US Media Issues
Sanders’ rise in polls alarms Democratic political establishment
By Patrick Martin, 14 January 2020
The increased support for the Vermont senator is linked to mounting antiwar sentiment in the midst of the Iran crisis.
210 Thomas Friedman repost
10 January 2020
CBS’ “60 Minutes” program raises questions on death of Jeffrey Epstein
By Kevin Reed, 7 January 2020
A “60 Minutes” segment reveals new evidence about the death of the multi-millionaire sex offender consistent with suspicions that he was murdered and did not commit suicide.
31 December 2019
In midst of impeachment, Pelosi honors Trump with State of the Union invitation
By Patrick Martin and Andre Damon, 23 December 2019
The move makes clear that, despite the bitter foreign policy differences at the heart of the impeachment drive, the two parties of American capitalism are united on fundamental issues.
“It’s a much more complicated story than reducing it down to slavery being the engine of capitalism”
An interview with historian Dolores Janiewski on the New York Times’ 1619 Project
By Tom Peters and John Braddock, 23 December 2019
Professor Janiewski is a lecturer in American history at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand with a focus on the post-Civil War reconstruction, the Civil Rights movement and anti-communist witch hunts.
“I don’t believe this stuff about ‘intrinsic differences’ between people”
Workers respond to New York Times’ 1619 Project’s claim of an unbridgeable racial divide in US
By our reporters, 17 December 2019
In contrast to the Times’ dystopian portrayal of American society as riven by different races with unbridgeable differences, workers who spoke to the World Socialist Web Site expressed a broad striving for unity.
New York Times uses racial politics to promote charter schools
By Nancy Hanover, 14 December 2019
The New York Times recently published a dishonest article promoting racial politics in defense of charter schools.
999 CPJ and Assange
14 December 2019
Report unmasks FBI intervention in 2016 elections
By Patrick Martin, 10 December 2019
The real threat to American democracy comes from the national-security state and the capitalist ruling elite, not from any foreign country.
The “Afghanistan papers”: The criminality and disaster of a war based upon lies
By Bill Van Auken, 10 December 2019
The documents published by the Washington Post constitute a damning indictment of both major parties as well as the media for lying to the American people for two decades.
Seton Hall Law School report exposes new details of CIA torture program
By Kevin Reed, 6 December 2019
The report reveals for the first time—with drawings and notes provided by CIA detainee Abu Zubaydah—details of the “enhanced interrogation techniques” used by the US government.
Perspectives for the coming revolution in America: Race, class and the fight for socialism
By Joseph Kishore, 2 December 2019
This is an edited version of a report delivered by Socialist Equality Party National Secretary Joseph Kishore to meetings in Michigan and California on the New York Times’ “1619 Project.”
999 DSA article on Bolton and impeachment
28 November 2019
Modern-day philistinism and reaction: the New York Times considers “canceling” French painter Paul Gauguin
By David Walsh, 25 November 2019
The Times published an article November 18 with a headline that posed the question, “Is It Time Gauguin Got Canceled?”
Two New York prison guards charged in connection with Epstein death
By Matthew Taylor, 20 November 2019
The pair who were guarding Epstein on the night of his mysterious death have been charged with falsifying records and defrauding the US government.
Wall Street Journal investigation confirms Google operates censorship blacklist
By Andre Damon, 18 November 2019
A report published Friday confirms many of the central allegations made by the World Socialist Web Site in 2017 regarding Google’s censorship of the internet.
Obama joins effort to push Democratic primary campaign to the right
By Patrick Martin, 18 November 2019
Obama declared his opposition to anything “revolutionary” or “crazy” being put forward by presidential candidates whom he did not name, although he was clearly referring to Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Louisiana governor wins re-election in blow to Trump
By Patrick Martin, 18 November 2019
Edwards won despite three campaign appearances by President Trump and an all-out effort by the Republican National Committee.
Google’s Project Nightingale: The largest transfer to date of private medical data to the tech giant
By Benjamin Mateus, 18 November 2019
More than 50 million not de-identified health records spanning 21 states are being shared with Google through a secret partnership with Ascension Healthcare.
Roger Stone conviction affirms he lied about having connections with WikiLeaks
By Kevin Reed, 16 November 2019
The conviction of Roger Stone on all seven federal offenses shows, contrary to the fabrications in the corporate media, that he lied about having a relationship with Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.
