US Media Issues
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.
Mary Queen of Scots and The Favourite: The unimpressive recent results of “women in film”
By Joanne Laurier, 24 December 2018
Mary Queen of Scots and The Favourite belong to this year’s flood of “women” films. Many others have already disappeared without a trace.
The New York Times targets McKinsey for doing business with China and Russia
By Peter Symonds, 20 December 2018
The article’s overriding purpose is not to expose the collusion of American companies with autocrats, but rather to ensure that they march in lockstep with the US war drive against China and Russia.
Sully at George H.W. Bush’s funeral: Washington goes to the dogs
By Eric London, 6 December 2018
A service dog in the (unwitting) service of the political establishment.
CNN fires contributor accused of “anti-Semitism” for defending Palestinian rights
By Kayla Costa, 1 December 2018
While CNN has not provided a full explanation, the firing of Marc Lamont Hill came one day after he made public statements critical of Israeli policy against Palestinians.
New York Times: Our crime was telling the truth
By Andre Damon, 29 November 2018
The Times and the Washington Post are arguing that by publishing true information about political corruption, the US press committed what amounts to treason.
New York Times ramps up smear campaign against Julian Assange
By Tom Hall, 6 November 2018
The latest round of slanders is aimed at preparing public opinion for an eventual indictment of the WikiLeaks founder on espionage charges.
Letters protest censorship of Niles Niemuth election campaign by WDIV
3 November 2018
The WSWS is publishing a selection of the letters which were sent in response to the open letter written by Niemuth, the Socialist Equality Party candidate for Congress in Michigan’s 12th District.
New York Times tries to shame “disillusioned young voters” into supporting the Democrats
By Barry Grey, 2 November 2018
As masses of people grow increasingly disillusioned with capitalism and the two-party system, the Times is doing its best to shore up support for the Democratic Party.
An open letter to WDIV Local 4 News in Detroit
Stop the censorship of the Socialist Equality Party campaign!
By Niles Niemuth, 2 November 2018
The following open letter was sent to Kim Voet, the news director of WDIV Local 4 News and ClickonDetroit.com, protesting the exclusion of any information about the SEP election campaign from their coverage.
After Pittsburgh massacre: New York Times covers up Trump’s role in instigating fascist violence
By Patrick Martin, 30 October 2018
The leading US newspaper’s editorial on the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre effectively absolves President Trump and his fascistic politics of any responsibility for the bloodbath.
Feigning moral outrage, the Times’ Thomas Friedman comes to the defense of the Saudi killer regime
By Barry Grey, 18 October 2018
Friedman poses the problem of how to respond to the murder of Khashoggi from the “practical” standpoint of imperialist Realpolitik.
The New York Times’ Alexis Grenell denounces white women for upholding the “patriarchy”
By Genevieve Leigh, 12 October 2018
Grenell’s piece is an extreme example of the obsession with gender and race that has infected the upper middle class and the pages of the New York Times in particular.
The New York Times laments the exit of Nikki Haley
By Patrick Martin, 11 October 2018
The leading Democratic Party-aligned newspaper joined the Republican president in gushing over the US Ambassador to the United Nations.
The case of Sydney Schanberg
How the NY Times shielded Trump and the Manhattan real estate mafia
By Barry Grey, 11 October 2018
The Times got rid of Schanberg because he was writing column after column exposing the Westway project—a $4 billion highway-luxury apartment development that was being avidly promoted by Trump and his fellow real estate speculators.
The ouster of New York Review of Books editor Ian Buruma: The #MeToo movement assaults free speech
By David Walsh, 22 September 2018
In an extraordinary act of political censorship, Buruma was forced out this week after he published an article by Jian Ghomeshi, the former Canadian radio broadcaster accused of sexual misconduct in 2014.
