CBS anchor Scott Pelley declared, "We are getting big stories wrong, over and over again.'" Well, that sounds like pretty dramatic self-criticism. But, as usual with corporate media self-critiques, Pelley's criticism mostly misses the mark.
May
06
2013
Those Who Send Innocents to Prison Are Not Like Innocents Who Are Sent to Prison
By 11 Comments
It shouldn't be necessary to spell out, but apparently it is, that sending the Central Park Five to prison for a crime they hadn't committed was wrong because they hadn't committed the crime.
May
03
2013
The ACLU Is Like the NRA Because It Is
By 13 Comments
Decrying "the ability of well-funded extremist groups to thwart the will of the overwhelming majority," Time's Joe Klein cites defenders of Social Security–who, of course, are trying to thwart the will of an overwhelming minority.
Apr
23
2013
Erin Burnett Wants a Different Kind of Terrorism Suspect
By 6 Comments
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.
Apr
19
2013
FAIR TV: Boston Bombing, Defining Terrorism, Social Security 'Bravery'
By 3 Comments
Covering the media's rush to misjudgment on the Boston Marathon attack, which acts of terrorism are called "terrorism," and PBS's "debate" over Social Security–in which both sides call Obama "brave" for trying to cut benefits.
Apr
19
2013
Democrats Can't Blame Guns for '94 Losses
By 2 Comments
There are perhaps plenty of lessons in the (most recent) Senate failure to pass even modest new restrictions/regulations on gun ownership. But one lesson needs to be resisted: The idea that passing a more expansive gun control law in 1994 came back to bite Democrats in the midterm elections.
Apr
16
2013
'Terror Returns'–but When Did It Go Away?
By 12 Comments
"TERROR RETURNS" ran across USA Today's front page (4/16/13) in inch-high letters. Below, the story it referred to had a smaller headline: "That Post-9/11 Quiet? It's Over." Rick Hampson and Chuck Raasch's story began: The blasts on Boylston Street were felt across the nation, shaking and sometimes shattering a fragile hope–formed slowly in the years since 2001–that maybe it won’t happen here. Not again. Then it did. But what happened in Boston that hasn't happened since September 11? All we really can say with confidence so far is that somebody tried to kill a large group of people; as USA [...]
Mar
22
2013
FAIR TV: Scarborough's War, Steubenville, Drone 'Debate'
By 1 Comment
This week on FAIR TV: Joe Scarborough remembers some things about the Iraq War–but forgets the things he said back then. We'll take a look at the CNN Steubenville coverage that had so many critics outraged. And the Washington Post presented two takes on drone deaths in Pakistan.
Mar
01
2013
FAIR TV: Sequester Spin, Iranian vs. U.S. Propaganda, Stop & Frisk Factcheck
By 1 Comment
This week we take a look at how the Washington Post challenges some sequester spin. And CBS pokes fun at Iranian claims about Argo–but are the Iranians right that Argo is fiction? Plus George Will has some thoughts about stop-and-frisk policing.
Feb
25
2013
George Will's Stop & Frisk Factcheck
By 14 Comments
The ABC Sunday show This Week had not one but two roundtables this weekend. Right-winger George Will appeared on both of them, because… well, he knows a lot of stuff.
Feb
08
2013
Bill O’Reilly and the 'Epidemic of Disrespect'
By 15 Comments
Bill O’Reilly– whose network is known on-air fantasies about murdering public figures, jokes about the assassination of the president, and is the only network named by more than one spree killer as having helped to inspire their murderous designs–is worried that the country is becoming too disrespectful.
Jan
24
2013
Obama: 'Starkly Liberal' or Centrist?
By 19 Comments
A Washington Post story today (1/24/13) leads with this: The success of President Obama's starkly liberal second-term agenda will rest largely on the shoulders of Senate majority leader Harry M. Reid, who has been a rock-solid political ally and a valued legislative tactician for Obama during his first term. That characterization of Obama's agenda–shared by many in corporate media (FAIR Media Advisory, 1/23/13)–a seems better suited for an op-ed than a news article, especially since reporter Paul Kane has little to back up his argument. The piece is mostly about Obama's gun proposals, which Kane reports will constitute three things: [...]
Jan
14
2013
Aaron Swartz, 1986-2013
By 15 Comments
It's always difficult to report on someone's death. If they've had a lifetime of accomplishments, how do you sum that up in a few brief paragraphs? When a life has been cut cruelly short, it's even worse–trying hopelessly to convey the sense of lost possibilities. With Aaron Swartz, who died this past weekend, reportedly by his own hand, you have the worst of both worlds
