The national media watch group
The reality is that it is possible to both protest government intrusions on press freedom and to condemn bad journalism of the sort practiced by Jonathan Karl. It's important for protect journalism from official control for the same reason that it's important for media outlets to do a good job.
What should we make of the so-called "trifecta" of scandals hitting the Obama White House? And what questions should we ask about the IRS/Tea Party story? Also this week: Chris Matthews wants Obama to take charge–just like the union-busting Ronald Reagan. And the Newseum decides two Palestinian journalists shouldn't be considered part of their tribute to journalists who died reporting the news.
Praise for a conservative president's breaking the air traffic controllers' union–that's what you hear on the liberal cable channel.
The claims made about Israeli airstrikes against Syria could be true, or not. What is certain is that the assessments of the airstrikes are being shared anonymously by governments involved in carrying them out, a scenario that cries out for more skepticism.
Where do Americans get the idea that it's OK to kill civilians? Could it be that they're listening to media pundits?
Fox's Bill O'Reilly, who hosts the most-watched cable news show, has spent much of the week making inflammatory claims about Islam. Sounds like somebody is looking for a religion to scapegoat–or, given his track record, some countries to attack.
CNN host Erin Burnett wonders whether it's time to come up with some new laws in the wake of the Boston bombing, since the old ones seem to give Dzhokhar Tsarnaev too many rights.
O'Reilly was outraged by Sirota's point that the government's response would be very different–more costly, potentially more violent–if the perpetrators fit a certain profile. This is ironic, because O'Reilly had, the night of the attacks, basically made Sirota's point.
Are the pressure cooker bombs used in Boston really a link to Al Qaeda? No. But some reporters are trying to make that connection.
Why was the "Saudi national," a young man who was injured at the Boston Marathon bombing, considered a suspect? Enter "terrorism expert" Steve Emerson, who continues to make the media rounds despite a checkered history.
"Today there's an elephant in the room: a huge, yet ignored, issue that largely explains why Social Security is now on the chopping block…. That problem is U.S. militarism and perpetual war."
it was striking to see the parallels between the way Margaret Thatcher's death was covered on the PBS NewsHour and Fox News Channel's most popular show, the O'Reilly Factor. Though some people like to think that PBS and Fox couldn't be further apart, they were basically singing the same tune.
It didn't take long for TV coverage of North Korea to enter the "Retired General Sketches Out War Games on a Big Map" phase. But a recent example of the genre on CNN demonstrated only the alarmism seems to be the order of the day.
