Unmoored for commercial reasons from any hard and fast standards for what constitutes a fact, media factologists are free to follow their own political whims (or those of their outlets). Which seems to be what’s going on in a recent Washington Post factchecking effort by Glenn Kessler, “Bernie Sanders’ Claim That ‘36,000 People Will Die Yearly’ if Obamacare Is Repealed.”
Jan 25 2017
Action Alert: NYT Turns to Oil Consultant to Minimize Trump’s Climate Damage
The New York Times minimizes Keystone’s impact on the climate, in the service of false balance and downplaying the impact of Trump’s anti-environmental moves.
Jan 24 2017
David Brooks’ Anti-PC Screed: Women’s March Edition
By Adam Johnson
For the tenth time in as many months, the New York Times let David Brooks take a current issue—in this case, the worldwide Women’s March—and jam it into his boilerplate grievance against what he perceives as ineffectual, harmful “identity politics.”
Jan 24 2017
‘Misremembering King Rewrites the Press’s Own Role in History’
Transcript of CounterSpin's special episode on the media and Martin Luther King
National news media have never really come to terms with what Martin Luther King Jr. stood for during his final years, when he challenged the country’s fundamental economic and international priorities, when he opposed the war in Vietnam, when he called the United States “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.”
Jan 23 2017
It’s Austerity, Not Globalization, That Pulls European Workers to the Right
By Dean Baker
By Dean Baker
The Washington Post and New York Times attribute the rise in support for the right to people losing from globalization. In fact, people are suffering because of the insistence of the European Union that its members pursue austerity policies.
Jan 22 2017
Hey, NYT–the ‘Relentless Populist’ Relented Long Ago
The New York Times asserted after Trump’s inauguration, “It remains an open question whether he will continue to be the relentless populist who was on display on Friday.” But looking at Trump’s nominations and appointments, it’s hard to discern any signs of populism whatsoever.
Jan 20 2017
Trump’s Inauguration and the Legitimacy Fetish
Why is it so important to corporate media commentators that presidential legitimacy not be questioned? By and large, they are part of and identify with an establishment whose fragility is all too evident.
Jan 20 2017
‘What Communities Are Doing Is Making Homelessness Less Visible’
CounterSpin interview with Megan Hustings on Food-Sharing
“Homelessness is a large problem, but we’re not going to solve it by saying, you can’t be homeless here.”
