Left Wing

Fact-checking Michael Moore

by Sheldon Rampton — June 19, 2004 - 10:00pm

Michael Moore's previous films have generated a cottage industry of conservative commentators eager to find examples of sloppiness and exaggeration, but as New York Times reporter Philip Shenon observes, "if 'Fahrenheit 9/11' attracts the audience Mr. Moore and his distributors are predicting, Mr. Moore may face an onslaught of fact-checking unlike anything he - or any other documentary filmmaker - has ever experienced.

Main Source: 
20-Jun-04

"Stop Michael Moore" Campaign a GOP Front

by John Stauber — June 12, 2004 - 10:00pm

"So desperate are Bush Republicans to kill Michael Moore's latest
film, Fahrenheit 9/11, they have hired a public relations firm to
set up a web site attacking Moore," the Alternative Press Review writes. "The site,
MoveAmericaForward.com, claims to be 'non-partisan,' but a glance
at the 'About' page of the site reveals the director and staff of
Move America Forward are all diehard Republicans, anti-tax
activists, and former legislative staffers.

Main Source: 
Alternative Press Review, June 13, 2004

Public Radio, by the Numbers

by Diane Farsetta — May 31, 2004 - 10:00pm

The media watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) looked at on-air sources for four National Public Radio news shows in June 2003, and think tanks and regular commentators on NPR from May to August 2003.

Main Source: 
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, June 1, 2004

The O'Franken Factor

by Sheldon Rampton — May 26, 2004 - 10:00pm

"Despite ongoing financial woes, Air America Radio appears to have garnered a significant audience during its first month on the air, particularly among the younger listeners sought by advertisers," reports John Cook. "An analysis of recently released figures from Arbitron, the radio ratings service, showed that in New York Air America beat Rush Limbaugh's station among 25-to-54-year-olds during the period that Limbaugh and Al Franken, the host of the flagship show 'The O'Franken Factor,' go head-to-head.

Main Source: 
Chicago Tribune, May 27, 2004

Real Atrocities and Faked Photos

by Sheldon Rampton — May 4, 2004 - 10:00pm

The photos of Iraqi prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib are bad enough, considering that possibly 25 prisoners have died while in American custody. However, some faked photos are also circulating, including pictures of an alleged rape by soldiers that were actually taken from a porno site. Independent journalist Chris Albritton debunks the fakes and criticizes a cavalier attitude toward the truth that "seems to have taken hold in anti-war journalism as well.

Main Source: 
Back to Iraq, May 5, 2004

Brock's Back

by Sheldon Rampton — May 3, 2004 - 6:21am

Former right-wing attack journalist David Brock blasted the conservative movement in his 2002 confessional, Blinded by the Right. Now he has launched Media Matters, a "Web-based, not-for-profit progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S.

Main Source: 
http://mediamatters.org/

Bush and Hitler

by Sheldon Rampton — January 7, 2004 - 5:58pm

The Republican National Committee is complaining about advertisements comparing George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler that were posted briefly on on MoveOn.org's "Bush in 30 Seconds" web site, which invites people to submit their own creative TV spots criticizing the Bush administration's performance. MoveOn has responded that the ads were submissions to their contest and that it is "deliberately and maliciously misleading" to accuse MoveOn of "sponsoring" them.

Main Source: 
http://www.rnc.org/Newsroom/Releases/Jan04/MoveOn2.htm

Conservatives Start Dean Attack

by Laura Miller — December 8, 2003 - 11:00pm

"Shirley & Banister Public Affairs is supporting a $100K ad campaign with a PR push for the conservative-backed Club for Growth, which is attacking Democratic presidential front-runner Howard Dean in key primary states," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports.

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's PR Daily, December 9, 2003

New Liberal Radio Network Picks Celebrity PR Man

by Laura Miller — December 7, 2003 - 11:00pm

"Dan Klores Communications is helping to introduce Progress Media's plans for a liberal radio network to an intensely interested, but highly skeptical press," PR Week reports. The agency has been helping shape Progress Media's communications strategy. "The network has been billed as a way of balancing the strong influence of conservative talk radio, but so far media reporters have been wondering aloud why this would be different than other less-than-successful attempts at left-of-center radio programming, such as journalist Jim Hightower's show," PR Week writes.

Main Source: 
PR Week, December 8, 2003

Battle Hymn of the New Liberal Media

by Sheldon Rampton — November 5, 2003 - 1:25am

If corporations can play the talk radio game, so can labor unions. United Auto Workers has put money and resources into developing the i.e. America Radio Network, which syndicates liberal talk radio from coast to coast. "Following on i.e.'s successes, AnShell media, according to industry rumors, is on the verge of achieving funding goals to roll out America's second liberal radio network in January," notes i.e. America talker Thom Hartmann.

Main Source: 
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1016-06.htm
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