Media Analysis & Criticism

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Connexions Library

Allegations Against Russia Less Credible Every Day
Swanson, David
Article
2017
Swanson calls into question the US government-driven media accusations that the Russian government had direct involvement in swaying the 2016 US election for Trump, and exames the motivations behind t...
An alternative media list: Getting the news - and getting behind the news
Diemer, Ulli
Article
2014
A selective list of English-language alternative media.
Anatomy of a Propaganda Blitz - Part 1
Article
2016
We live in a time when state-corporate interests are cooperating to produce propaganda blitzes intended to raise public support for the demonisation and destruction of establishment enemies. Here we w...
Ancillary Lessons from Brexit
Jones, Evan
Article
2016
Apart from the substantive issues for the European elites of the Brexit referendum victory, two ancillary lessons have been thrust upon us, if we were not already wise to them. One, the contemptible c...
Antiwar.com vs. the Decline of American Journalism
Raimondo, Justin
Article
2017
What is the "alternative" media? If we look at the phrase itself, it seems to mean the media that presents itself as the alternative to what we call the "corporate media," i.e. the New York Times, the...
Apple and the Guardian: Partners in a Death Spiral
Cook, Jonathan
Article
2018
This report on Apple CEO Tim Cook's visit to a UK school to promote the company's new coding curriculum for schoolchildren could hardly be a better illustration of the way the Guardian newspaper serve...
The BBC Has Legal Protection to Spread Fake News: the Curious Case of ISIS, Andrew Neil and Jeremy Corbyn
Coles, T.J.
Article
2018
A look at the reporting of 'fake news' by the BBC, which has no legal obligation to give its audience any information about its sources and seemingly has legal protection from scrutiny.
The BBC's 'Bogeyman' Narrative on Hugo Chavez
Article
2013
The changes in Venezuela, and throughout Latin America, over the past decade: the development of peaceful, democratic alternatives to the policies of neoliberalism; standards of living improved for mi...
Between the Lines: How to Detect Bias and Propaganda in the News and Everyday Life
MacLean, Eleanor
Book
1981
An exploration of medthods of "dec-doing" our daily newspapers and radio/TV news. Examines our predominant sources of information (mass media) and indicates the existence of many alternative sources o...
Beyond the dross
Pilger, John; Platt, Steve
Article
2010
Pilger and Platt discuss the craft of journalism.
Big media versus the people
Halimi, Serge
Article
2015
A look how "Big Media" shapes public attitudes, the economy, culture, leisure and education, and how governments have developed close relationships with the press in a way which has not been in the pu...
Blacking Out the Yellow Vests on Cable News: Corporate Media Doing its Job
Street, Paul
Article
2018
France is experiencing a left-leaning popular and working-class uprising consistent with the French revolutionary tradition of "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity", yet the majorty of Western media hav...
Blair: Bombing Iraq Better. Again
Cromwell, David; Edwards, David
Article
2014
The authors critique the British media's coverage of a new essay by Tony Blair which attempts to justify the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Blanket Silence: Corporate Media Ignore New Report Exposing Distorted And Misleading Coverage of Corbyn
Article
2018
A Media Reform Coalition report reveals that the corporate media in Britain have been producing an alarming amount of 'fake news' items, which includes a narrative that Jeremy Corbyn and Labour party ...
A Blow for Peace and Democracy: Why the British Said No to Europe
Pilger, John
Article
2016
The majority vote by Britons to leave the European Union was an act of raw democracy. Millions of ordinary people refused to be bullied, intimidated and dismissed with open contempt by their presumed ...
Breaking the Media Blackout in Western Sahara
Zurutuza, Karlos
Article
2015
Zurutuza describes how the Moroccan authorities repress journalists and media coverage of occupied Western Sahara.
Brexit and the new hostility to participatory democracy
Sparrow, Jeff
Article
2016
The reaction to Brexit illustrates the desperate need for the Left to return to first principles. For, as the result broke on social media, a remarkable number of progressives directed their anger not...
Brothers-in-Arms: Capitalism and Corporate Journalism
Article
2010
An essential role of corporate journalism is to shore up public confidence in an unjust, crisis-riven financial and economic system. Although plenty of gloom and doom is permitted, especially in the f...
Business journalists go on the attack; demonize Atlantic seasonal workers
Fillmore, Nick
Article
2013
National business journalists and columnists have bought into Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s demeaning view that folks in the Atlantic region are backward and have a defeatist attitude. Framed in dis...
The Button, the Wall and the Myth of Nations
Koehler, Robert
Article
2018
North Korean sanctions, the border wall with Mexico, and the "toxic" role of nationalism with regards to international relations and domestically in the US are discussed.
Censored: The News That Didn't Make The News - And Why: The 1995 Project Censored Yearbook
Jensen, Carl, and Project Censored. Introduction by Michael Crichton. Cartoons by Tom Tomorrow.
Book
1996
Documenting how the U.S. mass media does a shabby job, deliberately or negligently withholding information of vital importance.
Challenging McWorld
Clarke, Tony; Dopp, Sarah
Book
2001
Chomsky on MisEducation
Chomsky, Noam; edited and introduced by Donald Macedo
Book
2000
Chomsky critiques the education system and discusses what education could be like in a democratic society.
Chomsky.Info
Chomsky, Noam
Website
The Noam Chomsky Web site.
Climate justice and migration in the media
Sakellari, Maria
Article
2018
A climate justice narrative is needed to communicate and enhance public understanding of migration induced by climate change. Key components must include human rights protection, greater equity in bur...
The Comic Book Simplicity Of Propaganda
Article
2014
The referendum campaign on Scottish independence heightened many people's awareness of the pro-elite bias of the 'mainstream' news media. The grassroots power of social media in exposing and counterin...
A Comparative Review of Flat Earth News and Newspeak
Cook, Jonathan
Article
2009
A comparative review of two recent books about the media, one a mainstream view, the other using the propaganda model of media control.