New York Times’ fraudulent “election plot” dossier escalates anti-Russia hysteria
By Bill Van Auken, 21 September 2018
The Times regurgitates unsubstantiated claims that Russia “hijacked” the 2016 election and carried out a “stealth cyberage Pearl Harbor” to further an agenda of criminalizing domestic dissent and censoring the internet.
Ronan Farrow’s #MeToo campaign brings down Leslie Moonves at CBS
By Fred Mazelis, 13 September 2018
The ousting of Moonves is part of an ongoing struggle for power and wealth within the media and entertainment industries.
A warning to the working class
Facebook’s partnership with the Atlantic Council
By Kevin Reed, 8 September 2018
The campaign against “fake news,” “election meddling” and “disinformation” is emerging as the integration of the social media monopolies with the US military-intelligence apparatus.
New York Times covers up Google’s censorship
By Andre Damon, 7 September 2018
The Times’ report on allegations that Google is censoring the Internet is a white-wash, echoing the company’s self-serving denials without any serious examination of the facts.
New York Times op-ed by anonymous Trump official gives implicit support for palace coup
By Eric London, 6 September 2018
The official wrote that “we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until—one way or another—it’s over.”
The US media declares war, once again, on comic Louis C.K.
By David Walsh, 4 September 2018
A significant portion of the American media castigated a villainous figure this past weekend, lamenting the fact he had essentially gone unpunished for his crimes. Was it the late Sen. John McCain?
Disney stands by firing of James Gunn, director of Guardians of the Galaxy
By Tim Avery, 29 August 2018
The Walt Disney company has remained firm in its decision to dismiss director James Gunn over tweets unearthed by right-wing provocateur Mike Cernovich.
The “unmaking” of #MeToo’s Asia Argento
By David Walsh, 22 August 2018
The latest episode in the #MeToo drama unfolded earlier this week following the revelation that actress Asia Argento, one of the alleged victims of producer Harvey Weinstein, purportedly paid off a young man who accused her of sexual abuse.
Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Who Is America?” on Showtime: Scattershot satire, with hits and misses
By Carlos Delgado, 22 August 2018
Cohen conducts “prank” interviews intended to ridicule and humiliate his subjects. Some of them are more deserving than others.
Political warfare deepens as Democrats, ex-spies circle the wagons around Brennan
By Tom Hall, 20 August 2018
The intervention by Brennan and other ex-intelligence officials on the Sunday talk shows demonstrates the degree to which the spy agencies have become a dominant political force.
The New York Times defends Sarah Jeong after racist tweets come to light
By Hiram Lee, 8 August 2018
After a series of anti-white tweets by reporter Sarah Jeong emerged online, the New York Times and the pseudo-left came to her defense.
Under massive pressure, Trump backpedals on Russia “meddling”
By Andre Damon, 18 July 2018
This entire sordid episode demonstrates the degree to which the intelligence apparatus, with its single-minded pursuit of military conflict with Russia, holds sway over the American state, media and political establishment.
Trump under pressure from US intelligence agencies over North Korea
By Peter Symonds, 2 July 2018
The Washington Post, citing unnamed US intelligence officials and undisclosed “evidence,” claimed that North Korea was planning to deceive the US over its pledge to denuclearise.
New York Times restates Washington’s anti-China agenda in Sri Lanka
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 29 June 2018
The article is a warning to the politically divided Sri Lankan ruling elite not to deviate from Washington’s military-strategic script.
Sex and the New York Times: When “Her Too” isn’t “Me Too”
By David Walsh, 27 June 2018
The New York Times discovers nuance in sexual behavior when it involves a reporter and a valuable source.
Following merger of AT&T and Time Warner
Fox accepts Disney takeover bid
By Barry Grey, 21 June 2018
Control of the media and telecommunications industries by a handful of mega-monopolies received fresh impetus Wednesday with 21st Century Fox’s announcement that it had agreed to a revamped takeover offer from Walt Disney Company.
