Media
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Guardian, NYT Paint Power-Grabbing Saudi Dictator as Roguish, Visionary ‘Reformer’ By Adam Johnson
The Guardian (11/5/17) reported that de facto Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman “is willing to take on the kingdom’s most powerful figures to implement his reforms and consolidate power.” Two weeks ago, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman carried out a brutal crackdown on his political opponents, arresting dozens of high-ranking relatives, kidnapping the prime… Continue reading
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William Hartung on Nuclear Overkill, Karen Orenstein on Climate Disconnect
17 November 2017 — FAIR This week on CounterSpin: The opinion column in Scientific American headlined “The Caveman and the Bomb” conveys, just a little more colorfully, the sense one got from the Senate hearing on the process involved in the use of a nuclear weapon. Put simply, folks are scared that Donald Trump may… Continue reading
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Paradise Papers: 'There’s All Kinds of People Who Have Their Snouts in the Trough Here'
Janine Jackson: Establishment media cover poverty sometimes, sometimes in a compassionate and compelling way. And they cover wealth and the rich, sometimes, sometimes in a thoughtful and critical way. When the discussion called for is about the relationship between the two, the limits of media’s spotlight approach are salient. Continue reading
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NYT’s Campus Free Speech Coverage Focuses 7-to-1 on Plight of Right By Adam Johnson
15 November 2017 — FAIR College Republicans complained to the New York Times (9/23/16) that the nomination of Donald Trump “prompted widespread mockery from their liberal classmates.” Over the past 18 months, the New York Times has dedicated 21 columns and articles to the subject of conservatives’ free speech on campus, while only three covered… Continue reading
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US Justice Department Forces RT America To register As “Foreign Agent” — by Trévon Austin
RT, the Russia-based oppositional TV and Internet broadcaster, announced Thursday that the US Department of Justice has forced it to register as a “foreign agent” under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Washington has given the outlet until Monday to register as a foreign agent or its director could be arrested and its assets frozen. Continue reading
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NBC News' Breezy Whitewash of White Supremacist Group By Adam Johnson
As FAIR noted last year, the rise of Trump has lead to a corollary rise in softball profiles of the most vulgar, racist extremes of the American far right. For some reason, news managers feel the need to highlight, with little if any criticism or context, pro-Trump extremists who’ve been emboldened by his campaign and… Continue reading
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Ramsey Orta Can't Breathe By Josmar Trujillo
When we went to a New York state prison to visit Ramsey Orta, the young man who filmed a police officer choking Eric Garner to death on a Staten Island sidewalk in 2014, we didn’t even make it past the metal detectors. When we arrived at Fishkill, we put our belongings into a locker and… Continue reading
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Ramsey Orta Can’t Breathe By Josmar Trujillo
When we went to a New York state prison to visit Ramsey Orta, the young man who filmed a police officer choking Eric Garner to death on a Staten Island sidewalk in 2014, we didn’t even make it past the metal detectors. When we arrived at Fishkill, we put our belongings into a locker and… Continue reading
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Media Spent Months Lionizing General Who Defended Slaveholders' Revolt
According to corporate media, the top general who just complimented the commander of the slavery-defending Confederacy is the greatest hope to rein in President Donald Trump’s extremism. Continue reading
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Media: For NYT, Making the Democrats Safe for the Oligarchy Is Literally Job One By Jim Naureckas
Last week, the paper published an op-ed by Douglas Schoen, “Why Democrats Need Wall Street” (10/18/17). Who is Douglas Schoen, you might ask? He’s billed by the Times as having been “a pollster and senior political adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1994 to 2000.” More relevantly to the current century, he’s a corporate PR… Continue reading
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Video: Real Media: Media & Mistrust
Sociologist and author Tom Mills talks about growing public mistrust of the media, who owns the print media, and how the broadcast media tends to draw its journalists from certain sectors of society Continue reading
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Audio: Alex Vitale on The End of Policing
Thanks mainly to independent and social media, and of course activism like Black Lives Matter, Americans have been forced to confront, and to know more about, police brutality and racism in the criminal justice system than just a few years ago. But corporate media conversation about what to do with that knowledge is constrained. Continue reading
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Video: Twitter Bans RT and Sputnik Ads, Who's Next?
Twitter has announced it will ban advertising from the Russian-backed media outlets RT and Sputnik. We speak to journalist and best-selling author Max Blumenthal. Continue reading
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Reposting Amazon Press Releases at Bezos-Owned Washington Post By Adam Johnson
A matter of huge political import is taking place in scores of cities throughout the country. From Chicago to Charlottesville, San Diego to St. Louis, metropolitan areas big and small are making their best pitches to Amazon to move its second headquarters to their towns. These pitches typically involve some combination of groveling by city… Continue reading
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New research on Murdoch's agenda power
In our submission to the phase 2 Fox/Sky merger inquiry we have presented interim findings from new research. This suggests that the Murdoch’s influence over the news agenda may be more extensive than previously thought. The Sky take-over threatens to further consolidate this control over news agendas on every platform – print, television, radio and… Continue reading
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New research on Murdoch’s agenda power
In our submission to the phase 2 Fox/Sky merger inquiry we have presented interim findings from new research. This suggests that the Murdoch’s influence over the news agenda may be more extensive than previously thought. The Sky take-over threatens to further consolidate this control over news agendas on every platform – print, television, radio and… Continue reading
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Audio: 'The Bureau Is Once Again Profiling Black Activists Because of Their Beliefs and Their Race'
Janine Jackson interviewed Nusrat Choudhury about the FBI’s “black extremist identity” designation for the October 20, 2017, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Continue reading
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Clinton, Assange and the war on truth By John Pilger
Wading through the Clinton book, What Happened, is an unpleasant experience, like a stomach upset. Smears and tears. Threats and enemies. “They” (voters) were brainwashed and herded against her by the odious Donald Trump in cahoots with sinister Slavs sent from the great darkness known as Russia, assisted by an Australian “nihilist”, Julian Assange. Continue reading
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Re: The Sky takeover
Rupert Murdoch’s Sky TV takeover is being investigated by an important government watchdog. They’ve been tasked with recommending whether the deal should go ahead. If they come out against it, it throws a huge spanner in Murdoch’s plans. Continue reading
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Please Stop Using ‘Woman in Chador Walks by Anti-US Mural’ Stock Photo for Every Article About Iran By Adam Johnson
The general mindlessness in choosing a stock photo is what makes them so pernicious. Editors reach for an image that captures the overall theme of the article while drawing the eye of distracted media consumers—typically as an afterthought, something that accents a piece rather than defines it. It’s not an easy task, but it’s one… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 