Confessions of a Media Critic
Article
1984
Barrie Zwicker says that with the planet in crisis it isn't time for 'business as usual', least of all in journalism.
Confessions of an Alleged Russian Propagandist: A Pentagon Hit?
Lindorff, Dave
Article
2016
While our corporate media don't talk about it, the US does run a vast propaganda operation, which includes the spawning and spreading of, guess what?, fake news stories! This kind of thing has gone on...
Connexions: Volume 7, Number 1 - March 1982
Serial Publication (Periodical)
1982
Connexions Library: Arts, Media, Culture Focus
Website
Selected articles, books, websites and other resources on media, culture, and art.
'A Conspiracy Of Silence' - HSBC, The Guardian And The Defrauded British Public
Article
2015
Journalist Nafeez Ahmed has delved deeper into the HSBC scandal, reporting the testimony of a whistleblower that reveals a 'conspiracy of silence' encompassing the media, regulators and law-enforcemen...
'A Conspiracy Of Silence' -- HSBC, The Guardian and the Defrauded British Public
Article
2015
An investigator and anonymous whistleblower talk about the suspicious lack of coverage and attention to the HSBC tax evasion scandal. This article talks about the scandal itself and criticizes the Bri...
Conundrum - Syriza, Democracy And The Death Of A Saudi Tyrant
Article
2015
It's always a tricky moment for the corporate media when a foreign leader dies. The content and tone need to be appropriate, moulded to whether that leader fell into line with Western policies or not.
Corporate Media: the Enemy of the People
Street, Paul
Article
2018
We on the Left don't need to reflexively and absurdly jump to the defense of imperial criminals at the instigation of that (well, yes) "enemy of the people" the U.S. corporate and so-called mainstream...
Covering Israel-Palestine: The BBC's Double Standards: An Exchange With The BBC's Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen
Article
2008
The priorities of the news media mean that the more Palestinians are killed, the less importance their deaths have to news organisations. Conversely, the fewer Israelis killed the more seriousness the...
Culture Inc.: The Corporate Takeover of Public Expression
Schiller, Herbert I.
Book
1989
Schiller defends democratic expression and free access to information while demonstrating the ways in which public expression, public space, and public access to information are becoming increasingly ...
The Death and Life of Great American Newspapers
McChesney, Robert W.; Nichols, John
Article
2009
Journalism is collapsing, and with it comes the most serious threat in our lifetimes to self-government and the rule of law as it has been understood here in the United States.
The Death of the Fourth Estate: 8000 Channels With One Corporate Message
O'Connor, Billy
Article
2014
According to a recent Gallup survey, only 40 percent of Americans believe what they read in newspapers. After scanning today’s tabloids, one only wonders why the percentage is that high.
The Deep State Goes to War With President-Elect, Using Unverified Claims, as Democrats Cheer
Greenwald, Glenn
Article
2017
There is a real danger here that this maneuver could harshly backfire, to the great benefit of Trump and to the great detriment of those who want to oppose him. If any of the significant claims in thi...
Democracy's Oxygen: How Corporations Control the News
Winter, James
Book
1997
Winter shows that far from providing "democracy's oxygen," the news media legitimize a fundamentally undemocratic system. Instead of keeping the public informated, news organizations manufacture publi...
Demonizing the Victims of Katrina: Coverage painted hurricane survivors as looters, snipers and rapists
Yassin, Jaime Omar
Article
2005
Hurricane Katrina led many media reporters and commentators to reveal themselves and their deep-seated prejudices.
Diemer, Ulli: Connexipedia Article
Article
2010
Canadian socialist publisher, writer, and archivist.
Don't Blame the Media for the Charleston Murders
Featherstone, Liza
Article
2015
Featherstone argues that blaming the media for the Charleston Murders is an easy way to avoid doing any real thinking.
Eight reasons why the latest Syria chemical weapons attack allegations are almost certainly complete nonsense
Gowans, Stephen
Article
2018
A discussion on the chemical attack in Douma, Syria, and why the allegations are likely false.
The Empire God Built: Inside Pat Robertson's media machine
Foege, Alec
Book
1996
A profile of the demagogue who become one of the most successful media moguls in the world.
The Encyclopedia of Censorship
Green, Johnathon
Book
1992
This Encyclopedia concentrates primarily on the United States and the United Kingdom, but it also covers events in Western and Eastern Europe and in parts of the Third World. The Encyclopedia is an ac...
Frame of Reference and Journalistic Integrity
Petersen, Kim
Article
2014
A criticism of the article, "Journalism and the Illusion of Objectivity" by Michael Holtzman, challenging Holtzman's claims on the nature of objectivity and bias in reporting.
Getting Started on Social Analysis in Canada: Third Edition
Czerny, Michael; Swift, Jamie
Book
1984
See also CX2933.
Grassroots media relations: A short introduction to media relations strategies for activist groups
Diemer, Ulli
Article
2010
A media relations guide for organizers and activists.
Guardian sinks into gutter on Corbyn - again
Cook, Jonathan
Article
2016
Jeremy Corbyn today launched a review into the Labour party's supposed "anti-semitism crisis" -- in fact, a crisis entirely confected by a toxic mix of the right, Israel supporters and the media. I ha...
Guardian's day of shame, and the dark depths of liberal McCarthyism
Hilley, John
Article
2017
The liberal 'resistance' to Donald Trump has revealed a service media now plumbing its own dark, reactionary depths. A Guardian editorial has welcomed back to public prominence none other than George ...
Hidden Agendas
Pilger, John
Book
1998
Pilger's book is an indictment of Tony Blair's government and his easy acceptance of the Thacherite view of foreign affairs. Using the examples of Indonesia, East Timor, Burma, Murdoch and China he ch...
How A-historical Journalism Serves Power: A Calendar of Infamy
Norton, Ben
Article
2013
Contemporary journalism has a horrendous habit of considering history superfluous.
