Monthly Archives: February 2010

OJ and Global Warming: Fossil Fuels Have Their Own Dream Team

Posted on 02/26/2010 by Jim Naureckas

Bill McKibben (TheNation.com, 2/25/10) has a good analogy that explains the success of global warming deniers: The campaign against climate science has been enormously clever, and enormously effective. It's worth trying to understand how they've done it. The best analogy, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change | 23 Comments

Newsweek's Mac Margolis Misleads on Who the World's Arms Merchant Is

Posted on 02/25/2010 by Jim Naureckas

Mac Margolis, Newsweek's right-wing Latin America correspondent (Extra!, 1/10), has a small piece in the latest issue (3/1/10) that misleads in a big way. Under the headline "A Killer Deal for Russia," Margolis declares: Russia's campaign to balance U.S. power … Continue reading →

Posted in International, War/Military | Tagged , | 8 Comments

George Will's Perfectly Consistent Filibuster Position

Posted on 02/25/2010 by Peter Hart

In his Washington Post column today (2/25/10), George Will writes in defense of the filibuster, arguing that Democrats' talk of using budget reconciliation rules to pass ahealthcare bill demonstrates their contempt for the Constitution. He has been perfectly consistent on … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | Tagged , | 19 Comments

Tom Friedman's Iraq War

Posted on 02/24/2010 by Peter Hart

In his New York Times column today (2/24/10), Tom Friedman presents a bizarreview of the Iraq War. Attempting to answer the question of whether Iraq is dysfunctional because of its culture (the "conservative" argument)or because of its politics (the "liberal" … Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq, New York Times | Tagged , | 14 Comments

To the NYT, Advocates of Killing More Civilians Are Something to Seek Out

Posted on 02/23/2010 by Jim Naureckas

Salon's Glenn Greenwald has had a couple of posts (2/18/10, 2/22/10) on a New York Times op-ed (2/18/10) that urged the U.S. to not worry so much about killing civilians in Afghanistan. The piece was written by Lara M. Dadkhah, … Continue reading →

Posted in International, New York Times, War/Military | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Pundits on Obama: Stay Left or Go Middle?

Posted on 02/23/2010 by Peter Hart

On NBC's Chris Matthews Show on Sunday (2/21/10), the main topic of conversation was a familiar one for Beltway media: Will Obama finally go to the "center"? Or as the show's website puts it, "The Crucial Crossroads: Will Obama Push … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Criticism | 14 Comments

You Can't Be a Neutral Observer of Your Child's War

Posted on 02/23/2010 by Jim Naureckas

New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt (2/21/10) returns to the issue of Times Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner having a child fighting on one side of the conflict he's covering (FAIR Activism Update, 2/12/10): Some Times journalists have taken … Continue reading →

Posted in International, Israel/Palestine, New York Times | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Delusions of Radicalism: A Longstanding Media Syndrome

Posted on 02/22/2010 by Jim Naureckas

Think Progress's Matthew Yglesias (2/22/10) points to a rather bizarre Economist editorial (2/18/10) blaming President Barack Obama's problems on his failure to move to the right: It is not so much that America is ungovernable, as that Mr. Obama has … Continue reading →

Posted in Barack Obama | Tagged , | 7 Comments

WaPo Editorial Page: Watch What You Read!

Posted on 02/22/2010 by Peter Hart

From the paper's editorial today (2/22/10) on climate change deniers: The Earth is warming. A chief cause is the increase in greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere. Humans are at least in part responsible, because the oil, gas and coal … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Washington Post | 14 Comments

When a Scandal Involves a Stockholder, NYT Takes a Pass

Posted on 02/21/2010 by Jim Naureckas

James Ledbetter (Big Money, 2/20/10) points out that Mexican media mogul Carlos Slim, the third-richest person on the planet and one of the New York Times' biggest stockholders, is a central player in a remarkable New York-based legal story–one that … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Business, New York Times | Tagged , | 5 Comments

New York Post Style Guide for White American Political Violence

Posted on 02/19/2010 by Jim Naureckas

The New York Post (2/19/10) has an interesting front page on the anti-government protester flying his plane into an office building. After the bad pun ("KAMIKAZE ATTAX!"), the subhead reads: Fed-Up Madman Crashes Plane Into IRS Building "Madman"–because unlike, say, … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Criticism | 3 Comments

Time Garbles Poll Numbers to Puff Tea Party Popularity

Posted on 02/19/2010 by Peter Hart

An article in the new issue of Time (3/1/10) takes a look at the Tea Party movement–which, according to their calculations, is surprisingly large: Whether bitter or sweetened, the tea is winning admirers. According to the latest CBS News/New York … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Criticism | 8 Comments

E.J. Dionne's Question Answers His Question

Posted on 02/19/2010 by Peter Hart

Why are liberals and Democrats losing on issues like healthcare?Columnist E.J. Dionne (Washington Post, 2/18/10) rightly points out that congressional Democrats have caved on almost every big issue: "Single-payer was out at the start. The public option died. A Medicare … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare, Politics | 8 Comments

NYT Stimulus 'Balance' Leads to Confusion

Posted on 02/19/2010 by Peter Hart

Yesterday Sheryl Gay Stolberg of theNew York Times (2/18/10) turned in a piece on the one-year anniversary of the stimulus plan–a favoritetarget of Republican lawmakers(when they're not happily enjoying the federalfunds in their states and/or districts, that is). The piece … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Politics | 3 Comments

Action Alert: ABC, NBC Nuclear Boosterism

Posted on 02/19/2010 by Peter Hart

FAIR put out an Action Alert today (2/19/10) critiquing recent nuclear power reporting on ABC and NBC network newscasts. Please feel free to share your letters to the networks in the comments section below.

Posted in ABC, Media Criticism | 12 Comments