Media Issues
The danger of escalation in Ukraine
By Alex Lantier, 11 February 2015
No one is stating clearly the cost in lives that a broader conflict between NATO and Russia over Ukraine might be.
The New York Times and Washington’s “propaganda bubble” on Ukraine
By Bill Van Auken, 6 January 2015
The Times’ “investigation” is dedicated to portraying the events of last February as merely a “meltdown” of the Ukrainian government, rather than a Western-orchestrated coup.
The New York Times calls for torture prosecutions
By Patrick Martin and David North, 23 December 2014
An editorial published Monday reveals a deep-going political crisis within the American ruling elite.
Senate report on torture exposes collusion between corporate media and CIA
By Niles Williamson, 11 December 2014
The unclassified summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program documents the role of news media such as the New York Times in serving as a conduit for CIA propaganda.
Meryl Streep, Stevie Wonder receive Presidential Medal of Freedom from Obama
By David Walsh, 26 November 2014
The president bestowed America’s highest civilian honor on 18 politicians, artists, scientists and others in a ceremony Monday afternoon.
New York Times column advocates ending midterm elections in America
By Barry Grey, 5 November 2014
Schanzer, the homeland security expert, wants an imperial presidency whose agenda is unimpeded by expensive distractions such as congressional elections.
The Ben Affleck-Bill Maher-Sam Harris dispute: Anti-Muslim bigotry and American imperialist policy
By David Walsh, 9 October 2014
The argument that erupted on the October 3 edition of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” was revealing.
Anti-Muslim ads removed from New York buses after protest from James Foley's family
By Isaac Finn, 4 October 2014
The family charged that the virulently anti-Muslim ad was “entirely inconsistent” with the slain reporter’s beliefs.
Washington Post slashes retirement benefits
By a reporter, 29 September 2014
The newspaper is cutting benefits immediately for non-union employees and demanding the same cuts in contract talks with the Newspaper Guild.
The Ray Rice case and the violence of American football
By Alan Gilman and Jerry White, 10 September 2014
Nowhere in the round-the-clock media coverage and sanctimonious statements of NFL officials, team owners and political figures has there been the slightest insight into the broader social causes of such violence.
The New York Times and Flight MH17
By Bill Van Auken, 30 August 2014
The Times, which presents the responsibility of rebels in eastern Ukraine for downing the airliner as fact, has not reported on the incident for more than a month.
More pro-war propaganda from NY Times columnist Roger Cohen
US “errors” and the debacle in the Middle East
By Bill Van Auken, 28 August 2014
The New York Times’ Roger Cohen lays the blame for the bloody events in the region on a series of US “errors,” most importantly a failure to go to war in Syria.
German journalists arrested in Ferguson
By Wolfgang Weber, 20 August 2014
Ansgar Graw and Frank Hermann were held in a prison cell for three hours and subsequently released without comment.
Journalist James Risen denounces President Obama as the “greatest enemy to press freedom in a generation”
By Nick Barrickman, 19 August 2014
Facing a possible prison sentence for refusing to identify a confidential source, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist James Risen denounced the Obama administration’s campaign against whistleblowers and journalists.
Pentagon begins Bergdahl investigation
By Patrick Martin, 17 June 2014
The Army has appointed a high-ranking officer with combat experience in Afghanistan to lead the probe into the POW’s capture in June 2009.
Right-wing campaign intensifies against family of American POW Bergdahl
By Patrick Martin, 9 June 2014
There have been numerous death threats against the parents of freed POW Bowe Bergdahl.
The US media and the release of POW Bowe Bergdahl
By Patrick Martin, 5 June 2014
The freed POW has been subjected to unprecedented media vilification because of his antiwar stand.
The New York Times and freedom of the press
By Patrick Martin, 31 May 2014
A commentary published by the Times asserts that the US government, not the press, should decide whether leaked information about government wrongdoing should be made public.
Shedding light on the New York Times shake-up
30 May 2014
Glenn Greenwald’s book No Place to Hide sheds new light on the politics of the firing of New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson and her replacement by Dean Baquet.
The firing of the New York Times’ Jill Abramson
By David Walsh, 21 May 2014
The dismissal of the New York Times’ first female executive editor on May 14 lifted the lid, briefly and partially, on the US media establishment and its personnel.
The NSA and the New York Times
By our reporter, 20 May 2014
The New York Times’ role is akin to that of media attaché to the military-intelligence complex.
US media steps up espionage slander against Edward Snowden
By Barry Grey, 13 May 2014
As the one-year anniversary of the publication of Edward Snowden’s revelations of government spying approaches, the campaign of vilification and character assassination against the former NSA contractor is being stepped up.