How The Guardian Undermines Jeremy Corbyn and the Left
Bey, Daniel
Article
2016
teleSUR spoke to David Cromwell and David Edwards, co-editors of Media Lens, about The Guardian and corporate media's bias against Labour party leader Jeremy Cobyn.
How the Guardian became the West's Pravda
Cook, Jonathan
Article
2018
Cook says that the British newspaper The Guardian has become a mouthpiece for the establishment.
How the System Got Trumped: Cambridge Analytica's Electoral Psyops Campaign
Proyect, Louis
Article
2018
Available from Cinema Libre Studios, "Trumping Democracy" provides the key to understanding how we have ended up with the most unpopular president in history.
How To Be A Reliable 'Mainstream' Journalist
Article
2018
A commentary on what is required to be a 'good' and 'reliable' journalist for the mainstream Western media.
The Ideal of a Free Media Died Long Ago
Cook, Jonathan
Article
2018
Should the media include positive editorial content secretly paid for by major corporations, as London's Evening Standard newspaper has begun doing, according to new revelations? Most of us instantly...
If U.S. Mass Media Were State-Controlled, Would They Look Any Different?: Snowden Coverage
Cohen, Jeff
Article
2013
The Edward Snowden leaks have revealed a U.S. corporate media system at war with independent journalism. Many of the same outlets that missed the Wall Street meltdown and cheer-led the Iraq invasion h...
The Illusion of Debate: Consensus for the People that Matter
Hirthler, Jason
Article
2014
A recent article in FAIR reviewed the findings of its latest study on the quality of political “debate” being aired on the mainstream networks. It studied the run-up to the military interventions in b...
The Illusion of Democracy : Liberal Journalism, Wikileaks And Climate Deceptions
Cormwell, David
Article
2012
In an era of permanent war, economic meltdown and climate ‘weirding’, we need all the champions of truth and justice that we can find. But where are they? What happened to trade unions, the green move...
The Imaginary Cuban Troops in Syria
Peppe, Matt
Article
2015
Fair-and-balanced Fox News reported on Wednesday that "Cuban military operatives reportedly have been spotted in Syria, where sources believe they are advising President Bashar al-Assad’s soldiers and...
In Mexico, Finally, a Revolt Against the Media
Bonilla, Isadora; Giordano, Al
Article
2012
The summer will determine if the “I Am 132” moment becomes a movement and that’s why “Mexican Spring” is a poor choice of words for it.
In Run-Up to Vote to End Yemen War, MSNBC Remains Totally Silent: MSNBC outflanked from the left by Breitbart
Johnson, Adam
Article
2018
Johnson expresses concern about the lack of MSNBC coverage of the role of the USA in the conflict in Yemen since 2015.
Incinerating Assange - The Liberal Media Go To Work
Edwards, David
Article
2012
The media response to Assange’s asylum request tells us much about the default brutality and reflexive herdthink of elite corporate journalism. The crucial importance of his achievements, of his cause...
The Inquisition of Climate Science
Powell, James Lawrence
Book
2011
The Inquisition of Climate Science is the first book to comprehensively take on the climate science denial movement and the deniers themselves, exposing their lack of credentials, their extensive indu...
Intellectual Cleansing Part 1
Article
2008
Keeping the media safe for big business.
Intellectual Cleansing: Part 2: Former Guardian and Observer Journalist Jonathan Cook Responds
Article
2008
Most ambitious journalists start out on a daily local newspaper owned by one of a handful of large media groups. There one quickly feels all sorts of institutional constraints on one's reporting. As a...
Intellectual Cleansing: Part 3
Article
2008
The tendency to self-deception appears to be greatly increased when we join as part of a group. Groups create a sense of belonging, a "we-feeling", which can provide even greater incentives to reject ...
Inventing Reality: The Politics of News Media
Parenti, Michael
Book
1993
Parenti sets out to demonstrate how the news media distort important aspects of social and political life and why they do.
Israel Calls a Man Its Soldiers Killed a 'Terrorist': Until They Realized He Was an Israeli Jew
Greenwald, Glenn
Article
2015
The Jerusalem Post today describes the killing of a man by two IDF soldiers after, the soldiers claim, he was acting erratically and tried to grab one of their guns. When he was fatally shot by the ID...
The Issue is Not Trump, It is Us
Pilger, John
Article
2017
Until real politics return to people's lives, the enemy is not Trump, it is ourselves.
Jonathan Cook - Response to Intellectual Cleansing Part 1
Cook, Jonathan
Article
2008
However grateful we should be to the tiny minority of dissident writers, their relegation to the margins of the commentary pages of Britain's 'leftwing' media serves a useful purpose for corporate int...
Journalism and 'the words of power'
Fisk, Robert
Article
2010
More and more today, we journalists have become prisoners of the language of power.
JournalismSources.com
Website
2017
A portal featuring news, articles, and resources about journalism, press freedom, free speech, censorship and related topics. The home page features a selection of recent and important articles. A sea...
Journalistic Malpractice at the Post and the Times: Rejecting the Offer of Evidence of US War Crimes
Lindorff, David
Article
2013
Wikileaks source Bradley Manning is evidence that the USA’s two leading news organizations, the Washington Post and the New York Times, are not willing to report critically of the government.
Killing Granny with the Laziness Bias
Douglas, Susan J.
Article
2009
While it is often the case that the majority of Americans do see the light "about the need for healthcare reform, a new energy policy or affordable, high-quality day care." The dominant journalistic p...
The Left-Wing Media Fallacy: Jeremy Bowen, The BBC, And Other National Treasures
Article
2009
The issue is not complex, not esoteric: in a world dominated by corporate power we rely on media corporations for news about that world. Future generations will surely be aghast that so few people tod...
Lies The Media Tell us
Winter, James
Book
2007
Outlines the extent to which the mainstream media is subject to its corporate publishers and advertisers.
