Hard-hitting journalism is nearing extinction on television, and the Federal Communications Commission just threw another shovelful of dirt on its grave when it recently ruled that Rupert Murdoch's broadcast of TMZ and Pat Robertson's 700 Club meet the test for "a bona fide newscast." Bona fide newscast? You tell...

The New York Times publishes an exposé on the hidden ties between media military analysts and the Pentagon that most likely violate federal "covert propaganda" laws.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) calls for an investigation of the propaganda purveyors, especially those with business ties to the Pentagon.

Last week, it was a mudslinging debate hosted by ABC. This week, it's revelations of pro-war propaganda on nearly every major television news outlet.

The quest for quality journalism and for the truth about the fast sell on the Iraq war just hit a new low. And today,...

Yesterday, the New York Times exposed a secret Pentagon effort to spread favorable views of the war by recruiting and planting military analysts in the nation's news media.

These pundits became fixtures of war coverage on most major network, cable, radio and print news outlets without disclosing their...

Last week, I reported on the Huffington Post about CNN's appalling coverage of anti-war protests that marked the five-year anniversary of the war in Iraq.

This week, CNN responded by mocking the criticism and dismissing it as "rabid."

On Wednesday, Wolf Blitzer and CNN 's "Best Political Team on Television" took their vapid approach to journalism to a new level when reporter Jeanne Moos satirized demonstrations against the war in Iraq.

Tongue and cheek reports are Moos's specialty, but the idea that CNN would sic her on...

On Tuesday, the Senate voted to allow the government to eavesdrop on foreign-based communications and to shield the largest phone companies from some 40 lawsuits alleging illegal wiretapping.

The level of corruption that this vote represents is simply staggering. Telephone companies broke the law when they handed over private...

Media critic Eric Boehlert recently summed it up, "Virtually all the corporate press does these days is shallow, polling-based horse-race coverage, and now it can't even get that right." We've all had it with the way elections are covered. We've had it with vapid television news. And we've had...

Today, Bush-appointed Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin rammed through a 3-2 partisan vote to remove the longstanding "newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership" ban that prohibits a local newspaper from owning TV and radio stations in the same market. Witness yet another shining moment: the Bush administration serving up a wholesale giveaway...

Today in the Congress, powerful U.S. Senators from both parties berated FCC Chairman Kevin Martin about his plans to open the floodgates of media consolidation across America on December 18th. And Martin didn't flinch.

It's easy to stand firm when you're a Bush operative with the backing of the...

In his rush to gut the nation's longstanding media ownership limits, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, has not only angered the vast majority of Americans who think Big Media is already big enough.... he has angered a constituency with some serious clout: Harry Potter fans.

If that...

On Wednesday night at a public hearing held at Rutgers University, two Federal Communications Commissioners, Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and scores of activists berated Rupert Murdoch's WWOR-TV, Channel 9. Purchased in 2000 by Murdoch's NewsCorp., the Secaucus, New Jersey-based station has operated as if it were based in...

Tuesday morning -- just three days after 1,000 people crowded into Seattle Town Hall to tell Kevin Martin's Federal Communications Commission not to allow further media consolidation -- the FCC Chairman released proposed rule changes that would allow one company to own a daily newspaper and a TV...

On Friday night, some 1,000 people packed the Seattle Town Hall to say no to the Federal Communications Commission's plan to let the largest media companies further consolidate ownership. And it wasn't just a bunch of lefties.

The heavy hitters were there, and they gave the FCC Chairman an...

Today's news that the Bancroft family has agreed to News Corp.'s $5 billion dollar buyout offer for Dow Jones, is a powerful reminder of how media consolidation is constantly eroding the foundational structures of our democracy.

America's founders understood that a truly free press -- enlivened by...

Rupert Murdoch's move to acquire the Wall Street Journal is sending shock waves across the media industry, as well-documented reports fill the pages of our most credible newspapers and magazines detailing the media tycoon's consistent practice of using his media properties to advance his political ideology and business agenda: from...

Remember how the big phone companies tried to dismiss Net Neutrality as a "solution in search of a problem"? Well, here's the problem.

In an interview this week with the Los Angeles Times, AT&T Senior Vice President James Cicconi revealed that AT&T is developing technology designed to detect...

As the dust settles following the controversy, it is time to confront the fact that Don Imus' remarks go far beyond one bigoted commentator. They are further proof that we must change the media system itself if we're going to improve journalism and media content in general.

Most of our...

Senator Barack Obama is refusing to appear on Fox News after the network reported a litany of GOP-talking point lies about the presidential candidate. A coalition of organizations is leading a bold campaign to convince Democrats not to play ball with Fox and urge businesses to pull their ads...

If you're frustrated with the mainstream media's failure to provide critical journalism that informs democracy and holds government accountable, then you need pay attention to what happened in Memphis last weekend. Opening the National Conference for Media Reform, legendary journalist Bill Moyers proclaimed:

As we saw in the...