999 Meghan McCain denounces Pamela Anderson, MIA as agents of Putin over support for Assange
16 November 2019
Facebook and YouTube remove posts naming CIA impeachment whistleblower
By Kevin Reed, 11 November 2019
Facebook and YouTube have taken the extraordinary step of censoring social media content on their platforms that mention the name of the CIA whistleblower behind the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.
Impeachment crisis: Democrats, Trump maneuver ahead of televised hearings
By Patrick Martin, 11 November 2019
The line-up of witnesses for the first week of televised hearings is remarkable since it consists entirely of State Department officials who still work for the Trump administration testifying publicly against their own boss.
California police arrest woman for delivering stillborn baby with drugs in its system
By Dan Conway, 11 November 2019
California police arrested 25-year-old Chelsea Cheyenne Becker on a charge of 1st degree murder last week after she delivered a stillborn baby with methamphetamine in its system.
Leaked video reveals ABC News suppressed Jeffrey Epstein story since 2015
By Kevin Reed, 9 November 2019
The television network held the story about the criminal sex-trafficking activities and high-profile connections of Jeffrey Epstein for three years.
The “Irrepressible Conflict:” Slavery, the Civil War and America’s Second Revolution
By Eric London, 9 November 2019
The following is the second in a series of three lectures delivered in response to the New York Times’ “1619 Project,” which presents a falsified, racialist interpretation of American history.
The New York Times’ obsession with race expands to its food commentary
By Trévon Austin, 9 November 2019
A recent commentary suggests fast food chain Popeyes “struck a special chord” with black people because its fried chicken sandwich “tastes like something that could have come from a black home kitchen.”
Washington Post and New York Times incite racist campaign against Chinese-Americans
By Andre Damon, 5 November 2019
The newspapers most closely associated with the Democratic Party and the US intelligence agencies are inciting racially-motivated suspicions of Americans of Chinese ancestry.
Democrats, media silent over identification of CIA “whistleblower”
By Patrick Martin, 4 November 2019
The official who filed a complaint against Trump has been identified by pro-Republican sources as 33-year-old Eric Ciaramella, a CIA analyst who worked in the White House under Obama and Trump.
Twitter’s ban on political advertisement: A new move to censor the internet
By Andre Damon, 1 November 2019
The move by Twitter is a capitulation to demands by congressional Democrats and the media that technology companies more aggressively censor political statements, in the guise of “fact-checking.”
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the forgotten history of Iraq
By Andre Damon, 29 October 2019
Whether Baghdadi was an enemy of the United States, a CIA asset, or both, one thing is certain: the rise of ISIS was the byproduct of criminal actions by the US government spanning four decades.
Court ruling declares House impeachment inquiry to be legal
By Patrick Martin, 28 October 2019
The ruling by Judge Beryl A. Howell constitutes a rebuttal of the arguments made by the White House and congressional Republicans against the constitutionality of the impeachment inquiry.
230 Interview with Victoria Bynum
28 October 2019
The New York Times, China, and the specter of the “Yellow Peril”
By Andre Damon, 22 October 2019
In a full-page editorial in its Sunday edition, the New York Times engaged in a vicious anti-Chinese rant, warning of a “dangerous and growing threat” by the “aggressive … Communist state.”
US impeachment campaign escalates with claim of second whistleblower
By Patrick Martin, 7 October 2019
The Democratic Party continues to draw support from the intelligence agencies for its anti-Trump effort.
220 Snowden book review
7 October 2019
Democrats praise CIA whistleblower on Ukraine, persecute Manning, Assange and Snowden
By Andre Damon, 30 September 2019
While the Democrats declare that “Congress must do all it can to protect… all whistleblowers,” they support exile and prison for the men and women who have exposed the crimes of US imperialism.
New Met production of Porgy and Bess prompts racialist criticisms of America’s greatest opera
By Barry Grey, 26 September 2019
The real problem of the opera, the irredeemable original sin of Porgy and Bess that every reviewer is duty-bound to point out, is the fact that its creators were white.
New York Times publisher warns of a “worldwide assault on journalists” but silent on Julian Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 26 September 2019
In a speech warning that the Trump administration was spearheading an attack on media freedom, Sulzberger did not mention the only journalist currently facing criminal prosecution by the American state.
