Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
File:Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting logo.jpg | |
Formation | 1986 |
---|---|
Founder | Jeff Cohen, Martin A. Lee |
Type | Nonprofit |
Purpose | Media criticism |
Products | Extra! magazine, CounterSpin radio program |
Key people | Janine Jackson, Jim Naureckas |
Website | fair |
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) is a progressive left-leaning[1][2][3][4] media critique organization based in New York City.[5] The organization was founded in 1986 by Jeff Cohen and Martin A. Lee.[6] FAIR monitors American news media for bias, inaccuracies and censorship, and advocates for more diversity of perspectives in the news media.[7] FAIR describes itself as "the national media watch group".[6]
FAIR publishes Extra!, a magazine of media criticism, and also produces the radio program CounterSpin, which features interviews with journalists, scholars, and activists on current media-related news stories.[7]
Mission
FAIR describes itself on its website as "the national media watch group" and defines its mission as working to "invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press and by scrutinizing media practices that marginalize public interest, minority and dissenting viewpoints." FAIR refers to itself as a "progressive group that believes that structural reform is ultimately needed to break up the dominant media conglomerates, establish independent public broadcasting and promote strong nonprofit sources of information."[6]
FAIR believes that corporate sponsorship and ownership, as well as government policies and pressure, restricts journalism and therefore distorts public discourse.[7] FAIR also believes that most news media reflects the interests of business and government elites while ignoring or minimizing minority, female, public interest, and dissenting points of view.[7] FAIR criticizes media outlets for engaging in false balance in order to not be accused of taking sides on controversial topics.[7]
Criticism
Although FAIR claims to be unbiased, some critics[who?] have complained that it more often finds fault with the conservative press than with the liberal press,[8] and that it does so more on ideological grounds than on substance.[9] The book Modernizing Democracy: Innovations in Citizen Participation cites FAIR as an example of a group that "can give the appearance of objectivity and yet be totally partisan, biased, or ideological."[9]
See also
- Columbia Journalism Review
- Institute for Public Accuracy
- Media bias
- Media Lens
- Media Matters for America
- Media Research Center
- Norman Solomon
References
- ^ Goodman, Walter (June 17, 1990). "TV VIEW; Let's Be Frank About Fairness And Accuracy –". New York Times. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
- ^ Shepard, Alicia C. (12 April 2011). "What to Think about Think Tanks?". NPR. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
- ^ Callahan, David (2010). Fortunes of change : the rise of the liberal rich and the remaking of America. Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 978-0470177112.
- ^ Sheppard, Si (2008). The partisan press : a history of media bias in the United States. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0786432820.
- ^ Hays, Constance L. (May 19, 1996). "MAKING IT WORK;FAIR or Not?". New York Times. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
- ^ a b c "What's FAIR?". Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting. 30 August 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
- ^ a b c d e "Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
- ^ Vance, Lucian (2017). Fake News and Media Bias. Greenhaven Publishing LLC. p. 84. ISBN 978-1-5345-6200-4.
- ^ a b Redburn, F. Stevens (2006). Modernizing Democracy: Innovations in Citizen Participation. M.E. Sharpe. p. 319. ISBN 978-0-7656-1934-1.
External links
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