Recommended Reading: Jeff Cohen

FAIR's founder looks at how the NY Times can't interpret data:

So the Times presents Gallup data showing a clear trend toward the left, and calls it a "Move to the Middle." Is the assumption that we were mostly rightwingers a few years ago? Or is the "move to the middle" line simply more reassuring to an establishment newspaper?

And if you missed it, my old interview with Mr. Cohen is can be found here.

Jeff Cohen reacts to the McClellan fallout

Cohen served as producer of Donahue, MSNBC's highest-rated show in 2003. Cohen and Donahue were booted from the air for being too skeptical of the push to war, as MSNBC internal memos show.

He has a new column up over at Common Dreams reacting to the sudden confessions of Iraq War cheerleaders like Katie Couric that the media did a terrible job during the build-up to war.

Katie Couric, whose coverage on CBS of the Iraq troop surge has been almost fawning, was one of the few stars to be candid about pre-invasion coverage, saying days ago, “I think it’s one of the most embarrassing chapters in American journalism.” She spoke of “pressure” from corporate management, not just Team Bush, to “really squash any dissent.” Then a co-host of NBC Today, she says network brass criticized her for challenging the administration.

NBC execs apparently didn’t complain when — two weeks into the invasion — Couric thanked a Navy commander for coming on the show, adding, “And I just want you to know, I think Navy SEALs rock!”

This is a glorious moment for the American public. We can finally see those who abandoned reporting for cheerleading and flag-waving and cheap ratings having to squirm over their role in sending other parents’ kids into Iraq.

And you can find my interview with Mr. Cohen by clicking here.

My conversation with Jeff Cohen

My interview with Jeff Cohen is up over at WVaBlue. Here's an excerpt:

Jeff Cohen is the founder of Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting and the author of the 1995 book "The Way Things Aren't: Rush Limbaugh's Reign of Error" one of the first investigations into the inaccuracies of conservative talk radio.
He was the producer of MSNBC's "Donahue"program in 2003, but his time at the network was cut short when the show was canceled. An internal memo from network heads showed that the program was axed for opposing the war with Iraq, despite the fact that it was MSNBC's number one show at the time.
His book, "Cable News Confidential," tells the story of his experience as an on-air pundit at the cable networks.

In most "conservative vs. liberal" debates on cable TV, they often take a hard-right, activist conservative and pair them with a centrist, establishment Democrat. As a result, the debate frame is limited to the center-right. Do you think this is an intentional effort or are the producers of these programs simply ignorant as to what an actual liberal is?

It's more of the former. It's more a conscious effort to construct a spectrum that would comfort those at the top of the media and those in our political elite. I think they understand that a center-right spectrum won't get them into trouble with corporate sponsors and won't get them in trouble with the Bush administration.
It was constructed during the Reagan era. I've been talking about this issue since the 80s. It's not a new thing. It didn't begin with "Hannity and Colmes" on FOX news. The major factor is this is their comfort level - these are their beltway friends. Their idea of the American spectrum is the rightwing of the Democratic Party and the rightwing of the Republican Party and thereby excludes close to 50 percent of the country.
I think it's mostly a conscious, semi-conscious "This is the establishment spectrum and this is the spectrum we're going to put on our channel." A slight percentage of the problem is just their ignorance, but mostly it's going to their comfort level. They're going to the establishment voices that are funded by corporations on both sides - the Democratic voices that are corporate friendly and the Republican voices that are corporate-friendly.
It's rare on TV that you see a pundit that is firmly aligned with the labor movement. I was one and I was a huge exception. Very rarely do you pundit on TV, a regular pundit, who sees himself aligned with the peace and justice movement. I was one of those and one of the only ones. But on TV, you see all sorts of pundits that are aligned with the rightwing movement. Patrick Buchanan has been on American television day after day for 25 years.

Read the rest here.