The New York Times’ Ross Douthat acknowledges the obvious parallel between gay and interracial marriage–and meets it head on with a full helping of historical ignorance.
Apr
01
2015
Media Inflate Threat With ‘ISIS Plots’ That Don’t Actually Involve ISIS
By 25 Comments
The specter of ISIS constantly trying to enlist dozens of Americans, often for attacks on US soil, is a crucial element in maintaining the current war effort. The media inability to point out that these “plots” are almost always entirely of the FBI’s making helps perpetuate the illusion and inflate perceived risk.
Mar
30
2015
Leading Papers Incite ‘Supreme International Crime’
By 11 Comments
To advocate for war, as the Washington Post and New York Times op-ed pages have done, is to incite a crime–“the supreme international crime,” as the chief prosecutor at Nuremberg noted.
Mar
27
2015
What Have Whistleblowers Done for Elite Journalists Lately?
By 10 Comments
One of the most important things that corporate media do to shore up power is to define “news” as things that people in power want you to know but haven’t told you yet.
Mar
26
2015
A Few Words on the Least Surprising Op-Ed of 2015
By 4 Comments
By “inattention” and “failing to act,” John Bolton just means we haven’t bombed Iran yet. That’s what paying attention is to him.
Mar
26
2015
Colombian Report on US Military’s Child Rapes Not Newsworthy to US News Outlets
By 50 Comments
Explosive claims that US military soldiers and contractors had sexually abused at least 54 children in Colombia thus far seem to have received zero coverage in the mainstream US press.
Mar
25
2015
The Case Against Raising Interest Rates Is Simple, Despite WaPo’s Efforts to Confuse It
By 4 Comments
The question here is pretty simple, in spite of Robert Samuelson’s efforts to sow confusion. There is very little plausible benefit from raising interest rates and slowing the economy at a point where the economy is far below its potential by almost any measure.
Mar
24
2015
NYT Reported Japanese Internment as ‘Pioneering Chapter in US History’
By 10 Comments
A contemporary New York Times article on the World War II internment of Japanese-Americans “emphasized the adventurous nature” of putting innocent people in camps based on their ethnicity.
Mar
24
2015
New York Times: Nuclear Establishment Tool
By 12 Comments
The model of a journalist being co-opted by the nuclear establishment involves New York Times reporter William L. Laurence, who described nuclear power as “making the dream of the Earth as a Promised Land come true.”
Mar
24
2015
Rebranding McCain and Romney as Moderates to Facilitate a Sharp Right Turn
By 9 Comments
By accepting Ted Cruz’s characterization of McCain and Romney as moderates who lost because of their moderation, media endorse his argument that the Republican Party’s path to success takes a sharp right turn.
Mar
20
2015
Danny Schechter, ‘News Dissector’ and Creator, Dies at 72
By 10 Comments
Danny Schechter, groundbreaking media critic and legendary producer for both corporate and alternative media, died on March 19 at the age of 72.
Mar
18
2015
Forgiving Al-Qaeda in Pursuit of a New Enemy
By 19 Comments
There are signs of a shift in the Western foreign policy establishment toward seeing groups like Al-Qaeda not as the main targets of US military operations but as potential allies against the governments Washington has identified as more important enemies.
Mar
17
2015
Clear Channel Tells FCC Covert Commercials Would Be ‘User-Friendly, Satisfying’
By 10 Comments
Broadcasters have filed a petition with the FCC asking that they be excused from the requirement that they tell their listeners when they play a song because a record company paid them to do so.