White House Correspondents Association gala
Wealth, celebrity and decadence in Obama’s Washington
By Patrick Martin, 6 May 2014
Saturday’s gala of the White House Correspondents Association flaunted the ever more degraded state of American politics.
New York Times covers up fascist atrocity in Odessa
By Barry Grey, 5 May 2014
The New York Times responded to the fascist murder of 38 people in Odessa on Friday by burying the story and deliberately obscuring the identity of the perpetrators.
Wall Street Journal outlines US military options against China
By Tom Peters, 30 April 2014
The Pentagon has drawn up plans to deploy nuclear-capable bombers and aircraft carriers off the Chinese coast.
Nevada standoff highlights role of the ultra-right in US politics
By Patrick Martin, 29 April 2014
Politicians and media pundits who hailed rancher Cliven Bundy are now denouncing his racist views.
The Ukraine crisis and the political lies of the media
By Alex Lantier, 28 April 2014
As the US escalates its threats against Russia, risking world war, the American media plays its assigned role as propaganda mouthpiece.
Panel discussion on NSA surveillance covers for government spy programs
By Nick Barrickman, 28 April 2014
The event sponsored by the Washington Post peddled illusions in the Obama administration.
New York Times attempts to whitewash its role in publishing faked Ukraine photos
By Alex Lantier, 26 April 2014
Times public editor Margaret Sullivan’s attempt to whitewash the publication of doctored photos underscores its role as a conduit for state propaganda.
New York Times tries to whitewash publication of faked Ukraine photos
By Alex Lantier, 24 April 2014
The Times is attempting to cover over its participation in an attempt to manufacture evidence of a Russian intervention in Ukraine.
The New York Times finds Russian spies in eastern Ukraine
By Alex Lantier, 22 April 2014
The newspaper’s unsubstantiated claim to have proof that Russian spies are driving the eastern Ukraine protests is intended to provide the US government with a pretext to escalate its aggressive confrontation with Russia.
Media blacks out Seymour Hersh exposé of US lies on Syrian gas attack
By Patrick Martin, 8 April 2014
Seymour Hersh reported that the gas attack on Ghouta last August was staged with the assistance of Turkey to bring the US into the Syrian war.
Imperialist hypocrisy on Crimea
By Joseph Kishore, 17 March 2014
Sunday’s referendum in Crimea has been seized upon to escalate the imperialist offensive in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, whose ultimate aim is regime change or war against Russia.
The New York Times deploys C.J. Chivers to Ukraine
By Patrick Martin, 17 March 2014
The former Marine Corps officer with Special Forces training has been closely aligned with US dirty work in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Polk Awards honor Greenwald, other journalists who broke Snowden revelations
By Shannon Jones, 18 February 2014
Four journalists who reported on the US National Security Agency’s illegal surveillance programs are being given a prestigious award amid mounting attacks on democratic rights.
In latest “human rights” crusade, NY Times’ Kristof promotes allegations against Woody Allen
By David Walsh, 5 February 2014
The alliance of self-satisfied media pundits, “human rights” activists, pseudo-lefts, feminists and openly right-wing elements, which periodically inundates the US with its moralizing in the service of political reaction, is at it again.
Murdoch’s Politics—An ex-Stalinist in awe of Rupert Murdoch, Part I
By Dave Hyland, 1 February 2014
A two-part review of Murdoch’s Politics—How one man’s thirst for wealth and power shapes our world, David McKnight, Pluto Press.
The Kellers and cancer
By Barry Grey, 20 January 2014
New York Times columnist Bill Keller and his journalist wife wrote on the case of a terminal cancer patient to argue against ordinary people receiving life-extending medical care.
Why aren’t the Wall Street criminals prosecuted?
By Barry Grey, 7 January 2014
What prevails in America is not democracy, but a revival of aristocratic privilege.
New York Times proposes clemency for Snowden: An exercise in damage control
By Eric London, 4 January 2014
The editorial “Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower” is a belated acknowledgment of the massive popular support for the man who exposed the NSA’s totalitarian operations.
New York Times report:
CIA-backed militias linked to Benghazi, Libya attack
By Patrick Martin, 30 December 2013
The Times report confirms that the Benghazi attack was blowback from the CIA’s use of Islamic terrorist groups to attack the Gaddafi regime in Libya.
US media blacks out Seymour Hersh exposé of Washington’s lies on sarin attack in Syria
By Barry Grey, 11 December 2013
The response of the American media to Hersh’s authoritative exposure of US government criminality has been to bury it.
