Media

The Media: White, Male, Republican, Corporate

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

A new study by Fairness and Accuracy in Media (FAIR) shows that 92 percent of all U.S. sources interviewed on the nightly network news in 2001 were white, 85 percent were male and, where party affiliation was identifiable, 75 percent were Republican. Big business, too, was overrepresented. In a year in which the country lost 2.4 million jobs, corporate representatives appeared about 35 times more frequently than did union representatives.

No
Main Source: 
http://www.fair.org/extra/0205/power_sources.html
Topics: 
Corporations
Media
Race / Ethnic Issues
Women

The Treasonous Press

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

"I accuse the media in the United States of treason," says a State Department official in a Washington Post opinion piece. Dennis Pluchinsky, a senior intelligence analyst with the Diplomatic Security Service in the U.S. Department of State, goes on to propose that the American press be censored in its coverage of the war on terrorism. "If there were an 'Osama bin Laden' award given out by al Qaeda, I believe that it would be awarded to the U.S news media for their investigative reporting," he says. "This type of reporting -- carrying specifics about U.S.

No
Main Source: 
Washington Post, June 14, 2002
Topics: 
Journalism
Terrorism
Human Rights
Rhetoric

Stations Won't Run Ad Exposing Ford's Greenwashing

Submitted by John Stauber on

Radio stations won't let environmentalists at the Sierra Club run a radio ad urging the US car industry to build more fuel efficient cars. The ad spot specifically names Bill Ford Jr. of Ford Motor Company, an executive who excels at greenwashing his company with rhetoric, while failing to 'walk the walk.' Ford gives lip service to fuel efficiency, but staunchly opposes laws that would require it. Radio stations doing business with Ford and running its car ads are refusing to run the Sierra Club's radio spot.

No
Main Source: 
The New York Times, June 13, 2002
Topics: 
Advertising
Corporate Social Responsibility
Environment
Media

News Blackout Aids & Abets FBI Frame-Up of Judi Bari

Submitted by John Stauber on

The news media is generally failing to report the historic verdict against the FBI in the 1990 bombing of non-violent environmental activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney. That would not surprise Judi, were she alive today. In her book Timber Wars she described how the news media eagerly parroted the FBI's lies and deception, casting Bari and fellow bomb victim Cherney as terrorists. "The news quickly went national, with newspapers across the country screaming about Earth First!ers carrying bombs. It was the only time we ever made the front page of the New York Times.

No
Main Source: 
http://www.judibari.org/
Topics: 
Terrorism
Environment
Media
Secrecy
U.S. Government

Don't Touch the Priests

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Tom Fox, publisher of the National Catholic Reporter, explains why it took more than a decade before journalists exposed the Catholic priest sex scandal. "We were seeing cases of this pedophilia stuff in a number of dioceses in a number of cities," Fox says. "The secular press wouldn't touch it because they didn't want to be seen as anti-Catholic, and the Catholic [press] wouldn't touch it because they weren't independent."

No
Main Source: 
Pitch Weekly, June 6, 2002
Topics: 
Journalism
Religion

Lad No More - Maxim's Low Road to Big Money

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Dave Itzkoff has written a confessional based on his two and a half years editing Maxim, one of the so-called "lad magazines" that cater to male interest in topics like beer, sex and gadgets. Itzkoff describes the magazine's formula as "unrealistically retouched photographs, patently invented pillow talk, obvious editorial concessions to advertisers and a pervasively smug attitude. ... We didn't do issue-oriented news features or authoritative first-person narratives, and hadn't published a proper profile in almost a year -- all hallmarks of basic magazine journalism.

No
Main Source: 
http://www.nypress.com/15/23/news&columns/feature.cfm
Topics: 
Corporations
Ethics
Media

Medical Journals Under the Microscope

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

New studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association have found problems in medical journals involving biases and conflicts of interest. Other problems originate in news releases put out by the journals themselves, which routinely fail to mention study limitations or industry funding and may exaggerate the importance of findings. Dr.

No
Main Source: 
Washington Post, June 4, 2002
Topics: 
Journalism
Ethics
Health

Politically Incorrect No More

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

It's official: Bill Maher's TV show has been cancelled. Maher's program, Politically Incorrect, came under attack when Maher made allegedly "unpatriotic" remarks in the aftermath of September 11. But Matthew Nisbit points out that there's more to the story: Maher has been replaced by comedian Jimmy Kimmel, whose show appeals to young males with what it calls "a half-hour of joyous chauvinism ... each variety-style episode contains a whole truckload of man-fun. ... It's all the stuff you see on beer commercials. And every show ends with girls on trampolines."

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Main Source: 
American Prospect, June 3, 2002
Topics: 
Media
War / Peace

Bad News Is Good News

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Former reporters for the Taliban news service describe how they were ordered to inflate figures of civilian casualties from the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. Casualty estimates today still range from a low of 1,000 to a high of around 3,000. Some of the former Taliban reporters are still at work, now for the new government. Mohammed Ismail Qanay "keeps a photo of himself from his days as a reluctant co-conspirator in the Taliban's propaganda factory, when he was required to wear the tunic and pantaloons, a turban and a flowing beard.

No
Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, June 3, 2002
Topics: 
Journalism
International
War / Peace

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