A Life of Challenge to the Dogma of "Objectivity": Richard Bell Is Practiced at Juggling Journalism, Advocacy and Politics
Han, Kirsten
Article
2012
Journalism, advocacy, politics: Are they completely different fields or aspects of the same game? Can someone actually do all three? Richard Bell has done them all and has lived to tell the tale.
'A Load Of Tosh'– The BBC, 'Showbiz News' And State Propaganda
Edwards, David; Cromwell, David
Article
2018
BBC News reporting on international relations, with particular reference to 2017-2018 tensions with Russia, relies heavily on state propaganda.
Mainstream Media And The Propaganda Machine
Abubacker, Ershad
Article
2009
Mainstream media, especially the American media plays a vital role in shaping the world public opinion.
Mainstream News And USA's Heroics In Vietnam: Why The Silence About The 7 Million Dead?
Janson, Jay
Article
2017
An account of the media's role in suppressing information about US military actions in Indochina from the 1940s and onward, and how the same tactics persist in the present.
Making Sense of the Media: A Handbook of Popular Education Techniques
Ferreira, Eleonora Castano; Ferreira, Joao Castano
Book
A handbook for teaching critical analysis of the mass media. It is designed for classroom use in any group setting, including high school, adult literacy, ESL, labour, and community organizing.
'The Man Who Knew Everyone' - Gore Vidal Through The Eyes Of The One Per Cent Press
Article
2012
Since Gore Vidal's death the corporate media have had nothing serious to say about his political dissent warning against the dominance of corporate power. As Vidal himself put it: ‘The bullshit just f...
Manufacturing Consent
Achbar, Mark; Wintonick, Peter (directors)
Film/Video
1992
A film about Noam Chomsky's ideas about the media, ideology, propaganda, and elite control of society's institutions.
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
Herman, Edward S.; Chomsky, Noam
Book
1988
Contrary to the usual image of the press and cantankerous, obstinate, and ubiquitious in its search for truth, Herman and Chomsky depict how an underlying elite consensus largely structures all facets...
The Media and the Far Right: Showcasing the Crude, the Violent and the Aberrant
Nader, Ralph
Article
2010
The right-moving trend of the mainstream media, absurdly deemed liberal by successfully intimidating corporatists and ideological aggressors, continues year after year.
Media Are Blamed as US Bombing of Afghan Hospital Is Covered Up
Norton, Ben
Article
2015
After the US airstrikes that hit an MSF (Medecins Sans Frontières) hospital, many news outlets have depicted the event in a way that evades any American responsibility.
Media Capitalism, the State and 21st Century Media Democracy Struggles: An interview with Robert McChesney
McChesney, Robert
Article
2009
Robert McChesney talks about contemporary media capitalism and 21st century media democracy struggles to understand and change it.
Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
Chomsky, Noam
Book
1997
Chomsky begins by asserting two models of democracy: one in which the public actively participates, and one in which the public is manipulated and controlled. According to Chomsky "propaganda is to de...
Media Control and Indoctrination in the United States: An Interview With Catherine Komp
Chomsky, Noam
Article
2013
An excerpt from the just released 2nd edition of Noam Chomsky’s OCCUPY: Class War, Rebellion and Solidarity.
Media Review: Fake News
Film/Video
2017
Richard Seymour looks at the current debate around 'fake news'. What does the term refer to and is it as new as we think?
Media Think
Winter, James
Book
2000
Increasingly the news media are owned by a small group of very large corporations with extensive interests outside the industry, run by the corporate elite.Winter argues that instead of offering diver...
The Medium is The Middleman: For a Revolution Against Media
Giordano, Al
Article
1997
Media now controls a new economic order: one that has supplanted governments, churches and productive industry to impose a mediating tyranny over people and our Daily Lives.
The Missing News: Filters and Blind Spots in Canada's Press
Hackett, Robert A.; Gruneau, Richard; with Donald Gutstein, Timothy A. Gibson and Newswatch Canada
Book
2000
Asks a number of questions, including: How well do the news media filter reality, for what purposes, through what processes and in whose interests? How do newspapers and TV stations choose what news i...
Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies
Chomsky, Noam
Book
1989
An inquiry into the nature of the media and the role of intellectuals in "a political system where the population cannot be disciplined by force, and thus must be subjected to more subtle forms of ide...
News and Dissent: The Press and The Politics of Peace in Canada
Hackett, Robert
Book
1991
Hackett digs deep into several issues that affect how we hear, read, and see what is reported to us, as well as who and what decide exactly what is it that we hear, read and see.
Newspeak in the 21st Century
Edwards, David; Cromwell, David
Book
2009
Revealing the lethal bias in 'balanced' reporting.
No longer a real newspaper, new Globe betrays Canadians
Fillmore, Nick
Article
2010
The new tarted-up, glossy, colour Globe and Mail is many things, but it is not a real “news paper.”
Noam Chomsky And The BBC: A Brief Comparison
Media Lense
Article
2017
A recent interview with 88-year-old Noam Chomsky once again demonstrates just how insightful he is in providing rational analysis of Western power and the suffering it generates. By contrast, anyone r...
Oscar Hangover Special: Why "Spotlight" Is a Terrible Film
Wypijewski, Joann
Article
2016
I am astonished (though I suppose I shouldn't be) that, across the past few months, ever since Spotlight hit theatres, otherwise serious left-of-centre people have peppered their party conversation wi...
Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - October 30, 2014: Refugees
Diemer, Ulli (editor); Khan, Tahmid (production)
Serial Publication (Periodical)
2014
Topic of the week is Refugees. Featured articles look at migration, counter-surveillance resources, farmers in Ghana fighting to retain the freedom to save their own seeds, and rebuilding communities ...
Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - February 26, 2015: Ukraine
Diemer, Ulli (editor); Khan, Tahmid (production)
Serial Publication (Periodical)
2015
Ukraine is spotlighted in this issue of Other Voices, with several articles on the events of the past year, from the overthrow of the government, to the rise of the far right, the armed conflict in th...
Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - July 2, 2016: Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn, and Contempt for Democracy
Diemer, Ulli (ed.)
Article
2016
Brexit, the British vote to leave the European Union, has thrown the political elites into turmoil and confusion. The referendum was supposed to be a safe political manoeuvre, a way to produce an appe...
Other Voices: The Connexions Newsletter - December 20, 2016: Fake News
Diemer, Ulli (ed.)
Serial Publication (Periodical)
2016
"Fake news" is the latest mania to convulse the mainstream media. All at once, we're being subjected to an outbreak of hand-wringing articles and commentary about obscure websites which are supposedly...
Painting a false picture
Such, Rod
Article
2018
A review of the book "The Wrong Story: Palestine, Israel and the Media" by Greg Shupak.
The Petulant Entitlement Syndrome of Journalists
Greenwald, Glenn
Article
2015
Jonathan Chait’s denunciation of the "PC language police" provoked intense reaction: much criticism from liberals and praise from conservatives.
Political Economy of Media: Enduring Issues, Emerging Dilemmas
McChesney, Robert
Book
Demonstrates the incompatibility of the corporate media system with a viable democratic public sphere, and the corrupt policymaking process that brings the system into existence.
The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the Twenty-First Century
McChesney, Robert
Book
2004
Gets to the roots of the crisis, explains it, and points a way forward for the growing media reform movement.
Profit over People: Neoliberalism and Global Order
Chomsky, Noam
Book
1999
Chomsky confronts neoliberalsim: the pro-corporate system of economic and political policies presently waging a form of class war worldwide.
Propaganda model: Connexipedia Article
Article
A theory that alleges systemic biases in the mass media and seeks to explain them in terms of structural economic causes. Views the private media as businesses interested in the sale of a product - re...
Publicity and Media Resources
Website
Resources and publications to assist your organization in getting more and better media coverage and raising awareness.
Radical Mass Media Criticism: A Cultural Geneology
Berry, David, Theobald, John eds
Book
Examines the thinkers who have reacted against the increasing media power. From the critiqes of the corrupt press during the First World War, an analysis of the relationship between public opinion an...
A Response To George Monbiot's 'Disavowal'
Article
2017
There is a pattern of 'mainstream' media insisting on the need for war in response to unproven claims that are often later debunked.
The Right Kind Of Terror
Cromwell, David; Edwards, David
Article
2012
When is an act of terrorism not terrorism? When the victims are officially sanctioned state enemies.
Seven Points Not on the Arab Media Agenda – What Is There to Celebrate?
Baroud, Ramzy
Article
2015
As media experts plan to establish an 'Arab Media Day', Baroud criticizes in seven points the censorship and repression of Arab journalism and media.
Seymour Hersh Blasts Media for Uncritically Promoting Russian Hacking Story
Scahill, Jeremy
Article
2017
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh said in an interview that he does not believe the U.S. intelligence community proved its case that President Vladimir Putin directed a hacking campaign ...
Shadows of Liberty
Tremblay, Jean-Philippe
Film
2012
Examines the new media monopoly by corporations in America and the public battle for truth and democracy.
A Short Course in Intellectual Self-Defense: Find Your Inner Chomsky
Baillargeon, Normand
Book
2005
What must a citizen in a democracy know to make the word democracy meaningful? Baillargeon provides readers with the tools to see through everyday spin and jargon -- from politics to advertising, from...
Sign Crimes/Road Kill: From Mediascape to Landscape
Nelson, Joyce
Book
1992
A collection of thirty short essays by Joyce Nelson, a writer specializing in the politics of the mass media.
'Smooth Operator?': The Propaganda Model and Moments of Crisis
Freedman, Des
Article
2009
An article by Des Freedman on Herman and Chomsky's propaganda model for the mass media and moments of crisis (disagreements within the ruling class), focusing particularly on the Daily Mirror and its ...
The 'Superficial, Arrogant Smugness' of BBC News - Peter Oborne Delivers Some Home Truths On BBC Radio 4 Today
Article
2017
In a recent media alert, we noted the occasional tell-tale signs of uncomfortable truths that slip through cracks in the propaganda façade of BBC News. Very occasionally, the propaganda nature is clea...
Superunknown: Scientific Integrity Within the Academic and Media Industrial Complexes
Mattis, Kristine
Article
2018
Mattis provides an analysis of the competing priorities of scientists, funders and the media that together, create a perfect storm of "unscientific science".
Sustaining Democracy?: Journalism and the Politics of Objectivity
Hackett, Robert A.; Zhao, Yuezhi
Book
1998
Tthe authors argue that "the regime of objectivity" should give way to a journalism aimed at sustaining democracy.
Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty
Carey, Alex
Book
1995
The twentieth-century history of corporate propaganda practiced by U.S. businesses and the ways in which such corporate propaganda was exported to, and adopted by, other western democracies especially...
Thinking The Right Thoughts
Cromwell, David; Edwards, David
Article
2014
There are always convenient news-hooks on which corporate journalists can hang their power-friendly prejudices about the West being 'the good guys' in world affairs. The authors provide examples from ...
Time magazine honors journalists facing repression - but snubs Julian Assange
Martin, Patrick
Article
2018
A look at Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year' award for 2018, which did not list any journalist who exposed state secrets or government misconduct in the United States, nor whistleblowers from Israel...
Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009
Article
2009
Provides a list and indepth analysis of the top 25 stories that were censored throughout the year in 2009.
Tracking the News that Wasn't
Evans, Ron
Article
1996
A review of two books about media bias and censorship.
Trump's Amoral Saudi Statement Is a Pure Expression of Decades-Old 'U.S. Values' and Foreign Policy Orthodoxies
Greenwald, Glenn
Article
2018
Donald Trump's statement that the US would continue business and diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi may be blunter than people are used to but it is standard o...
Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky
Chomsky, Noam; edited by Peter R. Mitchell and John Schoeffel
Book
2001
In a series of enlightening and wide-ranging discussions, all published here for the first time, Chomsky radically reinterprets the events of the past three decades, covering topics from foreign polic...
Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in the New Media
Lee, Martin A.; Solomon, Norman
Book
1992
Lee and Solomon argue that American news media censor actual current events. The reason being is that there is pressure from the Government and Corporations. The public must challenge the facts of bot...
Unspeakable: the Black Book of Imperial Terrorism
Street, Paul
Article
2017
American "mainstream" journalists who want to keep their paychecks flowing and their status afloat know they must report current events in a way that respects the taboo status of the nation's underlyi...
The U.S. Press and Repression in the Obama Era: A New Awakening or Political Theater?
Baraka, Amaju
Article
2013
The Obama administration’s is expanding its use of executive powers to intimidate and crush dissent had turned its focus on the U.S. press.
War by media and the triumph of propaganda
Pilger, John
Article
2014
The world is facing the prospect of major war, perhaps nuclear war -- with the United States clearly determined to isolate and provoke Russia and eventually China. This truth is being turned upside do...
War, Peace and the Media
Zwicker, Barrie
Book
1983
Zwicker argues that press coverage of the USSR is "profoundly uninformative, a journalistic yawn that is helping us sleepwalk toward the biggest slumber of all time: nuclear war."
Watch How Casually False Claims Are Published: New York Times and Nicholas Lemann Edition
Greenwald, Glenn
Article
2017
We have a perfect example of how this happens from the New York Times today, in a book review by Nicholas Lemann, the Pulitzer-Moore professor of journalism at Columbia University as well as a longtim...
We shouldn't weep for broke but lying mainstream media
Fillmore, Nick
Article
2017
A report from the Public Policy Forum of Montreal released on January 26 says the Canadian news industry "is reaching a crisis point as the decline of traditional media, fragmentation of audiences and...
Weapons of Mass Persuasion: Marketing the War Against Iraq
Rutherford, Paul
Book
2004
Rutherford, an academic and media critic at the University of Toronto, tries to show how the marketing campaign for the war against Iraq was constructed and carried out with the aid of a compliant med...
What 'Democracy' Really Means in U.S. and New York Times Jargon: Latin America Edition
Greenwald, Glenn
Article
2014
One of the most accidentally revealing media accounts highlighting the real meaning of "democracy" in U.S. discourse is a still-remarkable 2002 New York Times Editorial on the U.S.-backed military cou...
What is Objective Journalism?
Edwards, David
Article
2017
Despite objectivity being widely accepted as a norm in journalism, Edwards discusses how opinion and bias are still an inherent part of 'reporting the facts.'
What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream
Chomsky, Noam
Article
1997
Noam Chomsky shares his approach to analyzing media and reveals the meaning and consequence of the strategic design of communication.
What Uncle Sam Really Wants
Chomsky, Noam
Book
1993
Chomsky discusses examples of U.S. intervention and links together events stretching over four decades in regions throughout the world. He provides a quick synopsis of American foreign policy and pain...
Whatever Happened to Al Jazeera?: All the News That's Fit to Slant
Baroud, Ramzy
Article
2012
In Al Jazeera’s early days in the mid and late 1990s, the channel took on taboo subjects and proudly challenged the status quo. In recent months, however, Al Jazeera has begun to change course. It h...
Where's the Beef Stroganoff? Eight Sacrilegious Reflections on Russiagate: Street, Paul
Article
2018
Street expresses his frustration with the US political establishment in light of the 2017-2018 FBI investigation into alleged foreign intervention in the 2016 US presidential election.
Where's the Evidence?: The CIA-FBI-NSA report on the hacking of the 2016 election is pure baloney
Raimondo, Justin
Article
2017
We are told from the outset that the actual evidence that the Russians hacked the DNC and John Podesta's emails as part of a wide-ranging campaign to put Donald Trump in the White House cannot be reve...
Who Should Bomb Iran First?: The Myth Of Left-Leaning Media Bias
Article
2007
Mainstream media discussions of media balance are limited to a single question: Is the media too critical of powerful interests?
Why Are We The Good Guys?: Reclaiming Your Mind From The Delusions Of Propaganda
Cromwell, David
Book
2012
One of the unspoken assumptions of the Western world is that we are great defenders of human rights, a free press and the benefits of market economics. Mistakes might be made along the way, perhaps ev...
Why Are We The Good Guys? - Book Review
Article
2012
One of the unspoken assumptions of the Western world is that ‘we’ are great defenders of human rights, a free press and the benefits of market economics. Mistakes might be made along the way, perhaps ...
Why is the New York Times promoting the "black bloc"?
Van Auken, Bill
Article
2017
A New York Times article, which ran across four columns of the newspaper's front page under a huge photo of a black-masked individual preparing to break an office building window with an iron bar duri...
Why is the West praising Malala, but ignoring Ahed?: Is an empowered Palestinian girl not worthy of Western feminist admiration?
Khoja-Moolji, Shenila
Article
2017
Khoja-Moolji examines the lack of media response to the plight of 16 year-old Ahed Tamimi, detained for allegedly assaulting an Israeli soldier during a confrontation at her home during which Israeli ...
Why Won't American Media Tell the Truth About What's Happening in Venezuela?
Podur, Justin
Article
2017
Unlike Brazil and Argentina, Venezuela has been victimized by a number of factors outside of its control, but especially a precipitous drop in the price of oil, the country's main source of revenue.
Wikileaks Exposes Complicity of the Press: Documents Show NYT and Washington Post Shilling for US Government on Iran Missile "Threat"
Porter, Gareth
Article
2010
A key Wikileaks document which should have resulted in stories calling into question the thrust of the Obama administration's ballistic missile defense policy in Europe based on an alleged Iranian mis...
Women Are Not Wallpaper: Miren Gutierrez and Oriana Boselli interview filmmaker Erik Gandini
Article
2009
Something new is appearing on the Italian screen. About time, some may say.
World Orders Old and New
Chomsky, Noam
Book
1994
Chomsky surveys the international scene since 1945.
Wretched US Journalism on Ukraine
Parry, Robert
Article
2015
The most dangerous violation of journalistic principles has occurred in the Ukraine crisis, which has the potential of a nuclear war.
The Wrong Story: Palestine, Israel and the Media
Shupak, Greg
Book
2018
The Wrong Story lays bare the flaws in the way large media organizations present the Palestine–Israel issue. It points out major fallacies in the fundamental conceptions that underpin their coverage, ...
The Yellow Journal: Issue 3 - July 8, 1974
Serial Publication (Periodical)
1974
Articles on Toronto Island homes in the news; a Brazilian trade mission; opinion polls; American control of the media.
The Yellow Journal: Issue #4 - July 25, 1974
Serial Publication (Periodical)
1974
Articles on Anatomy of a News Empre; [Toronto] Sun inspires fear; How newspapers make mistakes; Press comments on election coverage; the Davey Report.
The Yellow Journal: Issue 5 - August 1974
Serial Publication (Periodical)
1974
Articles on Stereotypes in the Dailies; Getting to the heart of housing; Kenora Occupiers Supported; Media coverage of a raid on Rochdale College; In Defence of Patronage;

Connexions Directory of Groups & Websites

Center for Media and Democracy
The Center for Media and Democracy strengthens participatory democracy by investigating and exposing public relations spin and propaganda, and by promoting media literacy and citizen journalism, media...
Centre for Research on Globalization
An independent research and media group of writers, scholars and activists. Publishes news articles, commentary, background research and analysis on a broad range of issues, focussing on social, econo...
Chomsky.info
The Noam Chomsky Web site.
Corporate Watch
Corporate Watch is a not-for-profit co-operative providing critical information on the social and environmental impacts of corporations and capitalism. Since 1996 our research, journalism, analysis an...
FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting)
U.S. media watch group that documents and criticizes media bias and censorship, scrutinizes media practices that marginalize public interest, minority, and dissenting viewpoints, and advocates for gre...
JohnPilger.com
The journalism and films of John Pilger.
Media Matters
A progressive research and information centre dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.
Mediachannel.org
Reports, opinions and links on media issues, including media news and links to hundreds of media issues organizations around the world.
Medialens
Correcting for the distorted vision of the corporate media. MediaLens is a response based on our conviction that mainstream newspapers and broadcasters provide a profoundly distorted picture of our w...
Narco News Bulletin
Reporting on the drug war and democracy. Fostering authentic journalism.
News Hounds
Rather than serve as the public's eyes and ears, Fox and other media conglomerates have become echo chambers for the rich and powerful with whom they have become all too cozy. This blog is an attempt ...
Newswatch.on
News for the news people.
Pacific Media Watch
An independent, non-profit, non-government organisation comprising journalists, lawyers, editors and other media workers, supporting media freedom, and dedicated to examining issues of ethics, account...
Michael Parenti
Michael Parenti is an author, lecturer and progressive political analyst.
Sources
Sources specializes in collecting, indexing, and disseminating information to help journalists, editors, and researchers quickly reach articulate experts and spokespersons who can provide background i...
Spinwatch
Public interest research.

Sources Experts & Spokespersons

Sources Library

American Media Ignore Major Murdoch News Corp Scandal
Rupert's Misdeeds
Washington, Linn Jr.
2013
America’s corporate news media love highlighting David-besting-Goliath stories…except apparently, when the fallen Goliath is major media mogul Rupert Murdoch – the billionaire owner of America’s caust...
Beyond the dross
Pilger, John; Platt, Steve
2010
Pilger and Platt discuss the state of journalism.
Big Loser in Wente Plagiarism? Globe's Reputation
Willcocks, Paul
2016
Margaret Wente has been busted, again, for plagiarism. The paper's response, again, has been wholly inadequate. The first scandal, in 2012, damaged the Globe's credibility, largely because of the way ...
Changing Media, Changing China
Shirk, Susan (ed.)
2010
This collection of essays studies all aspects of media in China, and looks at the changing landscape of information management and demand for real news in China.
Coming Attraction: Carleton Journalism Review
News Release - June 1977
1977
July 1977 will see the appearance of a new and exciting Canadian journalism review: the Carleton Journalism Review.
Communicating in Canada's Past
Essays in Media History
Allen, Gene; Robinson, Daniel J. (eds.)
2009
Address sizable gaps in the literature on media history in Canada. Includes a substantial introduction to media history as a field of study and essays on a range of subjects, including print journalis...
The Contradictions of Media Power
Freedman, Des
2014
Combining an evaluation of both previous literature and new research, the book seeks to establish an understanding of media power which does justice to the complexities and contradictions of the conte...
8 key questions and answers about the Margaret Wente plagiarism scandal
Silverman, Craig
2012
After a disconcerting summer that saw prominent American journalists accused of plagiarism and fabrication, Canada is currently in the throes of its own high-profile ethics scandal. A series of concer...
'Fake news' is okay if it's about #RussiaGate: Top 7 fake 'collusion' stories the media pushed
2019
A summary of stories of Russian interference in US politics that were later retracted.
Farewell to the Guardian
Diemer, Ulli
2017
When a newspaper has arrived at the point of praising war criminals while deluding itself that it is holding the powerful to account, I know that it’s not a newspaper that I want to keep receiving.
The Guardian, White Helmets, and Silenced Comment
Hayward, Tim
2018
The Guardian recently published an article claiming that critical discussion of the White Helmets in Syria has been 'propagated online by a network of anti-imperialist activists, conspiracy theorists ...
