemies
President Donald Trump’s categorical refusal to accept what seems like an inevitable and increasingly crushing election loss has many in media rightly worried about the political repercussions of such a move, with some sounding the alarm over a potential coup d’etat in the U.S. (e.g., Salon, 11/11/20; Washington Post, 11/12/20; Guardian, 11/13/20; New Republic, 11/13/20).
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When Centrists lose, corporate media blame the left
Joe Biden hadn’t even been declared the victor of the 2020 election before establishment Democrats, in the face of poorer-than-expected results in House and Senate races, began pointing fingers at the left—with corporate media giving them a major assist.
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Panic over ‘Cancel Culture’ is another example of right-wing projection
The Republican National Convention this year made fighting “cancel culture” a priority for the party. Former Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch wrote in the Wall Street Journal (7/27/20) that cancel culture was at the heart of the crisis facing academic freedom in the nation.
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No, China didn’t ‘stall’ critical Covid information at outbreak’s start
Now that some time has passed since the beginning of the outbreak, it’s worth revisiting the less-conspiratorial corporate media narrative that the Chinese government maliciously or incompetently delayed the release of critical information early on, thereby causing many unnecessary deaths.
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Socialism’s increasing popularity doesn’t bring media out of McCarthy era
Ever since the Great Recession in 2008, and accelerating with Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential run, there has been a resurgence of popularity and interest in socialism in the U.S., and an increasing skepticism of capitalism.
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Evidence-free ‘lab leak’ speculation boosts Trump’s Xenophobic approach to Coronavirus
Ever since the outbreak of COVID-19 was first detected in Wuhan, China has been the target of relentless hostile and racist media coverage, depicting the country as a uniquely nefarious source of disease (FAIR.org, 3/24/20, 5/7/20).
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Julian Assange: Press shows little interest in media ‘trial of century’
Yet the case has been met with indifference from the corporate press. Even as their house is burning down, media are insisting it is just the Northern Lights.
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Media blame gender reveal parties, not climate change, for West Coast fires
The West is on fire, quite literally. A record-breaking heatwave has sparked unprecedented wildfires up and down the coast, turning the sky an apocalyptic, terrifying shade of red.
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American deceptionalism
How the centuries-old disconnect between our country’s ideals and its cruel realities have fueled more than two centuries of presidential lying.
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On right-wing violence in Texas, media’s silence sends message
Hank Gilbert, the Democratic challenger to Rep. Louie Gohmert in Texas’ 1st congressional district, held a rally in Tyler, Texas, on July 26 against federal law enforcement agencies’ recent intervention in Portland, Oregon. But armed participants of a “Back the Blue” counter-protest crashed the event, beating and robbing attendees in the park.
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‘What we’re seeing now is Jim Crow 2.0’
CounterSpin interview with Carol Anderson on voter suppression.
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Media’s ‘cancel culture’ debate obscures direct threats to first amendment
A short and rather vaguely worded open letter published in Harper’s Magazine(7/7/20) earlier this month caused an unlikely media storm that continues to rumble on.
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‘Trump’s troops are breaking the law and creating chaos’
Janine Jackson interviewed legal scholar Marjorie Cohn about secret police in Portland for the July 24, 2020, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.
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In ‘Russian Bounty’ story, evidence-free claims from nameless spies became fact overnight
Based upon a bombshell New York Times report (6/26/20), virtually the entire media landscape has been engulfed in the allegations that Russia is paying Taliban fighters bounties to kill U.S. soldiers.