Monthly Archives: July 2009

Real Journalism: A Prerequisite for Real Debate on Healthcare

Posted on 07/30/2009 by Isabel Macdonald

For coverage of our delivery of FAIR's ongoing petition demanding that the TV networks cover proposals for a single-payer or Medicare-for-all system to ABC News' NYC studio, you can tune into Democracy Now!–a media outlet that could teach the networks … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Criticism | 8 Comments

LA Times Acknowledges Gaping Hole in Media's Healthcare Debate

Posted on 07/29/2009 by Isabel Macdonald

An LA Times column today cited FAIR's petition demanding that the TV networks include single-payer in their coverage of the healthcare reform debate, acknowledging that there is a "gaping hole in much of the media coverage–caused by the failure to … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare, Media Criticism | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

And 10 Times as Many Clueless Pundits

Posted on 07/28/2009 by Jim Naureckas

Asked by a Canadian viewer, "Has anyone noticed that life expectancy in Canada under our health system is higher than the USA?" Bill O'Reilly (7/27/09) responded: "Well, that's to be expected, Peter, because we have 10 times as many people … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged | 5 Comments

Mitch Albom's Faulty Tax Math

Posted on 07/27/2009 by Jim Naureckas

Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom–best known for his bestseller Tuesdays With Morrie–had a July 25 column that criticized the Obama healthcare reform with an argument that suggested an unfamiliarity with how the U.S. tax system works: In explaining why … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Healthcare | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

'Fawning Corporate Media' as 'Acrobatic Cheerleaders'

Posted on 07/25/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Under the succinct Consortium News subhed "Too Late the Leak" (7/24/09), former CIA analyst Ray McGovern revisits the Downing Street Minutes–which he says should represent the kind of documentary evidence after which trial lawyers, intelligence analysts–and serious investigative journalists–lust. Though … Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Textbooks as Weapons in Texas' 'Education War'

Posted on 07/25/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

The United Farm Workers have a new action alert (7/24/09) about "an education war going on in Texas" they note has "major national implications as Texas is such a major purchaser of textbooks and their stateâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s required curriculum drives the … Continue reading →

Posted in Education | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Lessons From 'the Abyss of Yesterday's News'

Posted on 07/25/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Realizing that "by now, talk of the Iranian elections will have traversed into the abyss of yesterdayâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s news," Warehouse magazine contributing writer Mohsen al Attar (7/10/09) still thinks "the events narrate a highly educational tale about the role of media … Continue reading →

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Sands of Healthcare Truth Beneath 'Oceans of Media'

Posted on 07/24/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Noticing that "days ago, buried in a chart under the headline "How the Health Care Bills Compare," the New York Times provided some cogent yet cryptic information," Norman Solomon (Guernica, 7/23/09) has done some valuable decoding of a Senate committee … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare, Media Activism | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Domestic Honduras PR's 'Amazing Job' Misinforming

Posted on 07/24/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

The L.A. Times has published a commentary from Center for Economic and Policy Research co-director Marc Weisbrot (7/23/09) furthering recent exposés on the damaging influence of U.S. lobbyists hired by unlawful regimes throughout the world. Under a headline about "The … Continue reading →

Posted in International | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Walter Cronkite's Other War

Posted on 07/24/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

The Media Bloodhound blog's Brad Jacobson has a post (7/22/09) adding some depth to the Walter Cronkite as belated-Vietnam-War-critic story: Following his death last week, various network news tributes replayed footage of Cronkite's influential '68 on-air editorial. Yet scrubbed from … Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Healthcare One of 'Two Human Rights We Lack'

Posted on 07/24/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

David Swanson (OpEd News, 7/22/09) has "another name for 'what's called a single-payer system'"–namely: "healthcare as a human right, not a commodity to be purchased. Many humans have this right. They just aren't Americans." Of Barack Obama's July 22 news … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Time: Israeli Settlers vs. the Palestinians

Posted on 07/23/2009 by Julie Hollar

Time has a big piece by Nina Burleigh on Israeli settlements in this week's issue. It's a familiar framing: The Katzes, very normal, gentle people readers can identify with (they're even from New York!), "consider themselves law-abiding citizens" and do … Continue reading →

Posted in International, Israel/Palestine | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Big Media 'Worth More Than a Warm Bucket of Spit?'

Posted on 07/23/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Having recently "published a report on 1,200 photos of U.S. torture that I have examined but the public at large has not seen," activist David Swanson (AfterDowningStreet.org, 7/21/09) now relates how he talked about the photos on a few progressive … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare, Media Business | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

NYT's David Brooks Scares Up More False Figures

Posted on 07/23/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Dean Baker (Beat the Press, 7/21/09) has synopsized the latest fiasco of a David Brooks column under the headline "David Brooks Wanted Tax Increases to Pay for Stimulus"–since, Baker writes, "that is presumably the implication of his complaint that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

'Strength in Bargaining' Still, When Deals 'Done Fairly'

Posted on 07/23/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Joe Strupp of Editor & Publisher (7/21/09) is reporting that newspaper union representatives claim a victory of sorts in the Boston Newspaper Guild's refusal to accept a deal that "called for smaller benefit cuts and a furlough, but a higher … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare, Media Business | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment