media

Ben Mankiewicz, Jimmy Dore, John Iadarola, and Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks) | – “After NBC News suspended anchor Brian Williams for erroneously claiming that he was nearly shot down in a helicopter while covering the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly went on a tear. On his television […]

Christianity

Holy War: How Bill O’Reilly & Daesh/ ISIL Share The Same Goal

contributors

Cenk Uygur | (The Young Turks) “Bill O’Reilly stated definitively, multiple times tonight, that he believes the United States and the world are in a “holy war” against ISIS and the White House needs to accept that fact. He said, “This is now a so-called holy war between radical jihadists and everyone else, including peaceful […]

Egypt

‘American Terrorist’: Middle East reacts to Murder of 3 Muslim-American Students in N Carolina

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – If American mass media seemed reluctant to cover the murder of three Muslims students at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill as a hate crime, the same was not true in the Middle East, where strong opinions were aroused. Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan criticized President Barack Obama […]

censorship

“Drastic Decline” Seen in World Press Freedom

contributors

By Leila Lemghalef UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – A leading advocacy group warns of a “worldwide deterioration in freedom of information” last year. Out of the 180 countries being surveyed, two-thirds have slipped in standards compared to last year, according to the Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index 2015. Source: Reporters Without Borders The best […]

Entertainment

The Daily Show was never ‘real’ news – but came (depressingly) close

contributors

Julia Fox, Indiana University | (The Conversation) Jon Stewart’s Tuesday night announcement that he’ll be leaving the Daily Show garnered an audible cry of disbelief from his live studio audience. Stewart himself was visibly emotional: “What is this fluid?” he jokingly asked, making Frankenstein’s monster-like gestures toward his eyes and heart. “What are these feelings?” […]

African-Americans

Old White Men Dominate Sunday Political Shows Yet Again

contributors

MediaMatters4America | – [A study of the Sunday political television shows demonstrates that 87% of the single-person interviews are done with white males, and 66% of all interviews are, though white men are only 32% of Americans. Women of color were interviewed 6% of the time, though they’re about a fifth of Americans. White women […]

journalism

The reporter as action hero: what could possibly go wrong?

contributors

By Russell Frank | (The Conversation) Longtime New Yorker magazine staff writer Lillian Ross once admonished aspiring reporters not to write about themselves. “As a reporter, serve your subject,” she wrote, “do not serve yourself. Do not, in effect, say, ‘Look at me. See what a great reporter I am!’” Sounds quaint in the age […]

censorship

Amal Clooney Seeks talks with Egypt’s Sisi over Client jailed for Committing Journalism

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Update: Egypt has announced that Mohamed Fahmy will be retried in Cairo. Human Rights attorney Amal Clooney, wife of the actor George Clooney, wrote to Egyptian President Abdel Fattal al-Sisi on Saturday, requesting a meeting with him with regard to the fate of her client, Mohamed Fahmy, the […]

Bush

Williams Affair: Reagan and Bush Lied about Military Records but Get a Pass

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – NBC nightly news anchor Brian Williams is under fire for repeatedly having told an embellished story of being in a Chinook helicopter that took RPG and small arms fire at the beginning of the Iraq War and was forced down. His critics, and military personnel present on the […]