Media
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World’s Richest Person Escapes Scrutiny From His Own Paper–and Its Rivals
The three most prominent US newspapers haven’t run a critical investigative piece on Jeff Bezos’ company Amazon in almost two years, a FAIR survey finds. A review of 190 articles from the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the Bezos-owned Washington Post over the past year paints a picture of almost uniformly uncritical–ofttimes boosterish–coverage.… Continue reading
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Syria: Body Count Comeback
One of the hoariest methods of modern war propaganda remains the official body count. Government or military officials decisively touting large numbers of enemies killed has long been a surefire way to get credulous or friendly press coverage, despite the fact that the figures cited are routinely presented with no evidence to back them up… Continue reading
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Media Mourn End of CIA Killing Syrians and Strengthening Al Qaeda
The US government has finally announced an end to its years-long program to arm and train Syrian rebels. The initiative, one of the CIA’s largest covert operations, with billions of dollars of funding, fueled mass killing in Syria and significantly prolonged the country’s horrific war. Widely respected experts have also acknowledged that it greatly strengthened… Continue reading
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How Media Spread CIA's Sectarian, Anti-Iran 'Mideast Cold War' Narrative
A new Vox video (7/17/17) is the latest addition to a media onslaught that propagates numerous misleading talking points to demonize Iran—just as the US government, under Donald Trump’s vehemently anti-Iran administration, is ratcheting up aggression against that country. Continue reading
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How Media Spread CIA’s Sectarian, Anti-Iran ‘Mideast Cold War’ Narrative
A new Vox video (7/17/17) is the latest addition to a media onslaught that propagates numerous misleading talking points to demonize Iran—just as the US government, under Donald Trump’s vehemently anti-Iran administration, is ratcheting up aggression against that country. Continue reading
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Video: Empire Files: Anti-Black Racism Reveals Israel’s White Supremacy
In this on-the-ground investigation, Abby Martin talks to Osman Ali, a refugee from Darfur, at Holot prison camp about the treatment of refugees by the government, and Tehune Maharat, an Ethiopian Jewish activist whose cousin was killed in an apparent hate crime by Israeli police, about the rampant and institutional racism in the country. Continue reading
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Video: Empire Files: Anti-Black Racism Reveals Israel's White Supremacy
In this on-the-ground investigation, Abby Martin talks to Osman Ali, a refugee from Darfur, at Holot prison camp about the treatment of refugees by the government, and Tehune Maharat, an Ethiopian Jewish activist whose cousin was killed in an apparent hate crime by Israeli police, about the rampant and institutional racism in the country. Continue reading
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Media: Missile Defense Will Protect You From North Korea, Say USA Today’s Missile Defense-Funded Sources
The piece contains no sources at all substantiating the “N. Korean nuke threat”: “North Korea’s rapid march to develop a nuclear-armed ballistic missile capable of striking the United States” is simply asserted in the lead, and later on the claim that “North Korea may be only a year or so away” from having missiles that… Continue reading
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Media: While Attacks in Israel Make Headlines, Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza Ignored
The recent acute humanitarian crisis in Gaza—on top of the routine humanitarian crisis that defines everyday existence there—has gotten sparse coverage in US media over the past three weeks. Israeli officials have cut off electricity to almost 2 million Gazans for all but three or four hours a day—in conjunction with nominal Palestinian leader Mahmoud… Continue reading
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Mass Arrests of Protesters: Outrageous in Russia, Barely Worth Mentioning in US
Major media’s relative lack of interest in the mass arrests by Metro DC police on Inauguration Day is a fact noted by activists and journalists since the incident almost six months ago. One way to measure the dearth of coverage is to compare the attention paid to comparable protester arrests in Russia last month. Continue reading
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The Public Network By Dan Hind
If you’ve tried to access the BBC’s online TV and radio content from the UK recently you will have been asked to create a login profile. By tracking the behaviour of each profile the corporation will now be able to develop a far more detailed and sophisticated understanding of its audience. This is a structure… Continue reading
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An even worse version of the Link Tax now on the cards!
Crucial votes on the Link Tax are happening TOMORROW, and a major EU political party just u-turned to officially back this costly and reckless proposal. The European People’s Party (EPP) has decided to go all-in for the broadest, worst version of the Link Tax — which gives copyright ownership and the right to collect fees… Continue reading
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Audio: Vijay Prashad on Displaced People
Displaced people aren’t one story; they’re 65.9 million, according to the UN Refugee Agency. But it’s not just a story about individuals. What’s the connection between displacement and the so-called war on terror? Climate disruption? Poverty? On displacement, If you aren’t telling the big, interconnected story, you aren’t telling the story. Continue reading
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After 1,379 Days, NYT Corrects Bogus Claim Iran 'Sponsored' 9/11
In its reporting on a dubious lawsuit alleging Iranian meta-involvement in 9/11, the New York Times badly misunderstood the case and maintained for more than three years, in the paper of record, that the government of Iran “sponsored” the September 11, 2001, attacks. The belated correction, issued late Wednesday night on two widely spaced articles… Continue reading
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After 1,379 Days, NYT Corrects Bogus Claim Iran ‘Sponsored’ 9/11
In its reporting on a dubious lawsuit alleging Iranian meta-involvement in 9/11, the New York Times badly misunderstood the case and maintained for more than three years, in the paper of record, that the government of Iran “sponsored” the September 11, 2001, attacks. The belated correction, issued late Wednesday night on two widely spaced articles… Continue reading
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Should Media Expose Sources Who Lied to Them?
If an anonymous source knowingly and maliciously feeds a media outlet false information, should they continue to be granted anonymity? If media continue to protect the deceptive source’s identity, doesn’t that ensure the continuance of a disinformation conveyor belt? Continue reading
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Rachel Meeropol on Illegal Detentions, Dan Zukowski on Climate Disruption
30 June 2017 — FAIR MP3 Link This week on CounterSpin: After 9/11, hundreds of non-citizen Muslim, Arab and South Asian men should be locked up and treated as suspected terrorists, despite no evidence of terrorist connections. That policy came from the highest levels of government; that’s why a suit brought on behalf of some Continue reading
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‘Let’s Get Back to Russia’: Media’s Interest in Narrowing the Trump Story
29 June 2017 — FAIR James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas released a heavily edited video on Tuesday that quoted CNN health producer John Bonifield expressing skepticism about his network’s priorities. Despite O’Keefe’s well-deserved reputation for sleaze, lies and deceptive editing, the video does show a continuous shot of Bonifield complaining about his network’s insistence on continually Continue reading
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Corbyn Defied Media Rules by Linking UK Wars to Terrorism
29 June 2017 — FAIR When a terrorist killed 22 at a May 22 concert filled with young people in England’s Manchester, most journalists—especially US ones—assumed it would help the struggling Conservative Party and its standard-bearer, Prime Minister Theresa May, win the snap election she had called for June 8, just 17 days ahead. The Continue reading
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‘Amazon Now Has Monopoly Power in Online Commerce’
27 June 2017 — FAIR Janine Jackson interviewed Stacy Mitchell about Amazon‘s bid to buy Whole Foods for the June 23, 2017, episode of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 