New York Times mourns death of Al Qaeda-linked Syrian opposition fighter
By Alex Lantier, 22 November 2013
On Monday, the New York Times carried an article on the death of Abdulkader al-Saleh, the leader of the Tawhid (“Monotheism”) opposition militia in Syria.
Obama touts health care bill in mea culpa over dropped policies
By Kate Randall, 9 November 2013
In a White House interview, the president peddled the lie that Obamacare is a genuine reform aimed at improving the quality and accessibility of health care.
New York Times: Treat high medical costs as a “serious side effect”
By Kate Randall, 6 November 2013
The Times and the well-off layers that it represents continue their support of Obamacare with calls for reducing “unnecessary” medical services for working families and the poor.
In exchange with Glenn Greenwald
Bill Keller defends role of New York Times in concealing government crimes
By Barry Grey, 1 November 2013
The exchange of comments is an attempt by Keller to whitewash his role and that of the Times in withholding information at the behest of the government and publishing state propaganda in the guise of "news."
Nonstop media lies in drive to war against Syria
By Kate Randall, 9 September 2013
The American population is being subjected to a non-stop media barrage promoting the drive for an illegal war of aggression against Syria.
Obama and media manufacture pretext for attack on Syria
By Bill Van Auken, 30 August 2013
In their attempt to make a case for a US attack on Syria, the Obama administration and the US media find no lie too stupid, no contradiction too glaring.
The New York Times and Manning’s prison sentence
By Thomas Gaist, 23 August 2013
The New York Times published an editorial Wednesday defending the verdict against Manning while suggesting a slightly reduced prison sentence
Time correspondent “can’t wait” to write defense of drone strike that “takes out Assange”
By Eric London, 19 August 2013
A Twitter message posted Saturday by Time magazine senior national correspondent Michael Grunwald highlights the authoritarian sentiments that predominate in the media establishment.
Journalist Michael Hastings was investigating CIA director at time of deadly crash
By Matthew MacEgan, 16 August 2013
The widow of investigative journalist Michael Hastings confirmed that CIA Director John Brennan was the target of Hastings’ next exposé project.
Friedman of the Times demands Edward Snowden turn himself in
By Bill Van Auken, 16 August 2013
The New York Times columnist assures the former NSA contractor that the US system “will not allow an authentic whistle-blower to be unfairly punished.”
Billionaire Jeffrey Bezos to purchase Washington Post
By Andre Damon, 7 August 2013
The Washington Post, one of the United States' leading national newspapers, announced Monday that it had been sold for $250 million to Jeffrey Bezos, the multi-billionaire founder of the online retail firm Amazon.com.
Questions surrounding 2011 triple murder point to government cover-up in Boston Marathon bombing
By Thomas Gaist and Barry Grey, 12 July 2013
The New York Times published a front-page article Thursday that raises new questions about the alleged perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing and adds to the evidence of a government cover-up.
Questions surround death of journalist Michael Hastings
By David Brown, 21 June 2013
The speed with which police have declared no “foul play” is an effort to suppress the many questions that exist about the death of the journalist.
Liberal advocates of a police state turn savagely against Edward Snowden
By David North and Eric London, 14 June 2013
Since Edward Snowden’s exposure of the Obama administration’s domestic and international surveillance program, the political establishment and the media have been engaged in a non-stop campaign to discredit the young man and besmirch his character.
Defend Edward Snowden!
By Barry Grey and David North, 13 June 2013
The World Socialist Web Site and the Socialist Equality Party call on all workers, students and youth within the United States and internationally to come to the defense of Edward Snowden.
On network news show, Nation editor rushes to the defense of Obama
By Andre Damon and Barry Grey, 20 May 2013
Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor and publisher of the Nation magazine, sprung to the defense of the Obama administration and dismissed charges that its attacks on democratic rights were comparable to those of Nixon and Watergate.
Nation magazine, ISO silent on Boston lockdown
By Tom Mackaman and Barry Grey, 30 April 2013
One searches the TheNation.com and SocialistWorker.org in vain for an article seriously addressing—much less condemning—the police-military lockdown.
The New York Times and terrorism
By Joseph Kishore, 30 April 2013
The attitude of the New York Times to terrorist attacks is entirely determined by the relationship of such attacks to the operations of US military and intelligence agencies.
The New York Times and the state of siege in Boston
By David Brown and Barry Grey, 25 April 2013
The New York Times published an editorial Monday that not only endorses last week’s police-military lockdown of Boston, but suggests that it was entirely consistent with democratic procedures.
