Monthly Archives: August 2010

'Need to Know' Doesn't Know Why It's No Replacement for Moyers

Posted on 08/06/2010 by Jim Naureckas

Trying to explain why Need to Know, the PBS public affairs show that appeared in the Friday night timeslot vacated by Bill Moyers Journal and Now, has gotten such a cool reception from viewers, co-host Allison Stewart seems to blame … Continue reading →

Posted in PBS | Tagged , , | 55 Comments

For USA Today, Good Intentions Excuse Civilian Deaths–Unless You're the Taliban

Posted on 08/06/2010 by Jim Naureckas

USA Today had a piece yesterday (8/5/10) about new rules of engagement issued in Afghanistan by Afghan War commander Gen. David Petraeus. The new rules–much like the old rules–"are aimed at limiting civilian casualties," the paper's Jim Michaels reports in … Continue reading →

Posted in Afghanistan, USA Today, War/Military | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

NYT Passes Along Anonymous Denial of Civilian Deaths

Posted on 08/06/2010 by Peter Hart

We often heard during the WikiLeaks controversy thatcivilian deaths in Afghanistan are well-covered in the corporate media, so the revelations in the documents about such incidents were "old news." A report in today's Times from Rod Nordland ("Afghans Say NATO … Continue reading →

Posted in Afghanistan, New York Times, War/Military | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

New Action Alert on NY Times and Factchecking

Posted on 08/04/2010 by Peter Hart

FAIR just released an action alert about the New York Times anda factchecking failure onits op-ed page. Read the alert if you haven't already, and if you decide to write to the Times, please share your letter in the comments … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Criticism | 12 Comments

Howard Kurtz Defends His Defense of Fox in Sherrod Debacle

Posted on 08/04/2010 by Zachary Tomanelli

In Howard Kurtzâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s latest column (8/2/10), the Washington Post media reporter bemoans the new media atmosphere as a "search-and-destroy culture" that is "as likely to vilify journalists as political and corporate leaders." Kurtz counts himself among those vilified journalists, citing … Continue reading →

Posted in Fox News, Washington Post | Tagged , | 39 Comments

Animals Are Funny, and Other News From ABC

Posted on 08/04/2010 by Jim Naureckas

Matthew Yglesias (8/3/10) has a good takedown of senators John McCain (R.-Ariz.) and Tom Coburn's (R.-Ok.) list of supposedly wasteful stimulus projects that generated an "exclusive" on ABC's Good Morning America (8/3/10): Jon Chait observes that McCain and Coburn also … Continue reading →

Posted in ABC, Economy, Politics | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

The Incredible Pettiness of Right-Wing Media Criticism

Posted on 08/03/2010 by Peter Hart

EverySunday on ABC's This Week there is a feature that namesthe U.S. servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan the previous week. Christiane Amanpour is the new host of the show, andthe segmentcontinues. Buther critics see something sinister at work. This … Continue reading →

Posted in ABC, Afghanistan, Media Criticism, Time | Tagged , , , , | 43 Comments

Wash Post vs. Wash Post on Venezuela

Posted on 08/02/2010 by Peter Hart

As Steve Rendallexplained here last week,the recent Washington Post editorial ("Colombia Proves Again That Venezuela Is Harboring FARC Terrorists")doesn't reallyback up itsargument thatthere is some sort of Venezuelan conspiracy to aidthe Colombiarebel group FARC. "That Venezuela is backing a terrorist … Continue reading →

Posted in Venezuela, Washington Post | Tagged , | 7 Comments

WikiLeaks on Sunday State TV

Posted on 08/02/2010 by Peter Hart

The Afghanistan documents posted by WikiLeaks were obviously the big story of the week. So how did the network Sunday shows react to these disclosures, which have the potential to open up a real debate about the Afghan War? NBC's … Continue reading →

Posted in ABC, Afghanistan, Media Criticism, NBC, PBS, War/Military | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

News Flash: Arabs Care Deeply About Palestine

Posted on 08/02/2010 by Alex Kane

Israeli historian Efraim Karsh argues in the New York Times (8/2/10) today that Arabs have lost interest in the Palestinian cause, which apparently is a good thing because that severs "the spurious link between this particular issue and other regional … Continue reading →

Posted in Israel/Palestine, New York Times | Tagged , | 19 Comments