Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting

12/21/2021

Media Forget Afghan Plight as US Sanctions Drive Mass Famine Risk

As the United States withdrew militarily from Afghanistan in August, US TV news interest in the plight of the country’s citizens spiked, often focusing on “the horror awaiting women and girls” to argue against withdrawal.

Four months later, as those same citizens have been plunged into a humanitarian crisis due in no small part to US sanctions, where is the outrage?

As Afghan citizens have been plunged into a humanitarian crisis due in no small part to US sanctions, where is the outrage?

12/17/2021

The Dangerous Misuse of ‘Natural Immunity’ Against Covid Vaccination

Whether infection-induced immunity or vaccine-induced immunity is better is not the most important question. For unvaccinated people who haven’t had an infection, the question is whether one is better off getting vaccinated or getting Covid, and the data is clear that getting vaccinated is better. Covid infection is hundreds of thousands of times more dangerous than vaccination.

For the question of whether people who have had Covid should get vaccinated, that answer is also obvious. The current research shows that people with “hybrid immunity” (immunity from being vaccinated after having had Covid) often have even greater, “super” immunity than those who have only recovered from a previous infection.

Vaccination seeks herd immunity without the massive human costs that come with letting the virus run its course.

12/17/2021

Caleb Nichols on Defending Public Libraries

CounterSpin listeners know about the daylight, slow-motion assault on the US Postal Service, led by Trump supporter Louis DeJoy, which seems intent on worsening services and jobs with a thinly veiled, long-held goal of privatization. Some people just can't abide a public institution that serves people regardless of status, and without making a handful of rich people richer. But you might not know that a similar sort of effort is underway, targeted at another venerable and stubbornly public institution: public libraries.

Libraries aren't just a meaningful reality, but a meaningful symbol of the fact that there is a thing called the public interest.

12/14/2021

ACTION ALERT: As US Covid Deaths Reach 800,000, Atlantic Essay Asks: Who Cares?

On a day when some outlets soberly reported that the recorded US death toll is about to surpass 800,000—a number greater than the entire population of Seattle, Denver or Washington, DC; greater than the US toll from the Spanish Flu or the Civil War—the Atlantic gleefully marked the occasion by publishing a glib piece headlined “Where I Live, No One Cares About Covid.”

Beyond the clickbait shock value is a sociopathic contempt for others' lives, a narcissistic dismissal of neighbors devastated by Covid.

12/14/2021

‘Our Democracy Is in Perilous Decay, and We Can Turn It Around’

Transcript of Janine Jackson's interview with Ralph Nader:

"So when corporations pollute air, that’s violence. That produces cancer, respiratory diseases. When they contaminate your drinking water, that is violence. When they have unsafe workplaces--60,000 workers die from workplace-related diseases--that’s violence. There’s nothing philosophically abstract about corporate crime."

"We have to be more demanding as citizens. We have to raise our expectations about our own significance as citizens."

12/10/2021

Playing ‘Both Sides’ on Immigration Leaves Public in the Dark

Immigration, as both an area of policymaking and a topic of public discourse, holds the peculiar distinction of having perhaps the widest gulf between how strongly the public and the press feel about it, on the one hand, and how much they actually know about its history and mechanics on the other.

The mask slips and it becomes clear that this is not about facts, but an irresistible story of political clash, a clash that is itself fed by the failure to facilitate a nuanced discussion.

The details never mattered, subservient as they were to the greater goal of narrative conflict. It’s an addiction that many in the media just can’t seem to break, even as the consequences continually manifest themselves in real time.

https://fair.org/home/playing-both-sides-on-immigration-leaves-public-in-the-dark/

Immigration coverage suffers from a version of the same inane both sides-ism that permeates so much of political coverage in general.

12/10/2021

‘This Violent Piece of Insurrection Was Planned Openly on Unencrypted Channels’

Transcript of CounterSpin's interview with Dorothee Benz on the January 6 insurrection--originally aired January 8, 2021:

"The fact that the police were so-called 'unprepared'—I saw that word several times in the media coverage—it’s not that they were unprepared, it’s that they were prepared for white nationalists, which to them is not a crisis in the same way that Black people demanding rights is, or people insisting that public healthcare and national healthcare should be a thing.

"The problem goes much deeper there. And it is both a problem of how we have governed, and a problem of how the police and the military have been central to white supremacy. Structurally, foundationally, ideologically, the function of the police has always been to defend the system as it exists, and the system is a white supremacist system. The ruling power started 500 years ago with settler colonizers; it went on to include genocide, slavery, strikebreaking in the more modern capitalist era. It has never included defending democracy. That is a central understanding of how the police work. They weren’t overwhelmed. They knew; they just didn’t think it was a problem."