Media hysteria grows over Boston bombing
By Barry Grey, 18 April 2013
While the nation, including the people of Boston, have remained calm, deeply saddened and shocked by the bombings as they are, the media and their leading personnel present a picture of disorientation and panic.
Media rush to judgment in Boston Marathon bombing
By Barry Grey, 16 April 2013
At least three people were killed and 144 wounded, including 15 with critical injuries, by two bomb explosions in downtown Boston.
The American media, ten years after the Iraq war
By Alex Lantier, 20 March 2013
Multiple car bomb attacks hit Shiite targets across Iraq yesterday, on the tenth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, killing 65 and wounding at least 200.
The New York Times’ Bill Keller smears Bradley Manning
By Naomi Spencer, 18 March 2013
Attempting to justify the Times’ unprincipled role in the events leading up to Manning’s arrest, the newspaper’s former executive editor wrote a column on March 10, “Bradley Manning’s Confidant.”
The New York Times defends drone murder
By Patrick Martin, 11 March 2013
A front-page article in the Times detailing the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki reveals both the criminal character of the killing and the liberal establishment’s contempt for democratic rights.
New York Times describes 2002 US-backed coup against Hugo Chavez as “unwise”
By Bill Van Auken, 9 March 2013
The Times itself had enthusiastically endorsed the military overthrow of Venezuela’s elected president.
US Senate approves John Brennan, tied to torture and drone assassination, as CIA director
By David Walsh, 8 March 2013
The Senate vote confirming the mastermind of Obama’s drone program followed a revealing quarrel within the establishment about the government’s right to assassinate Americans on US soil.
Bradley Manning and the media
By Naomi Spencer, 2 March 2013
At Thursday’s hearing, Bradley Manning revealed this extraordinary fact: before sending files to WikiLeaks, he contacted both the Washington Post and the New York Times, but neither paper responded.
Media covered up US assassination base in Saudi Arabia
By Joseph Kishore, 8 February 2013
At the request of the Obama administration, the New York Times, Washington Post and other media outlets concealed the location of the base, used to carry out drone assassinations.
The Nation defends John Brennan, Obama’s nominee for the CIA
By Joseph Kishore, 26 January 2013
In a comment by leading columnist Robert Dreyfuss, the Nation magazine has jumped to the defense of Obama’s nominee to head the CIA, the former chief of the administration’s drone assassination program.
New York Times prescription for “When the Doctor Is Not Needed”
By Kate Randall, 19 December 2012
In the latest installment of its editorial campaign for sweeping cuts in health care, the Times promotes patient “self care” and “community aides” as substitutes for doctors.
Letters on the British royal pregnancy
8 December 2012
Letters in response to the December 7 perspective, “The American establishment and the British royal pregnancy.”
The American establishment and the British royal pregnancy
By David Walsh, 7 December 2012
The announcement that Kate Middleton, wife of Britain’s Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge, is expecting a baby has produced unseemly squeals of delight from the American media and establishment generally.
Obama administration to allow further US media consolidation
By David Maynard, 5 December 2012
The Obama administration is quietly planning to pass changes proposed under Bush and permit even greater media consolidation.
New York Times gives glimpse of sectarian bloodbath being prepared by Syria intervention
By Bill Van Auken, 8 August 2012
An article published last week in the New York Times on the spillover of sectarian tensions from Syria into Turkey belies the “democratic” and “humanitarian” pretexts for the ever more violent drive for regime change by the US and its allies.
The New York Times hails terror bombing in Damascus
By Alex Lantier, 21 July 2012
The Times’ response to the bombings in Damascus epitomizes the Orwellian character of the American media’s coverage of the war in Syria.
The New York Times makes the “moral case” for drones
By David Walsh, 19 July 2012
”The Moral Case for Drones,” published in the New York Times on July 14, seeks to justify the assassination program run out of the Obama White House.
New Zealand: New evidence about US operation to shut down Megaupload
By John Braddock, 7 July 2012
White House logs demonstrate that meetings took place between Hollywood studio executives and US Vice President Joe Biden six months before the raids on Megaupload.
New York Times lauds Supreme Court’s “exquisite delicacy” in health care decision
By Joseph Kishore, 30 June 2012
The specialty of the Times is to serve up the lying hypocrisy of the liberal bourgeois establishment, which is then transmitted in various forms down through the “left” defenders of the Democratic Party.
Paul Krugman shills for Obama and capitalism
By Patrick Martin, 5 June 2012
The liberal economist and New York Times columnist has become a leading media apologist for Obama’s right-wing, pro-corporate economic policies.
