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.
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).
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.
Are media dangerously indifferent to questions of criminal banks? Plus: whistleblowers on the front line of the conflict between powerful institutions’ desire to keep secrets and democracy’s requirement that people be well-informed.
As some US media re-engage the drone debate, the discussion is over how and where drones should be used—not whether they should be. Plus: Honduran indigenous rights leader Berta Caceres and the group COPINH are fighting not just governments but some of the world’s most powerful corporations to protect their land and livelihood.
More useful than corporate media’s “battling soundbites” approach to covering TPP would be journalism that got outside the Beltway and talked to people about what the fallout from these corporate-centered international agreements really looks like.