Washington Post staff sign open letter to Jeff Bezos asking for fair pay
By Alec Andersen, 19 June 2018
More than 400 workers at the paper released an open letter Thursday beseeching the newspaper’s owner and world’s richest man to intervene on their behalf in protracted contract negotiations.
US media turns blind eye to the death of 5,000 Puerto Ricans
By Genevieve Leigh, 4 June 2018
The Harvard study on the impact of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico is a damning exposure of one of the most monstrous cover-ups in US history.
The New York Times and the murder that wasn’t
By Andre Damon, 1 June 2018
The response to the staged murder of the Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko stands as an exposure of the US media.
By Barry Grey, 31 May 2018
Wealth-X report shows billionaires gained $1.8 trillion in 2017
By Eric London, 21 May 2018
The social needs of the working class can be met and its democratic rights defended only by expropriating the wealth of the super-rich.
The US political police and the 2016 elections
By Patrick Martin, 18 May 2018
A 4,000-word front-page report in the New York Times paints a picture of an American political system in which the FBI and CIA play a critical and at times decisive role.
Michelle Wolf’s Flint comment touches a nerve in Michigan’s capital
By Jim Brewer, 4 May 2018
Comedian Michelle Wolf’s comment on Flint’s water at the White House correspondents dinner elicited an indignant rejoinder from the Michigan governor’s office.
Comedian Michelle Wolf exposes a cynical and hypocritical media
By Andre Damon, 1 May 2018
The corporate media is outraged by the truth.
US media escalates #MeToo witch hunt after Cosby verdict
By Tom Carter, 30 April 2018
The media seized on Bill Cosby’s conviction Thursday to attack the presumption of innocence and demand an intensification of the reactionary crusade over sexual allegations.
220 Rudd on 1968 Columbia protest
25 April 2018
The Pulitzer Prize rewards witch-hunting and state propaganda
By Eric London, 19 April 2018
The Washington Post and New York Times won prizes for their role in the anti-Russia campaign, while the Times and the New Yorker won an award for promoting the #MeToo campaign.
205 Pulitzers to NYT and New Yorker
18 April 2018
The New York Times on race and class
What determines social mobility in America?
Part two
By Eric London, 6 April 2018
The New York Times cites a new working paper published by the non-profit Equality of Opportunity as proof that race, not class determines social status. But what does the data really show?
The New York Times takes on the social media “hordes”
By Andre Damon, 3 April 2018
Times columnist Farhad Manjoo demanded in a recent article that the government do something to “fix” social media to keep the online “herd” from voicing their opinions.
“If only there were more female billionaires!”— New York Times
By David Walsh, 14 March 2018
The New York Times Sunday Review prominently featured an article by Susan Chira, a senior correspondent and editor on gender issues, headlined, “Money Is Power. And Women Need More of Both.”
The Oscar speech we’d like to hear Sunday night: “Members of the Academy, what hypocrites and conformists so many of you are!”
By David Walsh, 3 March 2018
The 90th Academy Awards ceremony, ostensibly honoring the best films and performances of 2017, will be held Sunday evening at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
The New York Times procures salacious details of “gray-zone sex”
By Eric London, 1 March 2018
The Times has issued a call for college students to describe and submit images related to sexual encounters.
Ex-CIA head John Brennan hired as news analyst by NBC
By Julian James, 28 February 2018
Brennan is implicated in some of the most criminal policies enacted under the Bush and Obama administrations, including the CIA torture program and the drone assassination program.
New York Times exploits Parkland tragedy to escalate anti-Russian campaign
By Andre Damon, 21 February 2018
The New York Times and the broadcast media have sought to exploit the deaths of 17 high school students to justify US military aggression against Russia and promote Internet censorship.
New York Times columnist Charles Blow blames Russia for the fall in black voter turnout
By Fred Mazelis, 21 February 2018
Blow brands the decision not to choose between two candidates of the ruling class as an illegitimate display of “apathy.”
209 Charles Blow
20 February 2018
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