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Media Beat is the insightful weekly syndicated column on media and politics written by FAIR associate Norman Solomon. It runs in newspapers across the country. Until early 1996, the column was co-written by FAIR executive director Jeff Cohen.
Utne Reader called Solomon one of "the fiercest and most articulate media critics around." A Los Angeles Times reviewer wrote: "The bold, muckraking tone of these columns offers a welcome respite from the decerebrated discourse that too often passes for contemporary journalism."
The book Wizards of Media Oz -- the third collection of columns by Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon -- can be ordered from FAIR.
Why do we need Media Beat?
An excerpt from an November 1995 speech by Norman Solomon to the Association of Opinion Page Editors.
How can I help Media Beat?
How to encourage your local paper to carry the column.
The P.U.-litzers
. A tongue-in-cheek, fingers-holding-nose look at some of the stinkiest journalism of the past eight years.
Special Topics:
Find Media Beat columns on...
- Election 2000
- Bill Clinton
- World Trade Organization
- Iraq
- Yugoslavia
- Time Warner
- The Internet
- Pacifica Radio
- Youth
(For other topics, see Issues in the News.)
Recent Media Beat columns:
- Announcing the P.U.-Litzer Prizes for 2001 (12/13/01)
- Noam Chomsky -- Saying What Media Don't Want Us To Hear (12/6/01)
- "Geographical Correctness" Could Be A Jolt (11/29/01)
- A Sweet Message for Americans -- "We Are Family (11/26/01)
- Fear and Numbing in the TV Zone (11/15/01)
- Bloomberg's Victory and the Triumph of Business News (11/8/01)
- The World Series in a Time of Crisis (11/1/01)
- War Needs Good Public Relations (10/25/01)
- The Televised Greatness of George W. Bush (10/18/01)
- Killing Them Softly: Starvation and Dollar Bills For Afghan Kids (10/12/01)
- TV News: A Militarized Zone (10/8/01)
- Media Spin Revolves Around the Word "Terrorist" (10/4/01)
- The "Wimp" Factor: Goading to Shed Blood (9/28/01)
- Killing Civilians: Behind the Reassuring Words (9/25/01)
- When Journalists Report for Duty (9/20/01)
- Terrorism, Television and the Rage for Vengeance (9/13/01)
- Idealism: A Viable Alternative in Today's Media World? (9/6/01)
- Thirty Years Later, Memories of Attica Cry Out (8/30/01)
- Denial and the Ravaging of Cyberspace (8/23/01)
- How To Be A Contented Media Consumer (8/16/01)
- Clinton Memoirs: Reflecting on the Media Wars (8/9/01)
- A Green Party Campaign for President in 2004? (8/2/01)
- Dancing -- or Yawning -- on the Grave of Carlo Giuliani (7/26/01)
- Katharine Graham and History: Slanting the First Draft (7/19/01)
- Media Mania: The Condit Scandal Goes Over the Top (7/12/01)
- Media All-Stars: Taking the Field (7/5/01)
- George Orwell In 2001: Speaking From the Grave (6/28/01)
- Designs For A Different Media Future (6/21/01)
- The Pentagon Papers: Media Praise Ringing Hollow (6/14/01)
- It's Killing Time in Medialand (6/7/01)
- At Commencement, Journalism Has A Hazy Future (5/31/01)
- Simulating Democracy Can Be A Virtual Breeze (5/24/01)
- Mediated Democracy: Following Italy's Example (5/17/01)
- Executing McVeigh: The Media Rites of Retribution (5/10/01)
- Media and Vietnam: Apparitions of Innocence (5/3/01)
- Overdue: Media Scrutiny of the "White Bloc" (4/26/01)
- Bias and Fear Tilting Coverage of Israel (4/19/01)
- Valor on TV: Hotheads Under Hot Lights (4/12/01)
- U.S.-China Dispute: From Other Side of Media Window (4/5/01)
- The Non-Issue of "Media Finance Reform" (3/29/01)
- The Digital Promise of A Global Village (3/22/01)
- Bad News Bears Change Tone of Media Script (3/15/01)
- Triumph of (George) Will: When Media Might Makes Right (3/8/01)
- Politics as Performance Art, Journalism as Drama Reviews (3/1/01)
- Obstinate Memory and Pursuit of the Present (2/22/01)
- Reagan, Clinton and the Spectrum of Mainstream Punditry (2/15/01)
- Reporting on the Fight Against AIDS in Poor Nations (2/8/01)
- From Global South's Side of the Media Looking Glass (2/1/01)
- The Narrow Separation of Press and State (1/25/01)
- Ashcroft and Racism: Breaking the Code (1/18/01)
- All Hail the Triumphant Doody-Bluster Ticket! (1/11/01)
- 50 Years Later, The Tragedy of Nuclear Tests in Nevada (1/4/01)
- Columns from 2000.
- Columns from 1999.
- Columns from 1998.
- Selected columns from 1994-1997.
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Classic Columns:
New Democrats: Maybe the Jig is Up (11/2/00)
Convention Hospitality and Police Brutality (7/27/00)
Protests In Washington Clash With Media Spin (4/13/00)
Broadcasting and Democracy -- Like Oil and Water? (Aug. 12, 1999)
Big-Name Candidates Bow to Media Power (June 24, 1999)
Keeping Mickey in the Private Domain (March 11, 1999)
Orwellian Logic 101 (August 27, 1998)
All Hail Jerry Springer, the Latest Media Bad Guy (April 30, 1998)
How Time Magazine Promoted a Cyberhoax (July 19, 1995)
Jimmy Carter and Human Rights: Behind the Media Myth (September 21, 1994)
Downpour of Media Cliches Threatens
to Flood Nation (January 11, 1995)
The Martin Luther King You Don't See on TV (January 4, 1995)
30-Year Anniversary: Tonkin Gulf Lie Launched Vietnam War (July 27, 1994)
Tobacco Wars: The First Casualty Is Candor (July 20, 1994)