Under the somewhat nonsensical headline, "Wall Street Demonstrations Test Police Trained for Bigger Threats," New York Times reporter Joseph Goldstein may have managed to turn in (9/27/11) a more offensive piece than Ginia Bellafante's June 25 dispatch (picked apart by Allison Kilkenny here). The piece begins: When members of the loose protest movement known as Occupy Wall Street began a march from the financial district to Union Square on Saturday, the participants seemed relatively harmless, even as they were breaking the law by marching in the street without a permit. But to the New York Police Department, the protesters represented [...]
Sep
27
2011
Critics–and Questionable Sponsors–at NBC's Education Nation
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There's an interesting piece at the Huffington Post (9/27/11) by Joy Resmovits about what some critics of the corporate-backed NBC Education Nation conference are saying. Even though some are crediting NBC for a more balanced program than last year, not everyone's ready to give the network a passing grade: While some lauded the increased balance and depth at this year's Education Nation, retired New York City teacher and Grassroots Education Movement member Norm Scott gave [NBC News president Steve] Capus an earful on Tuesday. "People see an absence of the word 'class size' in these debates," he told Capus. "This [...]
Sep
27
2011
Wall Street Activists Talk Back to NYT
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It is very unusual to see such direct criticism of the New York Times in the Times itself (9/27/11)–this is something to celebrate. To the Editor: Anyone who has spent a few days–or nights–in occupied Zuccotti Park near Wall Street this past week would have trouble recognizing what they've seen in "Gunning for Wall Street, With Faulty Aim," by Ginia Bellafante (Big City column, September 25). The protesters' numbers have been growing, not "dwindling," both in New York and in related occupations around the country. Though their views are diverse, what exactly unites them is anything but "impossible to decipher": [...]
Sep
26
2011
GOP Reality TV Show Needs New Contestant
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ABC This Week (9/25/11): CHRISTINE AMANPOUR: And coming up, Rick Perry on the ropes. PERRY: Yep, there may be slicker candidates and there may be smoother debaters, but I know what I believe in, and I'm going to stand on that belief every day. I will guide this country with a deep, deep rudder. AMANPOUR: Can the new frontrunner come back from a shaky debate performance? Or is Chris Christie waiting in the wings to steal his thunder? New York Times (9/26/11): After Perry's Debate Showing, Eyes Turn Toward Christie Washington Post (9/26/11): Texas Gov. Rick Perry's recent stumbles–his rambling [...]
Sep
26
2011
CBS Celebrates 20 Years of Speaking…to Power
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There's a piece at the CBS website (9/21/11) by Robert Hendin marking Bob Schieffer's 20 years hosting the network's Sunday morning show Face the Nation. Hendin, a senior producer for the show, writes: From the get go, Bob made his plans known. "Our aim is to going to be very simple here: to find interesting people from all segments of American life who have something to say and give them a chance to say it," he said that morning. The piece goes on to reveal–likely by accident–a lot about what they mean by "all segments of American life." So to [...]
Sep
26
2011
Obama Plan=Class Warfare? NBC Asks a Billionaire
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At the top of Meet the Press yesterday (9/25/11), NBC anchor David Gregory announced one of the topics to come: Is the president's plan basic fairness or class warfare? As with too many other media debates, an absurd proposition–that returning tax rates for certain wealthy people to levels seen in the 1980s and 1990s is a declaration of war–is treated as one of the two possible answers to a question. Gregory manages to make things worse by getting the only answer on the show from billionaire New York mayor (and media tycoon) Michael Bloomberg: GREGORY: Does that trouble you? BLOOMBERG: [...]
Sep
26
2011
CNN Covers Occupy Wall Street–Especially the Parts They Can't See
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CNN anchors Carol Costello and Ali Velshi today (9/26/11) provided some rare TV coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protest in Lower Manhattan: VELSHI: A group of people protesting Wall Street greed are now screaming abuse after they were arrested over the weekend. The incident happened Saturday in Lower Manhattan. The protesters say they were pepper-sprayed, roughed up and denied food and water. Police defending the arrests saying the marchers blocked traffic and ignored orders to stay on the sidewalks. And here's an iReport from Saturday's demonstration. At one point, you can actually see a protester and police getting into [...]
Sep
23
2011
Public TV's Inequality Balancing Act
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The PBS NewsHour did a pretty strong piece last month (8/16/11) on inequality in America. So perhaps it was a sense of "balance" that drove them to do a follow-up segment on September 21 that argued that things aren't so bad after all. As anchor Jeffrey Brown put it: NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solman has been examining that subject, including studies showing an alarming rise in the so-called wealth gap. But tonight's interview takes issue with that view. It turns out that one of Solman's old friends, American University economics professor Bob Lerman, didn't much care for that piece: "It [...]
Sep
23
2011
Action Alert: Where Is the Coverage of Occupy Wall Street?
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The same corporate media that will rush to cover the latest burp from Tea Party protesters seem strikingly uninterested in demonstrators camped out in Manhattan's financial district, protesting the corporate takeover of U.S. politics. Please see FAIR's latest Action Alert (9/22/11) to call on the broadcast TV networks to pay attention to this activism. You can use the comments thread for this blog post to leave copies of your messages to the networks or to comment on the alert.
Sep
22
2011
Meet the Other Chuck Todd
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I caught this MSNBC commercial last night featuring their own Chuck Todd, explaining (apparently) how he thinks about his job: My job is to bring up issues that Americans care about. It's my responsibility to ask the tough questions. No matter who's leading the country, they need to be held accountable. I have unique access to the president, his advisers, the candidates and members of Congress. I'd better use that access for a greater good. Use it for people who can't get through the White House gates. For people who can't be heard. The American people deserve answers. Huh. The [...]
Sep
22
2011
Convincing Arab Protesters
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From a Washington Post story today about Obama's speech at the United Nations: In his remarks, Obama sought to celebrate the Arab Spring–the popular revolutions that have upended the political order of the Middle East–but his lack of support for the Palestinians' U.N. bid may put him at odds with the region's proponents of democracy. He has sometimes struggled to convince many Arab protesters that he supports their movements, in part because the United States has a long history of backing autocratic rulers in the region. Perhaps they remain unconvinced not merely because of that "long history" but because present [...]
Sep
21
2011
We Can't Talk About Class Because We Can't Talk About Why We Can't Talk About Class
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In the L.A. Times today (9/21/11), media reporter James Rainey asks a very important question: In a week that saw the number of people in poverty hit a half-century high and President Obama propose a tax increase on those with million-dollar incomes, will America and the American media finally dig in for a serious conversation about class? And his evaluation of the media's performance on wealth-and-poverty issues accords with what FAIR has found when we've looked at the coverage (Extra!, 9-10/07, 6/10). Here's Rainey's take: Even though economists say the gap between haves and have-nots has been building for three [...]
