What's the press saying about the Bradley Manning trial? We take a look at a strange CBS Evening News report about a U.S. atrocity in Afghanistan, and David Gregory thinks he found an Obama flip-flop.
Jun
05
2013
After a Massacre, a 'Glimmer of Hope'?
By 6 Comments
In a courtroom base near Tacoma, Washington, Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales will plead guilty today to killing 16 civilians–most of them women and children–in an Afghan village on March 11, 2012. A little more than a year later, U.S. media seem to have not much interest left in the Bales case.
May
01
2013
How Dare Hamid Karzai Take Our Money!
By 8 Comments
NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams had a most peculiar reaction to revelations that Afghan president Hamid Karzai receives regular deliveries of cash from the Central Intelligence Agency.
Apr
19
2013
Bill O'Reilly Gets Angry Because He Proved David Sirota's Point
By 8 Comments
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.
Apr
12
2013
North Korea Has Deliverable Nuclear Warhead! Or Maybe Not!
By 5 Comments
The panicky style of reporting on North Korea doesn't seem to be changing much, if you glance at the front pages of the Washington Post and New York Times this morning. But both pieces, if read carefully, undermine the alarmism–and make you wonder why the stories are on the front page.
Apr
05
2013
North Korea's Attack Plan: Apocalypse Never Mind
By 11 Comments
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.
Apr
03
2013
North Korea 'Rattles Sabres'; Meanwhile, U.S. Pretends to Drop Nuclear Bombs on Them
By 43 Comments
To hear U.S. corporate media tell it, there are "exercises" right next door, conducted by the world's most powerful military, which possesses thousands of nuclear weapons–and then there's menacing "saber-rattling."
Mar
25
2013
102 Years After Triangle Fire, Media Still Wonder How Workers Keep Dying
By 8 Comments
On the 102nd anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, Janine Jackson's article in the last issue of Extra! (3/13) is a sobering reminder that not that much has changed in the last century as far as worker safety is concerned: What should be done to prevent incidents like the January 26 fire at the Smart Fashion Export factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in which at least seven garment workers (three of them teenage girls) were killed, their escape impeded by a blocked exit and the absence of the most rudimentary fire safety equipment? The answer for many would be: whatever is [...]
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
18
2013
Two Sides to Every Drone Death
By 5 Comments
The UN's special human rights envoy found that the CIA's drone strikes in Pakistan have "resulted in far more civilian casualties than the U.S. government has recognized." But that message was muddled by the Washington Post's he said-she said approach to the question of civilian deaths.
Mar
13
2013
Armistice's Day Is Done–Contrary to NYT
By 3 Comments
Citing anonymous officials, the New York Times reported that "no party [to an] armistice can unilaterally terminate or alter its terms." International law expert Francis Boyle says that's nonsense.
Feb
26
2013
Oscar Rights Some Historical Wrongs, Creates Some New Ones
By 10 Comments
Many have exposed the fictions of Argo; Salon's Andrew O'Hehir described the film as "a propaganda fable." But when the Academy chose Argo and almost ignored Zero Dark Thirty, I cheered.
Feb
26
2013
Iranians and Their Clunky Propaganda!
By 15 Comments
I suppose we might ignore that the first lady of a country appeared at an awards show, flanked by members of the military, to present a prize to a film about the heroism of U.S. intelligence. No, the real problem is Iran's Photoshopping.