New York Times magazine blames pilots for Boeing crashes
By Bryan Dyne, 24 September 2019
The article is an attempt to whitewash the profit-driven negligence of Boeing and complicity of the industry-dominated Federal Aviation Administration that led to two crashes of Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft and the deaths of 346 people.
US political warfare explodes over Trump and Ukraine
By Patrick Martin, 23 September 2019
The US president admitted Sunday that he had discussed with the Ukrainian president a possible investigation into Democrat Joe Biden and his son.
US Justice Department sues Edward Snowden to block proceeds of memoir
By Kevin Reed, 23 September 2019
The 26-page lawsuit is aimed at intimidating other whistleblowers and publishers who might be thinking about telling the truth and exposing the crimes of the US government.
Joe Biden: A familiar face, a deeply reactionary record
By Patrick Martin, 23 September 2019
Obama’s vice president for two terms, Biden is identified with some of the worst crimes of the American government over the past 50 years, including wars in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
Labor Notes, DSA line up with UAW bureaucrats against GM strikers
By Shannon Jones and Barry Grey, 23 September 2019
In the face of the UAW’s strategy of isolating and betraying the powerful strike by US General Motors workers, middle-class “left” groups like Labor Notes and the Democratic Socialists of America are working to keep strikers chained to the union apparatus.
045 Baltimore symphony lockout
16 September 2019
New York City mayor declares end of measles public health emergency
By Gary Joad, 16 September 2019
During a nine-month period, 52 people were hospitalized and 16 individuals placed in intensive care units. Eighty percent of those contracting measles were children.
Leaked document reveals state spying
FBI targets groups opposing Trump’s concentration camps as “Extremists”
By Eric London, 9 September 2019
As the fascist in the White House continues his dictatorial measures on the border, a bipartisan group of politicians and intelligence agents is working to criminalize political opposition.
080 Terrorism watch list found unconstitutional
9 September 2019
The New York Times’s 1619 Project: A racialist falsification of American and world history
By Niles Niemuth, Tom Mackaman and David North, 6 September 2019
The 1619 Project, launched by the New York Times, presents racism and racial conflict as the essential feature and driving force of American history.
The New York Times’ 1619 Project: A racialist falsification of American and world history
By Niles Niemuth, Tom Mackaman and David North, 3 September 2019
PART ONE | PART TWO | COMBINED
The 1619 Project, launched by the New York Times, presents racism and racial conflict as the essential feature and driving force of American history.
Only one-third of Americans believe Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide—so why does the New York Times?
By David Walsh, 31 August 2019
Three weeks of media propaganda to the effect that anyone who doubts the official story are under the influence of “conspiracy theories” has only had a limited effect. A stubborn percentage of the population continues to be skeptical.
Lawyers raise questions after medical examiner declares Epstein committed suicide
By Jessica Goldstein, 17 August 2019
The New York Times has seized on the terse statement issued by the New York City medical examiner as supposed proof that any suggestion of possible foul play in Epstein’s death is the result of baseless “conspiracy theories.”
Autopsy indicates death of Jeffrey Epstein likely due to strangulation
By Matthew Taylor, 16 August 2019
The report based on the autopsy explodes the ongoing efforts by the media, led by the New York Times, to dismiss all questions about the death of Epstein as “conspiracy theories.”
Why is the media dismissing questions about Jeffrey Epstein’s death as “conspiracy theories”?
By Patrick Martin, 13 August 2019
Whether a “hit” orchestrated by those who feared he knew too much, or a suicide under conditions of multiple violations of prison protocols, Jeffrey Epstein’s death is the result of a conspiracy.
Australian investigative journalist exposes Guardian/New York Times betrayal of Assange
By Oscar Grenfell, 10 August 2019
Mark Davis made clear that the corporate media cynically exploited WikiLeaks, before ruthlessly turning on its founder Julian Assange and joining the state campaign against him.
US military conducting classified operation in Washington D.C. area
By E.P. Milligan, 31 July 2019
The operation, whose purpose remains unknown, involves Black Hawk helicopters backed by a force of active and reserve duty soldiers of an unknown size.
220 Facial recognition and identity politics
31 July 2019
Big business, academia and the state team up to launch “Cyber NYC” spy program
By Leslie Murtagh, 26 July 2019
A $100 million “cybersecurity” initiative has been launched to develop New York City as a center of internet censorship and spying.
