3 April 2021 — Moon of Alabama
There is a new public relation campaign pushed by Turkey to whitewash al-Qaeda in Syria. ‘Western’ journalists were invited to Idleb governorate through some Turkish agency to make some fan flicks about Hayat Tahrir al Sham, the al-Qaeda entity under Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, which rules in Idelb.
17 July 2014 — FAIR Blog
PBS NewsHour (7/12/14) wanted to “put the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas in a broader context,” so itinvited Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) to consider possible policy options for “both sides.”
The problem is that Cordesman is on the record as advocating the option of brutality against Palestinian civilians. Back in 2000, Cordesman authored a CSIS report–condemned at the time by an Amnesty International spokesperson–that recommended “excessive force” to control Palestinians and ensure the implementation of a potential peace agreement (Extra!, 1/01).
10 January 2014 — Reader Supported News
The bomb will not start a chain reaction in the water, converting it all to gas and letting all the ships on all the oceans drop down to the bottom. It will not blow out the bottom of the sea and let all the water run down the hole. It will not destroy gravity. I am not an atomic playboy. – Vice Admiral William P. Blandy, Bikini bomb test commander, July 25, 1946
4 September 2013 — FAIR Blog
When the PBS NewsHour covered John Kerry’s dramatic presentation on the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria on August 21, reporter Jeffrey Brown (8/30/13) zeroed in on the death toll:
KERRY: The United States government now knows that at least 1,429 Syrians were killed in this attack, including at least 426 children.
BROWN: The chilling numbers stood out from the U.S. intelligence assessment released this afternoon. And, lest anyone doubt, the secretary of State insisted, its findings are as clear as they are compelling.
2 August 2013 — WashingtonsBlog
PBS interviewed NSA whistleblowers William Binney and Russell Tice this week.
25 May 2013 — FAIR Blog
This week: PBS won’t be showing us the documentary Citizen Koch–for some very dubious reasons. Also: The New York Times points out that the U.S. role in supporting genocide in Guatemala was hardly discussed at the trial; the same goes for U.S. media coverage of that trial. And Donald Rumsfeld goes on Meet the Press to talk about accountability. No, it’s not what you think.
21 May 2013 — FAIR Blog
I was struck by this May 17 headline in the New York Times:
Reporter Elisabeth Malkin provides a pretty thorough accounting of U.S. support for Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt. The “long history” of U.S. support for the brutal military went back to a CIA-backed coup in 1954, Malkin reported. She added:
20 April 2013 — FAIR Blog
This week on FAIR TV we look at the media’s rush to misjudgment on the Boston Marathon attack. And we ask some questions about which acts of terrorism are called “terrorism”–and which have been largely forgotten. Plus PBS gives us both sides on the debate over Social Security: The right thinks Barack Obama is brave to propose cutting benefits, while the “left” says he’s…also brave. Continue reading
25 March 2013 — FAIR Blog
Paul Farhi
The headline on a story (3/22/13) by Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi:
On Iraq, Journalists Didn’t Fail. They Just Didn’t Succeed.
To make that case, though, he has to redefine “failure” so far down that it’s hardly possible to avoid failing.
25 March 2013 — FAIR Blog
Paul Farhi
The headline on a story (3/22/13) by Washington Post media reporter Paul Farhi:
On Iraq, Journalists Didn’t Fail. They Just Didn’t Succeed.
To make that case, though, he has to redefine “failure” so far down that it’s hardly possible to avoid failing.
5 February 2013 — FAIR Blog
On January 30, reports emerged that Israel had carried out an airstrike on Syrian targets near Damascus. Much of the initial reporting took Israel’s claims at face value, though it appeared impossible to confirm that the story was true.
31 January 2013 — FAIR Blog
On Monday’s edition of the NewsHour (1/28/13), host Gwen Ifill referred to concerns about the “threat posed by Iran‘s nuclear program,” and told viewers at the end of a Margaret Warner report that “Margaret’s next story looks at the debate in Israel over how to deal with the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.”
29 January 2013 — FAIR Blog
On ABC‘s This Week (1/27/13), substitute host Martha Raddatz made a pretty remarkable claim about Syrian chemical weapons. During an interview with Sen. John McCain (hey, it’s a Sunday show, he <a style="color: #596d9f; text-decoration: underline;" title="FAIR Blog: John McCain: TV Talk’s Indispensable Man” href=”http://www.fair.org/blog/2011/01/24/john-mccain-tv-talks-indispensable-man/”>has to be a guest), she played a clip of an interview she did with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta: Continue reading
28 January 2013 — FAIR Blog
The PBS Nova broadcast “Rise of the Drones” was sponsored by drone manufacturer Lockheed Martin–a clear violation of PBS‘s underwriting guidelines.
11 January 2013 — FAIR Blog
If there’s one thing media want you to know about Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, it’s that he doesn’t like the United States. On the PBS NewsHour (1/10/13), Ray Suarez told viewers that Chavez
antagonized Washington, it seemed, whenever he could, forging friendships with Iran‘s Mahmoud Abbas, Syria‘s embattled Bashar al-Assad, and he formed an especially close bond with Cuban Presidents Fidel and Raul Castro.
On the CBS Evening News (1/8/13), Scott Pelley said: “Chavez has made a career out of bashing the United States and allied himself with Iran and Syria.”
While it’s hard to say Chavez has made a “career” out of U.S.-bashing–he does have, after all, a full-time job as president of Venezuela–you, too, might be excused for harboring some hard feelings towards a government that helped to try to overthrow your own. Which may be why U.S. reports rarely bring up the 2002 coup attempt–and when they do, treat Washington’s involvement in it as another nutty Chavez conspiracy theory.
28 December 2012 — FAIR
They’re back: The P.U.-litzers, FAIR‘s annual rundown of some of the stinkiest moments in American journalism. As usual, there were more contenders than we could possibly consider. So think of this as just a sampling of the bias, spin and misinformation that we noted over the course of the year.
Without further ado… Continue reading
4 December 2012 — FAIR
As the alleged source of many of the most vital WikiLeaks reports of the past several years, U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning shed considerable light on how the United States has prosecuted the Iraq and Afghan wars. Other State Department cables reportedly leaked by Manning conveyed vital information about U.S. foreign policy.
24 October 2012 — Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
In an October 22 discussion of the foreign policy presidential debate, the PBS NewsHour‘s Jeffrey Brown stated that “Iran‘s nuclear weapons program has been a particular flash point.”
A few weeks earlier (10/5/12) on the NewsHour, Ray Suarez said that Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez had
continued to thwart American efforts on a range of international issues, such as Washington’s attempt to convince Iran‘s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to halt his country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons.
3 October 2012 — Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Media Advisory
Debate process needs more scrutiny, not less
Jim Lehrer is hopping mad. The New York Times (10/2/12) reports that the PBS anchor “has been seething. He said he was outraged by suggestions that he was a ‘safe’ and uninspired choice to moderate the first of four debates.”
PBS ombud Michael Getler (
The New Dark Age 