Stories by Jeff Cohen

Jeff Cohen is founder of the media watch group FAIR, former TV pundit, and author of Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media. subscribe to Jeff Cohen's feed

6 Huge Items That Really Exploded the Debt (That You Never Hear the Mainstream Media Talk About)

Posted on: Jul 31, 2011, Source: AlterNet

The big items that added trillions to the debt are not even on the field of debate. Because Democrats and Republicans are not contesting them.

Obama Is No Victim of the Right Wing -- He's Pandered to Corporate Interests for Years

Posted on: Jul 25, 2011, Source: AlterNet

The evidence is clear that Obama is an often-willing servant of corporate interests -- not serving their interests only because the GOP forced him to.

Is Obama Following in the Footsteps of Bill Clinton?

Posted on: Nov 25, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Obama's shown a Clinton-like willingness to roll over progressives to enact corrupt legislation and compromise for the votes of Republicans.

Forget "Centrists," We Need Progressives in the Supreme Court -- Right-Wingers Will Fight Whomever Obama Picks

Posted on: May 20, 2009, Source: AlterNet

Unless Obama gives up his centrist approach and appoints real progressives, our right-wing court may get even more conservative.

Announcing the 2008 P.U.-litzer Prizes

Posted on: Dec 29, 2008, Source: AlterNet

The year's stinkiest media performances.

Americans Move Left; New York Times Misses It

Posted on: Jul 28, 2008, Source: AlterNet

Most Americans reside on the left side of the political spectrum. But the mainstream media stubbornly refuse to acknowledge this.

40 Years Later, Martin Luther King Is Still Silenced

Posted on: Apr 4, 2008, Source: AlterNet

In his last year of life King condemned American militarism. But we don't see that in retrospectives.

Announcing the 2007 P.U.-litzer Prizes

Posted on: Dec 25, 2007, Source: AlterNet

The year's stinkiest media performances.

Hillary Rolls on: Are the Netroots a Paper Tiger?

Posted on: Sep 6, 2007, Source: AlterNet

Why isn't there greater opposition to Hillary Clinton's candidacy by the progressive online movement?

The Martin Luther King You Don't See on TV

Posted on: Apr 4, 2007, Source: AlterNet

Every year on April 4, as Americans commemorate MLK's death, we get perfunctory news reports that fail to account for the last several years of his life -- and for good reason.

Jim Webb Offers the Democratic Response to Hillary and Obama

Posted on: Jan 24, 2007, Source: AlterNet

Last night, Webb offered a populist, anti-corporate stand on economics and a blunt attack on Bush for "recklessly" dragging our country into war, while Hillary and Obama barely uttered a peep.

Is Olbermann on Thin Ice?

Posted on: Oct 4, 2006, Source: AlterNet

A cable news vet fears for Olbermann's job in a conservative landscape.

What's Wrong With Calling Bush A Devil?

Posted on: Sep 22, 2006, Source: AlterNet

Conservatives were quick to lash out at Hugo Chavez for calling President Bush a "devil," but that's exactly what Rush Limbaugh was calling Democrats only a few years ago.

Media Beast vs. Public Interest

Posted on: Aug 29, 2006, Source: AlterNet

As the John Mark Karr debacle shows, TV news loves stories that keep viewers passive and fears the ones that might motivate us to take action.

Join the BUYcott

Posted on: May 17, 2005, Source: AlterNet

Get your gas at Citgo, and help fuel a democratic revolution in Venezuela. 

Nader's "Grassroots" Campaign... Courtesy of the GOP

Posted on: Jul 20, 2004, Source: AlterNet

Ralph Nader's campaign now depends on folks like Dick Armey and the Reform Party to get on state ballots.

Internet Samizdat Releases Suppressed Voices, History

Posted on: Nov 19, 2001, Source: AlterNet

Mainstream media repeatedly presents former U.S. foreign policymakers as omniscient seers who stem crises. But the Internet tells another story, such as that Zbigniew Brzezinski enabled guerilla activities inside Afghanistan six months before the Soviet intervention.

Media Gives Bush a Free Pass

Posted on: Apr 2, 2001, Source: AlterNet

On February 25 Secret Service agents fetched George Bush's teenaged daughter's boyfriend from jail, where he'd been arrested for public drunkenness. Since then, the media has been mum about it.

The P.U.-Litzer Prizes for 2000

Posted on: Dec 18, 2000, Source: AlterNet

As usual, the competition for P.U.-litzers -- the annual award that pays tribute to this nation's stinkiest media performances -- has been fierce.

Ghost of 1968 Haunts DNC

Posted on: Aug 14, 2000, Source: AlterNet

A tiresome Democratic VP seeks the presidency ... activists take to the streets to protest his convention ... the GOP serves up a shrewdly moderate candidate... If events unfolding in LA feel like a recurring dream, that's because we've lived through a very similar ordeal in 1968. But there is one significant difference between then and now -- Ralph Nader.