FAIR Blog » ABC http://www.fair.org/blog The national media watch group Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:04:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 John Stossel, Free at Last http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/10/06/john-stossel-free-at-last/ http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/10/06/john-stossel-free-at-last/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:14:24 +0000 Peter Hart http://www.fair.org/blog/?p=13065 Rupert Murdoch's latest hire John Stossel, speaking at a Michigan college:

I quit ABC a couple weeks ago partly because they didn't like what I was doing. They viewed it as too biased.

Yes, ABC promoted Stossel to 20/20 anchor, gave him regular "Give Me a Break" commentary segments and one-hour, factually challenged primetime specials...all because they didn't like him. It's scary to think what the network would have done if they did like him.

]]> http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/10/06/john-stossel-free-at-last/feed/ 19 Real Journalism Still Exists — Outside of ABC http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/09/16/real-journalism-still-exists-outside-of-abc/ http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/09/16/real-journalism-still-exists-outside-of-abc/#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:25:28 +0000 Gabriel Voiles http://www.fair.org/blog/?p=12901 While within the power-friendly environs of the corporate-funded Newseum, congressmembers John D. Rockefeller IV, Tim Pawlenty and Mary L. Landrieu probably felt pretty good about their ability to field such softballs from ABC's George Stephanopoulos as "What's the problem with the public health option?"

But upon leaving corporate TV's criticism-free zone, where such lies as Rockefeller's statement that "Medicare is gonna start going broke in 2017, which is like the day after tomorrow," pass completely unchallenged, they each were questioned by real-life journalist Sam Husseini of WashingtonStakeout.com (9/15/09).

Compare the treatment described above with Husseini's calm but determined questioning of the pols:

Sam Husseini: Health insurance mandates--don't they end up being a subsidy for the insurance companies, because you're mandating that people go out and buy their product?

Mary Landrieu: ...I'm not carrying water for the insurance companies....

SH: You say you're not carrying water, but your No. 1 contributor is JP Morgan Chase, PACs and individuals associated.... And you've precluded the Medicare-for-all type option. Why shouldn't somebody conclude that you are doing the bidding of the financial industry?

And to Rockefeller's platitude, "Don't worry about the insurance companies. Believe me, we're going to take care of them," Husseini responds in a most un-Stephanopoulos manner:

You say not to worry about the insurance companies, but even though you obviously come from a very wealthy family, you've raised money for your campaigns--the No. 1 sector, according to Open Secrets, is finance and insurance. Why shouldn't it be seen that a lot of people in Congress are in effect doing the bidding of the insurance companies?

]]> http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/09/16/real-journalism-still-exists-outside-of-abc/feed/ 0 The Way They See the World http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/08/17/the-way-they-see-the-world/ http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/08/17/the-way-they-see-the-world/#comments Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:49:19 +0000 Peter Hart http://www.fair.org/blog/?p=12217 The big news in the health reform debate is that the White House seems to be willing to give up on the "public option," a government insurance program that would compete with private insurers. Everyone sees this as a big story, but there's something revealing about the way the Washington Post's Ceci Conolly led her piece:

Racing to regain control of the health-care debate, two top administration officials signaled Sunday that the White House may be willing to jettison a controversial government-run insurance plan favored by liberals.

In Beltay mediaspeak, "regain control" must mean doing something that right-wing Democrats and Republicans want. The Post's Dan Balz already made this recommendation about the public option, writing on August 12, "Some of his staunchest allies believe that course would be prudent and might change the dynamic of the debate in the administration's favor." And on the roundtable segment on ABC's This Week on August 9, host George Stephanopoulos wondered if Obama would accept a watered-down bill in order to break with the "Howard Dean wing of the party." This notion was seconded by panelist Cokie Roberts, with right-wing columnist Peggy Noonan chiming in to say, "Maybe it would be good for the President if the left got absolutely furious about something."

So the health reform debate has shifted even further to the right--exactly where the corporate media wanted it.

]]> http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/08/17/the-way-they-see-the-world/feed/ 2 LA Times Acknowledges Gaping Hole in Media's Healthcare Debate http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/07/29/la-times-acknowledges-gaping-hole-in-medias-healthcare-debate/ http://www.fair.org/blog/2009/07/29/la-times-acknowledges-gaping-hole-in-medias-healthcare-debate/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:54:15 +0000 Isabel Macdonald http://www.fair.org/blog/?p=11518 An LA Times column today cited FAIR's petition demanding that the TV networks include single-payer in their coverage of the healthcare reform debate,  acknowledging that there is a "gaping hole in much of the media coverage--caused by the failure to investigate practices around the rest of the world, particularly European-style, single-payer programs."

The Times' James Rainey concluded his column, "TV Needs To Deepen Coverage of Healthcare Reform," with a report on the delivery of FAIR's petition at ABC--the network that disinvited Obama's longtime physician Dr. David Scheiner, a single-payer advocate, from its June 24 "Prescription for America" program:

The liberal media watchdog group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting and a group of progressive activists delivered a petition Tuesday to ABC News in New York (which recently excluded one of the activists from a forum on healthcare) to demand broader reporting, including an assessment of government-managed health systems.

I suspect some in the big media have tiptoed lightly on that turf for the same reason as the politicians. Better to appear ill-informed about the world of healthcare than to appear open to anything, you know, French.

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