Tag Archives: Washington Post

The 'Center' of the Health Reform Debate

Posted on 08/06/2009 by Peter Hart

Today's Washington Post offers a helpful lesson on the media's notion of centrism; see the headline and subhead: Senators Closer to Health Package: Bipartisan Talks on Reform Move Toward Center The "talks" refer to the plan coming out of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged | 4 Comments

WaPo Argues: Censor Blog for Sending Us Readers

Posted on 08/05/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Quipping that "usually newspapers are big defenders of free speech, but not the Washington Post," economic reporting critic Dean Baker (Beat the Press, 8/2/09) takes down the paper's recent piece giving over "nearly 2,000 words to complain that a website … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Business | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

WaPo on Healthcare: 'Correct. But. . . Not Helpful'

Posted on 08/02/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Presenting yet another example of corporate media failure to grasp the concept of "Adjusted for Inflation," Kevin Drum (MotherJones.com, 7/26/09) has written up a Washington Post piece in which "David Brown says that as treatment for heart attacks has gotten … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Healthcare | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

'Fawning Corporate Media' as 'Acrobatic Cheerleaders'

Posted on 07/25/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Under the succinct Consortium News subhed "Too Late the Leak" (7/24/09), former CIA analyst Ray McGovern revisits the Downing Street Minutes–which he says should represent the kind of documentary evidence after which trial lawyers, intelligence analysts–and serious investigative journalists–lust. Though … Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

For the WaPo, McNamara Is the Real Victim of the Vietnam War

Posted on 07/09/2009 by Jim Naureckas

The Washington Post's editorial (7/7/09) on the death of Vietnam-era Defense Secretary Robert McNamara managed to outdo even the New York Times' victim-erasing obituary. The Times cited the number of invading troops killed by McNamara's war of aggression while ignoring … Continue reading →

Posted in International | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

When Corporate Media Report on Corporate Medicine

Posted on 07/09/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Writing at his regular Beat the Press blog (7/8/09), economist Dean Baker says that the New York Times' David Leonhardt "rightly complains that President Obama's health care plan does nothing to change the incentives for doctors to prescribe expensive forms … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

WaPo Puts War-Justifying Words in Saddam's Mouth

Posted on 07/09/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Media blogger Eli Stephens (left i on the news, 7/2/09) has posted on a Washington Post lede claiming that "Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of … Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Too Much Truth in Advertising at the WaPo?

Posted on 07/02/2009 by Jim Naureckas

The business department at the Washington Post has gotten into trouble in what may be a case of too much truth in advertising. As reported by Politico (7/2/09), the Post circulated a flyer offering–for the low, low cost of $25,000–an … Continue reading →

Posted in Advertisers, Media Business | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Immune-From-Criticismism at the Washington Post

Posted on 06/28/2009 by Jim Naureckas

In his evaluation of the Dan Froomkin firing, Washington Post ombud Andy Alexander (6/26/09) confidently asserts that "first, it's not about ideology," then later asserts that Froomkin "was urged not to do media criticism." Clearly, though, the notion that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Criticism | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The WaPo's Last Flash of 'Accountability Journalism'?

Posted on 06/27/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

In Dan Froomkin's last column for the Washington Post (6/26/09), he promises to "continue doing accountability journalism"–as good as any self-description to distinguish his work from his typical Post colleague's obsequiousness–and tries "hard to summarize the past five-and-a-half years" in … Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq, Media Business | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Why I Couldn't Say What Dan Froomkin Said Reporters Should Do

Posted on 06/26/2009 by Jim Naureckas

I wrote a short item on Dan Froomkin's firing for FAIR's radio show CounterSpin today: One of the bright spots at the Washington Post media enterprise was Dan Froomkin's column, "White House Watch," for WashingtonPost.com. It often struck us that … Continue reading →

Posted in First Amendment, Media Criticism | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

'Ardently Protectionist' WaPo Ignores Entire World

Posted on 06/24/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Economist Dean Baker (Beat the Press, 6/20/09) has requested you try to "imagine a front-page Washington Post article that talked about how the United States had a shortage of small cars." He reasonable assumes such a piece would address "the … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Froomkin's Column Never Liked: 'It Contains Opinion'

Posted on 06/20/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Blogger Jane Hamsher (FireDogLake.com, 6/19/09) thinks that Salon's "Glenn Greenwald says most of what needs to be said about the Washington Post's firing of Dan Froomkin," on June 18, but has her own "insight into "the early rounds of this … Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq, Media Business, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Will Officials Take the Fifth Unless the Daily Show Is Muzzled?

Posted on 06/19/2009 by Jim Naureckas

Do they still teach the First Amendment in law school? That's what you have to wonder when you see a lawyer for the Obama administration's Justice Department arguing that statements made by former Vice President Dick Cheney in the Scooter … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Criticism | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

WaPo's Front-Page News Deficit

Posted on 06/17/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Dean Baker (Beat the Press, 6/14/09) has caught "Fox on 15th (a.k.a. 'The Washington Post')" once again "departing from normal news practice" with "another editorial complaining about President Obama's deficits on the front page." The piece's subhead–"Concern Mounts in White … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment