6:30 PM Pacific Time: Sundays
CounterSpin provides a critical examination of the each week’s major news stories, and exposes what the mainstream media may have missed in their own coverage. Combines lively discussion and thoughtful critique. Produced by the national media watch group FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting).
This week on CounterSpin: Two recent stories that are hard to miss, but about which some might say most media are missing the point. First, an anti-abortion group is releasing “sting” videos claiming to show that Planned Parenthood profits from the sale of fetal body parts, but rather than focus on sorting facts from flame-fanning, … Continued
The debt crisis has already meant closing schools, losing jobs and shutting off healthcare options, so what does it mean that on the mainland, what’s happening in Puerto Rico is just a business story?
Elite media’s utter lack of interest in former US Attorney General Eric Holder going from investigating big financial interests to representing them at law firm Covington & Burling suggests that outrage is outre.
The New York Times tells readers Barack Obama was moved to negotiate a deal with Iran because of his personal “faith in diplomacy.” Our guest has an alternate view.
The New York Post headline “Greek Tragedy: Nation Commits Economic Suicide” was only yelling what was spoken elsewhere: that Greek voters invited ruin with their “No” vote on an austerity referendum.).
The Fourth of July weekend will doubtless feature media chatter about what America “stands for,” and how our history has shaped us. But much of the talk will bear little relationship to the country’s actual history, which is roughly a million times more complicated and conflict-riddled than the image we are usually presented.
When do journalists choose to unleash the weaponized language of “terrorism”—and what effect does that have on public opinion and policy? University of Illinois professor Travis Dixon has researched media patterns on the issue.
It hasn’t been probing media coverage that’s roughened the road for the corporate power grab known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership; public interest activism is the missing piece in much top-down media coverage. Plus: To hear media tell it, the EPA found that fracking doesn’t pose any widespread harm to drinking water. Is that really what the science said?
Solitary confinement is discussed so matter-of-factly in US media that you wouldn’t guess that many people in the world consider it to be torture. Plus: Despite ever-growing popularity, women’s sports just don’t seem to garner big-time media interest.
Proponents say the USA Freedom Act, while not perfect, at least means the end of NSA collection of US citizens’ phone records. Is that really true? Also: What’s being done to prevent disasters like the 2013 Rana Plaza garment factory collapses?This week on CounterSpin: Proponents say the USA Freedom Act, while not perfect, at least means the end of NSA collection of US citizens’ phone records. Is that really true? Could the law’s shortcomings outweigh its merits? We’ll hear from Sue Udry, executive director of the Defending Dissent Foundation and acting director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee.