New York Times beats drum for war in Syria … and beyond
By Patrick Martin, 23 April 2012
The New York Times is reprising its role in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq, mounting an editorial campaign for war against Syria.
US television personality Mike Wallace dead at 93
By David Walsh, 12 April 2012
Mike Wallace, the longtime American television journalist best known for his almost four decades on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” died April 7 at the age of 93.
New York Times’ Bill Keller sets ground rules for next war
By Bill Van Auken, 21 March 2012
On the ninth anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq, New York Times columnist and former editor Bill Keller has penned a self-serving piece that obscures his own role in justifying that war,while setting ground rules for launching the next one.
The New York Times and “liberal” warmongering against Iran
By Bill Van Auken, 7 March 2012
The New York Times tried Tuesday to maneuver between Israel’s threats of imminent strikes against Iran and the Obama administration’s strategy of allowing crippling economic sanctions to force Tehran into submission before launching a shooting war.
The US media responds with hostility to this year’s Academy Awards show
By David Walsh, 2 March 2012
A number of US media critics have attacked this year’s Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles with such venom that it invites a second look.
The New York Times and the drive to war against Iran
By Barry Grey, 31 January 2012
The New York Times on Sunday published a lengthy article in its weekly magazine that sympathetically and clinically lays out the arguments of Israeli policy makers in favor of a military attack on Iran sometime this year.
Journalist, scoundrel Christopher Hitchens dies at 62
By David Walsh, 17 December 2011
Christopher Hitchens began his public life as a “left” journalist in Britain and moved on, without undergoing any apparent internal struggle, to become a proponent of imperialist war and oppression, residing in Washington, D.C.
Article sheds light on the fabrication of charges against Strauss-Kahn
By Patrick Martin, 30 November 2011
A lengthy article by long-time investigative journalist Edward Jay Epstein, published in the New York Review of Books, sheds new light on the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund, last May in New York City on bogus rape charges.
US business magazine: Military coup best solution for Greece
By Bill Van Auken, 4 November 2011
Forbes magazine, which bills itself as “Information for the World's Business Leaders,” has published an article on its web site entitled “The real Greek solution: a military coup.”
FBI to investigate allegations News Corp. hacked 9/11 victims’ phone records
By Kate Randall, 15 July 2011
The FBI has opened an investigation into allegations that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. tried to obtain phone records of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The New York Times’ Roger Cohen lavishes praise on Rupert Murdoch
By David Walsh, 14 July 2011
The New York Times published a column July 11 that portrays media mogul Rupert Murdoch as “alive and vigorous and noisy and relevant” and a “visionary” who shows “risk-taking determination.”
New York Times questions spending on “Extremely Expensive Cancer Drugs”
By Kate Randall, 9 July 2011
A recent New York Times editorial challenges Medicare payments for two drugs: Provenge for prostate cancer and Avastin for breast cancer.
The acquittal of Casey Anthony
By David Walsh, 8 July 2011
The acquittal of 25-year-old Casey Anthony in Orlando, Florida Tuesday on charges of murdering her child in June 2008 points to a fact of some social significance.
The New York Times and the presumption of guilt
By Tom Carter, 7 July 2011
In the aftermath of the collapse of the prosecution’s case against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the New York Times is conducting a rearguard action to justify the conduct of the prosecutor.
New York Times decries “squandering” of Medicare funds
By Kate Randall, 7 June 2011
The New York Times continued its deceitful campaign against “wasteful” Medicare spending and “unnecessary” tests and procedures in an opinion piece last week by Rita Redberg.
The New York Times and the Joplin tornado’s “silver lining”
By Naomi Spencer, 3 June 2011
With 138 dead in the worst US tornado disaster in more than 60 years, the New York Times published an article Tuesday, prominently displayed on the main left column of its front page, under the headline, “Reconstruction Lifts Economy After Disasters.”
New York Times reporter subpoenaed in leak case
By Patrick Martin, 27 May 2011
James Risen could face contempt of court charges and imprisonment if he refuses to testify against a former CIA operative.
The American “left” and the Strauss-Kahn affair
By David Walsh, 23 May 2011
The response of the Nation magazine and the International Socialist Organization (ISO) to the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges.
Obama on “60 Minutes:” A political assessment
By Bill Van Auken, 10 May 2011
In his first and so far only interview since the assassination of Osama bin Laden, US President Barack Obama spent half an hour on the CBS News program “60 Minutes” reveling in the details of the extra-judicial killing.
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