Official Agendas
Despite the claims that the press has an adversarial relationship with the government, in truth U.S. media generally follow Washington's official line. This is particularly obvious in wartime and in foreign policy coverage, but even with domestic controversies, the spectrum of debate usually falls in the relatively narrow range between the leadership of the Democratic and Republican parties.
The owners and managers of dominant media outlets generally share the background, worldview and income bracket of political elites. Top news executives and celebrity reporters frequently socialize with government officials. The most powerful media companies routinely make large contributions to both major political parties, while receiving millions of dollars in return in the form of payments for running political ads.
In this incestuous culture, "news" is defined chiefly as the actions and statements of people in power. Reporters, dependent on "access" and leaks provided by official sources, are too often unwilling to risk alienating these sources with truly critical coverage. Nor are corporate media outlets interested in angering the elected and bureaucratic officials who have the power to regulate their businesses.
Next: Telecommunications Policy
Extra! articles:
- Meet the Stenographers: Press shirks duty to scrutinize official claims, by Steve Rendall (11-12/04).
- Target Dean: Re-establishing the establishment, by Peter Hart (3-4/04)
- Saddam and Osama's Shotgun Wedding: Weekly Standard beats a long-dead horse, by Seth Ackerman (1-2/04)
- Afghan Famine On and Off the Screen: Aid workers mostly quoted when U.S. likes their message, by Seth Ackerman (5-6/02)
- Take No Prisoners: U.S. reporters failed to probe Pentagon's "unlawful combatants" label, by Steve Rendall (3-4/02)
- Power Sources: On party, gender, race and class, TV news looks at the most powerful groups (5-6/02)
- New York Times on Iraq Sanctions: A case of journalistic malpractice, by Seth Ackerman (3-4/00)
- Rescued from the Memory Hole: The Forgotten Background of the Serb/Albanian Conflict, by Jim Naureckas (5-6/99)
- Withholding the News: The Washington Post and the UNSCOM Spying Scandal, by Seth Ackerman (3-4/99)
- Happy Birthday, CIA (11-12/97)
- Pot Boiler: Why Are Media Enlisting in the Government's Crusade Against Marijuana?, by Mike Males (7-8/97)
- Snow Job, by Norman Solomon (1-2/97)
- Gulf War Coverage: The Worst Censorship Was at Home - Operation Desert Scam (Special Gulf War Issue 1991)
- Iraqi Dupes or Pentagon Promoters? CNN Covers the Gulf War, by Robin Andersen and Paolo Carpignano (Special Gulf War Issue 1991)
- Networks Bar Ad Promoting Tolerance: A church's acceptance of gays is deemed "too controversial" (12/3/04)
- The Return of PSYOPS: Military's media manipulation demands more investigation (12/3/04)
- Defining Bush's "Mandate" (11/5/04)
- FAIR Calls for Revealing Sources in Plame, Lee Cases: Courts should respect anonymity of genuine whistle-blowers (8/19/04)
- Connie Chung: Skeptical of Skepticism (10/10/02)
- PBS Fails to Hold Rumsfeld Accountable (9/20/02)
- Newsweek: Hail to the Chief (11/30/01)
- The Office of Strategic Influence Is Gone, But Are Its Programs In Place? (11/27/02)
- Steven Zunes on Weapons Inspections (9/20/02)
- Norman Solomon on 9/11 Anniversary (9/6/02)
- Martin Lee & Chris Simpson on pre-9/11 Terror Warnings, May 28, 2002
- April Oliver on CNN/Tailwind, April 5, 2002
- Nicholas Confessore on White House blacklist, February 15, 2002
- Jeff Cohen on Civilian Casualties, November 2, 2001
- Laura Flanders on Smart Bombs, October 12, 2001
- Washington Post and UNSCOM, February 26, 1999
- Who's on the News?: Study shows network news sources skew white, male & elite, June 2002
- Fear & Favor 2001: Government and Other 'Official' Pressure
- Fear & Favor 2000: Government and Other 'Official' Pressure
- FAIR Issues New Study On PBS's MacNeil/Lehrer and ABC's Nightline, May 1990
- Are You On the Nightline Guest List?, February 1989
- Polls: When Measuring is Manipulating, Oct. 17, 2002
- "Monomedia" and the First Amendment, June 27, 2002
- Three Decades Later, Watergate is a Cautionary Tale, June 13, 2002
- No Media Interest in A Basic Matter of Democracy, May 9, 2002
- Let Us Now Praise "Unfamous" Journalists, April 29, 1999
- American Journalists Have No Reason to Be Smug, April 9, 1999
- TV Screens Offer Us Illusions of War, April 1, 1999
- Building a Media Agenda for War, March 26, 1999
- Media and Memory: The Arrest of a Dictator, October 22, 1998
- Retractions of Reporting Are Quite Selective, July 9, 1998
- 30-Year Anniversary: Tonkin Gulf Lie Launched Vietnam War, July 27, 1994