"It’s not that they failed at overturning the election; it’s that they succeeded in mainstreaming fascism and fascist tactics."

12/10/2021

Ralph Nader on Journalism and the Public Interest

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the publication of Unsafe at Any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile. It came out at a time when the official auto industry position was that all crashes were the fault of the driver. Unsurprisingly, the book raised the hackles of industry owners; perhaps somewhat surprisingly, they thought a clever response would be, rather than address the concerns, to try and dig up dirt on the messenger. That backfired in a big way; congressional hearings were held in March of 1966, and by September, there were new auto safety laws on the books.

The book's author was Ralph Nader, consumer advocate, lawyer, author and radio host. He has founded many organizations including the Center for Study of Responsive Law, Public Citizen, the Public Interest Research Group, the Center for Auto Safety, Clean Water Action Project, the Disability Rights Center, the Pension Rights Center and the Project for Corporate Responsibility, as well as the magazine Multinational Monitor. He joins us this week on CounterSpin.

A small group of people, willing to confront entrenched ideas and power, really can make change in the public interest.

12/09/2021

ACTION ALERT: CNN Asks Sinema No Questions About Conflicts

When CNN landed a sit-down interview with Kyrsten Sinema, it presented a rare opportunity to do what journalists are supposed to do: hold power to account.

Instead, CNN’s questions primarily ranged from the inane (“Is it hard for you to tell the president, no, I can’t do that?”) to the flattering, casting Sinema as a straight-shooter stuck with bad party leaders.

Please urge CNN to ask tough questions even—or especially—of officials like Kyrsten Sinema who don't grant many interviews.

12/09/2021

‘They Are Taking Aim at Our Fundamental American Right to Protest’

Transcript of Vera Eidelman's CounterSpin interview on anti-protest laws:

"For at least the last five years now, we have seen legislators respond to vocal, powerful, full-throated advocacy, not by listening to what their constituents are saying, but instead by seeking to create new laws that would silence them.

"Examples of the types of laws range from increasing penalties on laws that already make something criminal—so, for example, laws that already criminalize trespass, or refusal to disperse, or failure to obey an officer; all of those things are already illegal, and these laws would seek to increase the penalties that attach. In some cases, the bills seek to increase the penalties, not just in terms of criminal time, which of course is incredibly impactful, but also in terms of restricting people’s access to public employment, to public office and even to public benefits; things like access to scholarships for school, food stamps and the like."

"We have...seen the continuation and deepening of the anti-democratic, anti-protest legislative trend around the country."

12/08/2021

Extra

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12/07/2021

Chilean Election Is a Feast of False Equivalency

In Chile's presidential runoff, a candidate who presents himself as the heir to Pinochet will face another who wants more of the country’s population to share in the nation’s wealth. For a lot of the Western corporate press, these two people are equally bad for a country lauded for its moderation.

For a lot of the Western corporate press, the Chilean candidates are equally bad for a country lauded for its moderation.

12/07/2021

In honor of Noam Chomsky's 93rd birthday today, here's a video from last month featuring Janine Jackson interviewing Noam and his colleague Marv Waterstone about their book Consequences of Capitalism, published by Haymarket Books.

https://youtu.be/7-D5jbtnzpI

In honor of Noam Chomsky's 93rd birthday today, here's a video from last month featuring Janine Jackson interviewing Noam and his colleague Marv Waterstone about their book Consequences of Capitalism, published by Haymarket Books.

https://youtu.be/7-D5jbtnzpI

12/04/2021

Western Media: Venezuelan Elections Must Be Undemocratic, Because Chavismo Won

Corporate journalists, having paid little attention to Venezuela in recent months as US-backed regime change efforts floundered, had to scramble to explain and discredit the events. Unable to reheat the “fraudulent” label, there was a return of classics such as “rigged” or “flawed,” which happened to be the State Department’s choice too.

The opposition’s electoral defeat prompted some outlets to to publish sobering headlines, and others to double down on propaganda.

12/03/2021

‘White Supremacists Were Willing to Hold the United States Hostage’

Transcript of Janine Jackson's interview with Carol Anderson on democracy vs. white supremacy:

"And as Frederick Douglass said, power never concedes anything without a demand. It never has and it never will. To me, the story of America is that we are an aspirational nation. 'We hold these truths to be self-evident.' That’s the aspiration.