Second quarter fundraising
Trump, Democratic presidential candidates raise more than $100 million
By Patrick Martin, 9 July 2019
The stage is being set for the most expensive campaign in US—and world—history, with estimates that ad spending could top $10 billion for the 2020 elections.
Building the infrastructure of a police state
Detroit’s facial recognition surveillance system exposed
By Kevin Reed, 9 July 2019
The poorest large city in the US is being used as a testing ground for invasive surveillance technologies in preparation for coming eruptions in the class struggle.
Racialism and money-grubbing: The New York Times explains why “more critics of color” are needed
By David Walsh and Fred Mazelis, 9 July 2019
In the interests of honesty, “Race-fixated upper middle class continues its campaign for positions and money” ought to have been the headline of an opinion piece published by the New York Times July 5.
Facebook planning to ban ads which discourage voting in US elections
By Kevin Reed, 5 July 2019
The new policy is a further expansion of Facebook’s censorship of left-wing and oppositional political views on its platforms.
Washington Post’s Richard Cohen comes to the defense of Linda Fairstein, overseer of the Central Park Five prosecution
By Kate Randall, 3 July 2019
Cohen gushed over Colin Powell’s infamous February 4, 2003 presentation of lies at the UN that formed the justification for the Iraq War.
US Border Patrol agents joke about immigrant deaths in secret Facebook group with 9,500 members
By George Marlowe, 2 July 2019
A report by ProPublica revealed that Border Patrol agents used a secret Facebook group to make sadistic and violent jokes about immigrants as well as members of Congress.
Human rights imperialism, social media censorship and the fraud of Facebook’s “Oversight Board”
By Kevin Reed, 2 July 2019
Behind the recent report on the creation of an Oversight Board to oversee “content decisions” at Facebook is a plan for social media censorship in defense of the global capitalist system.
Tanks on the streets of Washington, DC for the Fourth of July
By Eric London, 2 July 2019
The planned display of military force in the strip of land separating Congress from the White House is a deliberate political provocation long planned by Trump and his fascistic advisors.
Why are reparations for slavery being made an issue in the 2020 US elections?
By Niles Niemuth, 21 June 2019
At a time when social inequality is motivating a growing movement of workers and youth, race is being brought forward to divert opposition to capitalism and attempt to block growing interest in socialism.
240 Barry (TV show)
21 June 2019
999 US nuclear strategy
21 June 2019
Behind the cover-up of the 2008 Universal Music Group vault fire
By Kevin Reed, 17 June 2019
The recent exposure of Universal Music Group's concealment of the loss of a huge trove of postwar popular music reveals the corruption of the corporate elite, as well as the compliance of news media.
Revisiting the Central Park Five case in the #MeToo era
By Andre Damon, 8 June 2019
Thirty years after the New York Times and Washington Post helped railroad five innocent teenagers to prison, these newspapers continue to wage a campaign against the presumption of innocence.
Bernie Sanders answers attacks on socialism with defense of capitalist “democracy”
By Tom Hall, 6 June 2019
In response to attacks on socialism from within the Democratic Party as well as by Trump and the Republicans, Bernie Sanders has published a cowardly op-ed piece in the New York Times that omits the “S” word and makes clear he was no intention of challenging the profit system or the property of the ruling class.
US media silent on re-jailing of Chelsea Manning
By Genevieve Leigh, 21 May 2019
The attack on Manning and Assange is part of much broader global assault on basic democratic rights, including freedom of speech, the press and the internet.
010 Media silence on Manning
20 May 2019
Columnist urges more female involvement in “building, deployment, targeting and use of nuclear weapons”
New York Times promotes a woman’s right to annihilate millions
By David Walsh, 18 May 2019
Times editorial board member Carol Giacomo complained May 15 that women were “particularly underrepresented in senior positions dealing with nuclear issues.”
The New York Times and its Uyghur “activist”
By Peter Symonds, 9 May 2019
The promotion of Rushan Abbas by the New York Times is a classic example of its role in pushing the bogus “human rights” issues used by US imperialism to prosecute its interests.
230 NYT and Uiughrs
8 May 2019
215 NYT and Uighurs
6 May 2019
Media lies in service of war for regime change in Venezuela
By Bill Van Auken, 3 May 2019
As top Trump administration officials make increasingly explicit military threats, the corporate media acts as a propaganda service for imperialist intervention.
