television

How our TV News is letting Trump get away with Claiming the Pandemic is Behind Us when we have a 9/11 every 3 Days

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Republican National Convention wants the pandemic to be in the past. It isn’t. Cases are up almost 1 percent this week. We still have over 40,000 new cases daily, down from a peak of 70,000 in mid-July. Some of the decline is a result of less testing, connived at […]

Authoritarianism

Strange Attractors: Why is Trump’s Covid-19 Train Wreck so Mesmerizing to Corporate Media and the rest of Us?

Rebecca Gordon

(Tomdispatch.com) – My partner and I have been fighting about politics since we met in 1965. I was 13. She was 18 and my summer camp counselor. (It was another 14 years before we became a couple.) We spent that first summer arguing about the Vietnam War. I was convinced that the U.S. never should […]

Donald Trump

At Last, Someone is Suing Fox “News” for Journalistic Malpractice in Misguiding People over Seriousness of Coronavirus

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I have long thought that Fox Cable “News” was open to lawsuits for its persistent purveying of falsehoods to viewers, some of which will cost lives. I wouldn’t be surprised if it gets sued over it climate change denialism, for instance. All you need is for a viewer to maintain […]

Bernie Sanders

The Plutocracy Strikes Back: CNN Compares Bernie Sanders to Coronavirus

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Saturday morning CNN host Michael Smerconish compared Sen. Bernie Sanders to the coronavirus, asking if anything could stop either one. So reports Tommy Christopher at Mediaite. CNN has apologized. Rational National: “CNN Compares Bernie Sanders To The Coronavirus” Smerconish is a lifelong Republican who left the party in 2008 […]

Bernie Sanders

The Fall of France to the Nazis? Chris Matthews and Corporate Democrats’ Bernie Derangement Syndrome

Juan Cole

NB Matthews apologized for his remarks on 2/24/20 Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – I was watching MSNBC Saturday afternoon during the voting at the Nevada caucuses. I did a little channel surfing, checking in at CNN and at the real news on Al Jazeera. But mostly I had MSNBC on. And I nearly fell off […]

journalism

How TV cameras influence candidates’ debate success

The Conversation

By Patrick A. Stewart | – As the Democratic Party continues to winnow its field of candidates to challenge President Donald Trump, it’s important to remember that the way candidates are covered on TV can influence public opinion. That’s become increasingly apparent in today’s media landscape, with several candidates jockeying for coverage during their party’s […]

journalism

Danger: Sinclair is advancing its agenda using the public broadcast spectrum

contributors

By Amanda Lotz | (The Conversation) | – – On March 31, Deadspin produced a video showing a chorus of local news anchors delivering the exact same scripted speech to viewers. The message – denouncing media bias and fake news, calling it a problem that is “neither politically ‘left nor right’” – might seem innocuous […]

Internet

How Big Media Money & Monopolies Affect You: Disney/Murdoch to Net Neutrality

contributors

By Des Freedman | ( OpenDemocracy.net) | – – This week’s events have shown that the new digital media landscape is every bit as monopolistic as the old one. And what’s Murdoch up to now? Image: Rupert Murdoch, who this week sold his entertainment empire – but not his news empire – to Disney Two […]