Half of UK sees The Sun tabloid as 'negative influence'
Mandhai, Shafik
2017
Half of Britons see one of the UK's largest tabloids, The Sun, as a negative influence on society, according to a new poll.
Indictment of Russians over US election meddling is case of pot calling the kettle black
Maloof, F. Michael
2018
WorldNetDaily writer and former US Department of Defense official F. Michael Maloof recalls past US foreign policy adventures in light of claims of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential el...
Iranians Are Much Talked About on Sunday Morning TV, But Never Heard From
Greenwald, Glenn
2015
Over the last couple months, the Sunday morning TV shows -- NBC's Meet the Press, CBS's Face The Nation, ABC's This Week, Fox's News Sunday, and CNN's State of the Union -- have focused on a deal with...
Journalism: Truth or Dare?
Hargreaves, Ian
2003
Ian Hargreaves discusses the history, development, future and ethics of journalism and describes journalists' relationship with the public. He focuses on the increase in journalism's influence and the...
Journalists and civil society must join forces to engage the public with health news
Fadope, Cece
2014
A call for journalists to reach out to a broader audience and "team up" with civil society in orer to force attention onto topics that matter. "Exploring ideas that move the audience to think and act....
Lapdog media learns nothing, beats war drums again
Smith, Patrick L.
2013
Have we forgotten Judith Miller already? Or Colin Powell at the U.N.? Before attacking Syria, let's know the truth.
Massive Uncritical Publicity for Supposed "Independent UFO Investigation"
Demonstrates Media Gullibility Once Again
Sheaffer, Robert
1998
On Monday, June 19, 1998, all of the major media outlets were suddenly filled with accounts proclaiming that an independent panel of scientists had taken a fresh look at the UFO question, and had conc...
Media and Minorities
Representing Diversity in a Multicultral Canada
Fleras, Augie; Kuhz, Jean Lock
2001
An examination of the politics of media minority relations in a multicultural Canada.
Media control and intimidation a reality for 5.5 billion, says WAN-IFRA
Sources News Release
2011
This year, 44 journalists have already been murdered, says the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), which launched a review of press freedom around the world during World Ne...
Media freedom in the Pacific - a double-edged sword
Hutt,Kendall
2015
The issue of media freedom in the Pacific has come to the fore following recent international calls for Indonesia to allow foreign journalists access to West Papua and President Joko Widodo declaring ...
Media influence
Sources Select Resources Encyclopedia
Media influence or media effects are used in media studies, psychology, communication theory and sociology to refer to the theories about the ways in which mass media affect how their audiences think ...
Media Watch: When the Media Tell Half the Story
Emery, E. Eugene Jr.
1997
Twenty-eight years after Chariots of the Gods? author Eric von Däniken brought pseudoscience to new lows by suggesting that our ancestors were too stupid to create the pyramids, Stonehenge, and other ...
nerve agent case for 'action' on Russia
Official claim that 'Novichok' points solely to Russia discredited
Ahmed, Nafeez
2018
The case against Russia using the nerve agent Novichok is undermined by earlier reports by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which previously declared that they have no ...
News and the Culture of Lying
Weaver, Paul H.
1997
The news media lie, says Weaver, not by slipshod reporting or unethical practices, but in the very "plot structure" of the news, in the masks of impersonality assumed by reporters and editors, and in ...
Oh, What a Blow That Phantom Gave Me!
Carpenter, Edmund
1972
How media have taken over our lives.
Review of the Press - November 21, 1975
1975
It's probably no surprise to most people that Toronto's three dailies are all anti-union and anti-working-class. But it takes a big strike, like the postal strike or the school strike, to bring out th...
The Snowden Hoax
How a Lie Traveled Around the World Before the Truth Could Get Its Boots On
2015
A Social History of the Media
From Gutenburg to the Internet
Briggs, ASA; Burke, Peter
2005
Two social and cultural historians provide an overview of communication media and of the social and cultural contexts within which they emerged and evolved over time.
Sole offender?
Diemer, Ulli
2008
When an Iraqi journalist throws his shoe at the commander-in-chief of the forces that invaded and continue to occupy his country, the Globe huffily calls the reporter a disgrace to his profession and ...
Twenty-five Years of Sources
2002
From the beginning, Sources was seen as a public service as well as a tool for journalists.
2014 Fellowship of Reconciliation with Dr. Peter Phillips
2014
Dr. Peter Phillips delivered a keynote address at the 2014 Fellowship of Reconciliation’s event in celebration of their 100th anniversary, covering several topics, including corporate media propaganda...
War, Propaganda and the Media
Shah, Anup
1999
Probably every conflict is fought on at least two grounds: the battlefield and the minds of the people via propaganda. The #good guys# and the #bad guys# can often both be guilty of misleading their p...
Why Should My Newspaper Pledge Not to Boycott Israel?
Leveritt, Alan
2019
An editorial by the publisher of an Arkansas newspaper expected to sign a pledge promising to not boycott Israel in exchange for the ability to sell advertising.

From the Connexions Archives

FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting) Internet site
Website
U.S. media watch group that documents and criticizes media bias and censorship, scrutinizes media practices that marginalize public interest, minority, and dissenting viewpoints, and advocates for gre...
Mediachannel.org
Website
Reports, opinions and links on media issues, including media news and links to hundreds of media issues organizations around the world.
MediaSources.ca
Website
2017
A web portal featuring resources about media and the media industry, with articles, documents, books, websites, and experts and spokespersons. The home page features a selection of recent and importan...
Mental Engineering
Website
Web site of the TV program that critiques advertising and television.
Palestine Media Watch
Website
PMWATCH was established to promote fair and accurate coverage of the Israeli occupation of Palestine in the US mainstream media. In broad terms, our mission is two-fold: (1) identify, report on, and p...
Sources Select Resources
Reviews and information about print and online resources for journalists and researchers
Website
1977
Reviews and information about print and online resources for journalists and researchers.