"And you have those that confuse that aspiration with achievement. Like, we have overcome? When in fact it has been Black folk who have been fighting to make that aspiration real. It has been those who have been marginalized in the society, those who have faced the brunt of the worst that white supremacy has to offer. And who believed in America enough to fight for it—not fight against it, but to fight for it."

"White supremacy keeps bullying, keeps beating, keeps threatening the viability of the United States of America."

12/03/2021

Dorothee Benz on January 6 Insurrection, Vera Eidelman on Anti-Protest Laws

Some say the deferential police treatment of rampaging white nationalists who brought their own gallows, as opposed to the abuse that routinely meets nonviolent Black and brown protestors, betrays a double standard; our guest (from an interview first aired in January) says no, it reflects the single standard of white supremacy.

As the year nears its end, it’s hard not to think back to how it started—with the violent assault on the Capitol.

12/02/2021

‘Now I Can Say Anything About You and Not Be Sued for It’

Transcript of CounterSpin's interview with Enrique Armijo on the Alex Jones defamation suit:

"I certainly wouldn’t want, and I don’t think any fair-minded person would want, a parent who has suffered this kind of tragedy to be thinking about preserving their right to sue someone for defamation later, if they decided that one of the things they wanted to do with that grief is try to make sure the incident didn’t happen again.

"I think what would happen is if the Alex Jones side of this argument would win, these parents, rather than speaking out and trying to prevent other school shootings, they would think, well, I want to remain private. I want to protect my own reputation. And there’s a real First Amendment loss to that, because we don’t get to hear from people who really have the most important things to say about these tragic events, and how to potentially prevent them in the future."

"The internet has really changed the distinction between public and private...to make it much easier that someone is a public figure."

12/02/2021

Politico Doesn’t Have ‘Woke Police’—It Has Staffers Calling Out Bad Journalism

The primary example offered of "woke policing" at Politico centered on an article about the GOP campaign to bar transgender girls from competing in girls' sports, which the Daily Beast says was deeemed "not inclusive enough of transgender voices."

"Not inclusive enough" here not inclusive at all: Not a single person identified as trans was quoted.

Apparently a disgruntled minority opposed to changes at Politico knew they'd find a sympathetic ear at the Daily Beast.

12/01/2021

Media Don’t Factcheck Right-Wing Migration Myths

Increases and declines in unauthorized immigration mostly correlate with changes in job opportunities and other economic conditions in the US and nearby countries. But anti-immigrant forces prefer to make up their own explanations.

Right-wing figures get little pushback when they promote evidence-free, often absurd claims about incentives for unauthorized immigration.

12/01/2021

Corporate Media Celebrate Criminal Justice System—While Differing on Outcomes

The trial was marked by early allegations of witness tampering and Judge Bruce Schroeder constantly interfering in the case on Rittenhouse’s behalf, including barring prosecutors from bringing up the defendant’s meetings with members of the Proud Boys and a previous fight he had been in. Though those points were raised in some media during the case, they were largely dismissed in the wake of the verdict, or portrayed as incidental to the system working. Rather, the jury’s decision was framed as a verdict that upheld the right to self defense, never mind the fact that that right tends to appear and disappear depending on whose self is in danger.

The jury’s decision was framed as the correct call by the justice system, a verdict that upheld the right to self defense,

11/30/2021

Help us reimagine a future without media conglomerates or corporate interests controlling the news. Donate to FAIR today to help us reach our $65,000 fundraising goal by January 1!
https://www.cambeywest.com/EXT/?f=appeal

Help us reimagine a future without media conglomerates or corporate interests controlling the news. Donate to FAIR today to help us reach our $65,000 fundraising goal by January 1!
https://www.cambeywest.com/EXT/?f=appeal

11/26/2021

Carol Anderson on White Supremacy vs. Democracy

Those sifting for signs of critical weakness in the prosecution argument in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial are missing the forest for the trees. We ask the law to deliver us from injustice, but remember why people were protesting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in the first place -- to protest the inadequacy of US systems and institutions to protect or to value Black life.

The head-spinning outrage of this case -- from police thanking Rittenhouse for roaming around with an illegal assault rifle, through his acquittal of the murders he committed -- may make it seem that what we used to quaintly call "race relations" have gone to a whole other level. But it's important to remember that the roots of these events, along with other things we see happening, are entwined deeply throughout this country's history.

And as this week's guest's work reminds us, we aren't just talking about the relationship between Black and white Americans; we're talking about the relationship between Americans and democracy.

https://fair.org/home/carol-anderson-on-white-supremacy-vs-democracy/

This can be a turning point, if more of us understand that history isn't something that happens to us, but something we DO.