New York Times column falsifies legacy of Eugene Debs
By Tom Mackaman, 30 April 2019
Isserman portrays the early American socialist as a moralistic reformer.
White House correspondents’ tribute to press freedom silent on Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning
By David Walsh, 29 April 2019
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday evening was a travesty. No one on the podium referred to either Julian Assange or Chelsea Manning, and no one in the audience protested this criminal omission.
New study documents over 1,600 killed in US siege of Raqqa, Syria
By Bill Van Auken, 26 April 2019
The killings in Raqqa, like those in Mosul, Iraq, constituted massive war crimes committed in the so-called war against ISIS.
Hillary Clinton’s McCarthyite rant
By Joseph Kishore, 26 April 2019
In a column published Wednesday in the Washington Post, the former Democratic Party presidential candidate resurrects the conspiracy theories that were the staple of Cold War anticommunism.
The media’s role in persecuting Julian Assange
By Andre Damon, 17 April 2019
The newspapers, the broadcast news, and, perhaps worst of all, the late-night talk shows have targeted crude insults against a persecuted man who cannot defend himself.
230 Media slanders Assange
16 April 2019
Julian Assange’s life is in danger
By Eric London, 13 April 2019
The official indictment by the US government against Assange is a transparent lie, aimed at providing the UK with a legal cover to extradite the WikiLeaks founder.
US journalist exposes Julian Assange’s prison-like conditions
By Oscar Grenfell, 29 March 2019
Prevented from holding a meeting with the journalist, Assange defiantly protested and condemned Ecuadorian officials for operating as “agents of the US government.”
The media and the Mueller report
By Barry Grey, 27 March 2019
The Mueller report is a political debacle for the Democratic Party, the New York Times and the bulk of the corporate media, which day after day pumped out unsubstantiated claims and outright lies.
Unsealed documents shed light on state conspiracy against Chelsea Manning
By Kevin Reed, 22 March 2019
The unsealed documents shine a light on the desperate measures to which the US government has resorted in pursuing a legal pretext to prosecute Julian Assange.
New York Times lines up with anti-China hawks
By Nick Beams, 12 March 2019
The key US demand is that China must make “structural” changes to its economy, including abandoning state subsidies to major industries.
The attacks on Green Book and the racialist infection of the affluent middle class
By David Walsh and Joanne Laurier, 8 March 2019
The decision to bestow the Best Picture award on Green Book (directed by Peter Farrelly) at the Academy Awards on February 24 has triggered a furious and ongoing response in the American media.
US media passes over in silence Trump’s fascistic diatribe in Miami
By Bill Van Auken, 20 February 2019
To the extent that the corporate media reported the speech it was limited to foreign policy and electoral calculations, ignoring the echoes of 1930s fascism in Trump’s remarks.
NBC’s Tom Brokaw provokes backlash over “assimilation” comment
By Patrick Martin, 29 January 2019
During Sunday’s broadcast of “Meet the Press,” former NBC News anchorman Tom Brokaw gave vent to the racism, anti-immigrant bigotry and sheer ignorance that media pundits usually keep under wraps.
Critic-at-large Wesley Morris on the Academy Awards
Why does the New York Times keep pushing pernicious racialism?
By David Walsh, 28 January 2019
The New York Times critic-at-large Wesley Morris published an article January 23 headlined “Why Do the Oscars Keep Falling for Racial Reconciliation Fantasies?”
US-born anchor for Iranian TV jailed without charges
By Bill Van Auken, 18 January 2019
The police state style abduction and imprisonment of Marzieh Hashemi is part of Washington’s wider preparations for war against Iran.
The American media revives the methods of McCarthyism
By Patrick Martin, 15 January 2019
The campaign sparked by reports over the weekend by the New York Times and Washington Post harks back to the anti-communist witch-hunt of the 1950s.
8 January 2019
NBC journalist resigns, blasting media as “defender of Washington and the system”
By Bill Van Auken, 5 January 2019
William Arkin, a veteran reporter and security consultant for NBC, delivered a scathing critique of the corporate media as stenographer and apologist for the military-intelligence apparatus.
The New York Times’ #MeToo smear against Bernie Sanders
By Barry Grey, 5 January 2019
The Times wants the next Democratic campaign, like the last, to be dominated by the politics of gender, race and sex—not class.
Follow the WSWS