Monthly Archives: July 2009

AP Adds $500 Billion to Healthcare Costs

Posted on 07/17/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Washington Monthly's Political Animal blogger Steve Benen (7/16/09) has observed that on July 15, "the Associated Press reported that the House Democratic healthcare plan cost '$1.5 trillion,'" and "by the afternoon, the AP reporting didn't attribute the price tag to … Continue reading →

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Va. Daily Confesses Racist Role in 'Dreadful Doctrine'

Posted on 07/17/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Editor & Publisher is running a wire item (Associated Press, 7/16/09) on the Richmond Times-Dispatch's recent front-page editorial and website video "expressing regret for supporting the state's fight to maintain separate schools for blacks and whites in the 1950s." The … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Politics, Race | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Telecoms Rally Against 'Transformative' Internet Bill

Posted on 07/16/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Free Press campaign coordinator Misty Perez has sent out (7/15/09) a call to action in light of the astonishing figure that "in the first three months of 2009, the phone and cable industries spent at least $20 million to hire … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Activism | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

When Reporters Are Present, Yet 'Fail to Bear Witness'

Posted on 07/16/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Arianna Huffington's latest column (Huffington Post, 7/13/09) presents a compelling portrayal of the power of new democratic media–versus the self-preserving corporate model of news gathering–in the Chinese government response to major riots last week: "It choked off the Internet and … Continue reading →

Posted in International, Iraq, Media Business | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Swine Flu 'a Case Study in Reckless Journalism'

Posted on 07/16/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Writing that "the swine flu outbreak that wrecked Mexico's economy this spring, and that the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic last month, may become a case study in reckless journalism," Miami Herald Latin America correspondent Andres Oppenheimer (7/8/09) … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare, Race | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

'Freed' Afhan Women Suffer 'Rape, Pillage, Plunder'

Posted on 07/15/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

The latest segment to be made available online (7/7/09) from Robert Greenwald's Rethink Afghanistan documentary features the president of the Global Fund for Women Kavita Ramdas challenging U.S. media tropes about improved women's conditions since the U.S. invasion: "The perception … Continue reading →

Posted in Gender, International | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

PR Successfully Sicced on 'Sicko'

Posted on 07/15/2009 by Jim Naureckas

Former PR agent Wendell Potter's stories of how he helped the health insurance's industry's campaign "to discredit Michael Moore and his film Sicko" calls to mind just how successful that campaign was. Corporate media coverage of the debate raised by … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

NYT and the Pro-Withdrawal Majority (of 2004)

Posted on 07/15/2009 by Peter Hart

New York Times reporter John F. Burns turned in a piece on Sunday about the debate in Britain over the Afghanistan war ("Criticism of Afghan War Is on the Rise in Britain," 7/12/09), in light of the increase in British … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Criticism | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Misty Water-Colored Memories of the D.C. Press Corps

Posted on 07/15/2009 by Jim Naureckas

Number of stories in the Nexis news database dated today that mentioned Sen. Jeff Sessions' (R.-Ala.) questioning of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, in which Sessions accused Sotomayor of harboring ethnic prejudices: 69 Number of such stories that recalled that … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Race | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Ben Stein and NYT 'Get Really Seriously Wrong'

Posted on 07/14/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Stating quite succinctly how "there is an ongoing issue about whether global warming deniers should be treated seriously by the media, given that they have about as much scientific support for their position as the flat-Earth crew," economist Dean Baker … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Environment | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

On the Limits of 'Reports and Facts' vs Propaganda

Posted on 07/14/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Viewing "two excellent pieces by the American News Project about the Fed's astonishing actions during the current meltdown," A Tiny Revolution's Jonathan Schwarz (7/12/09) confirms that "ANP does great work, and I commend them for taking on this subjectâ┚¬”especially since … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Media Business | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Media Check Insurance Co. Abuse… Occasionally

Posted on 07/14/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Longtime health insurance company bigwig and former holder of "the ultimate PR job," Wendell Potter recently told PBS' Bill Moyers (Bill Moyers Journal, 7/10/09) how he had been "involved in the campaign by the industry to discredit Michael Moore and … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare, PBS | Tagged , , , , , | 10 Comments

Even Corporate News 'Isn't Just Another Commodity'

Posted on 07/14/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

A Seattle Times op-ed column (7/4/09) by Free Press' Victor Pickard and Joseph Torres discussing the fact that "the public's changing media habits have eroded the newspaper industry's monopoly on the local ad market" describes the corporate response thus: "The … Continue reading →

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NYT's 'Egregious and Absurd' Editorial Priorities

Posted on 07/13/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Brad Jacobson is resurrecting the "NYT Front|Back" feature of his Media Bloodhound blog (7/10/09)–spotlighting the New York Times' "penchant for placing a supremely unnewsworthy story on its cover while burying a vital one in its back pages"–only for "the most … Continue reading →

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

'No Worries' in Fox Coverage of Murdoch Crimes

Posted on 07/13/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

News Corpse blogger Mark Howard (7/8/09) has linked to a London Guardian "story that simply must be read": Rupert Murdochâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s News Group Newspapers has paid out more than £1m to settle legal cases that threatened to reveal evidence of his … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Business | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments