journalism

Fox News on Wednesday continued its multi-year obsession with the terrorist attack in Benghazi by inviting NFL football analyst and former quarterback Terry Bradshaw to weigh in. Out Numbered host Andrea Tantaros began the segment by highlighting a…

Featured

Facial Hair, Patriotism and the Enemy in American History

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole Media Matters for America put together a collage of Fox Cable News commentators smearing the father of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl as having a Taliban-like beard and maybe even being a Taliban sympathizer. Thanks to MM4A for the Laura Ingram clip in which she says that if he weren’t so light-skinned he could […]

censorship

Turkey’s Erdogan Calls CNN Reporter arrested on air “Lackey,” “Agent of Chaos”

contributors

Turkey PM accuses international media of spying, singles out CNN (via AFP) Turkey’s embattled prime minister lashed out at international media on Tuesday, accusing news outlets of stirring unrest during the one-year anniversary of mass anti-government protests. Recep Tayyip Erdogan singled out CNN International, whose reporter… —– Related video: CNN: “CNN reporter detained by […]

Censors

NYT’s James Risen risks Jail For Protecting Sources after SC declines to Take Appeal

contributors

By Trevor Timm: The Supreme Court today rejected New York Times reporter James Risen’s appeal of a 4th Circuit decision that ruled the government can compel him to reveal his source under oath. The case, one of the most important for reporter’s privilege in decades, means that Risen has exhausted his appeals and must now […]

journalism

#YesAllWomen Changes the Story in Wake of Isla Vista Massacre

contributors

By Rebecca Solnit via Tomdispatch.com It was a key match in the World Cup of Ideas. The teams vied furiously for the ball. The all-star feminist team tried repeatedly to kick it through the goalposts marked Widespread Social Problems, while the opposing team, staffed by the mainstream media and mainstream dudes, was intent on getting […]

journalism

Did Benghazi Obsession cause Fox ‘News’ Ratings to Plummet 27% in May?

contributors

Fox News ratings dropped 27% in May, and there were double-digit falls across many of their top shows. The ratings drop is year over year, with a 27% drop in total viewership, but a 25% drop among younger viewers. With the younger viewers, these are…

Democracy

Press Freedom is the Issue, not Glenn Greenwald’s Personality

contributors

By Barry Eisler via Freedom of the Press Foundation: One of the most fascinating aspects of Glenn Greenwald’s journalism is the way it provokes various people who think of themselves as journalists to reveal their actual priorities. I wrote about this at length last week in a response to Michael Kinsley’s non-review review of Greenwald’s […]

Crime

Not Snowden but Keith Alexander: Hero or Traitor (the debate we should be having)

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole NBC News’s Brian Williams interviewed Edward Snowden in Moscow on Wednesday night. But then Mr. Williams followed it up with a panel discussion of whether Snowden is a hero or traitor. It was a cowardly and venal thing to do, and Mr. Williams should be ashamed of himself. By framing the post-interview […]

Constitution

‘Journalist’ Michael Kinsley says Gov’t should make Publishing Decisions

contributors

Glenn Greenwald spends the last third of his excellent new book, “No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the US Surveillance State”, exposing the mentality and function of pseudo-journalists like David Gregory, who are in fact better understood…