Selective Coverage

Corporate Reporting & McMansions

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Article in FAIR by Wilson Korik, 8/31/26

Headline:  “Corporate Media Worried Second Homes of ‘Blue-Collar’ Millionaires Might Be Taxed”

“. . .instead of accurately reporting on a modest wealth tax and fraud prevention measure, some corporate media took the opportunity to fabricate a reality in which the number of New Yorkers subjected to the tax was vastly overestimated, conjuring up a large mass of working- and middle-class New Yorkers who would have to deal with an opaque, complex exemption process. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://fair.org/home/corporate-media-worried-second-homes-of-blue-collar-millionaires-might-be-taxed/

NYT Spinning the Wheel?

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Article in Status by Oliver Darcy, 8/25/26

Headline:  “The Times’ Kalshi Gamble”

Subhead: “News that The Athletic is in talks with Kalshi on a potential partnership has prompted unease inside the broader New York Times Co. over the reputational risks of getting into bed with the controversial company, staffers tell Status.”

“. . .One of those partners, I am told, is Kalshi, the controversial prediction markets company, where users can bet on topics ranging from elections to finance to culture—and yes, sports. According to Front Office Sports, which first broke the news, The Athletic and Kalshi are in “advanced talks” to strike up an agreement, . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/the-athletic-kalshi-new-york-times-sports-betting

Went Past Media Hook

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Article in Common Dreams by Julia Conley, 8/21/26

Headline:  “In Post-Primary Media Tour, Angie Nixon Refuses to Take Corporate Media’s Bait on Hasan Piker, DSA”

Subhead: “I am actually focused on Florida and making sure that I’m talking to voters here, to uplift their needs and their concerns,’ said the progressive Democrat. ‘And so that’s what my focus is going to be over the next 76 days.”

“The corporate media has spent months helping to push the narrative that progressive Democratic candidates are anti-American and have radical foreign policy views . . .”

“But Nixon (D-13) suggested Thursday night she prefers to discuss her desire to represent working Florida residents’ interests in the Senate over the topics that news anchors are eager to talk about. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/angie-nixon-senate

 

Media Run Toward Fake Poles?

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Article in Status by Brett LoGiurato, 8/21/26

Headline: “The Media’s Fake Poll Flub”

Subhead: “A fake polling firm fooled Rupert Murdoch’s California Post and local outlets, exposing how quickly bogus numbers can become news and raising fresh questions about reporting standards.”

“Earlier this week, the California Post, the fledgling Los Angeles-based tabloid of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, reported a shocking story about a bogus poll from a fake firm called ‘Median Strategies’ that fooled everyone up to the city’s mayor, Karen Bass.

“The story featured a comment from Bass, whose office demanded that those behind it face the ‘full force of the law.’ It ended with a comment from a veteran political consultant who said that ‘whoever is responsible for this ought to be exposed.’. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/california-post-fake-poll-mistake

FCC Second Home?

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Article in Poynter by Tom Jones, 8/20/26

Headline:  “Opinion | How close is FCC chair Brendan Carr to the Trump White House? New records offer a look.”

Subhead:  “The FCC is supposed to operate as an independent agency. New records reveal extensive ties among its chair, the White House and conservative media.”

“The Federal Communications Commission is supposed to be an independent government agency that “regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.”

“But it’s pretty clear that under FCC chair Brendan Carr, the agency has been acting on behalf of President Donald Trump through threats and actions against network programming that Trump doesn’t like. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/fcc-ties-white-house-trump-conservative-media/

Media Give Politicians a Break?

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Article in Common Dreams by James Zogby, 8/18/26

Headline:  ” Independent Interviewers Expose How Mainstream Media Lets Politicians Off the Hook”

Subhead: “Two recent podcasts demonstrated what happens when establishment politicians, whose prepared talking points never stray from what serves as the conventional wisdom about Israel-Palestine, run up against interviewers unwilling to give them a pass.”

“Two July podcasts hosted by progressive media stars and featuring leading Democratic lawmakers brought home the deep disconnect that exists between the way establishment politicians and media operate and the way both come to speak about the Middle East and the realities that exist in that region.. .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/mainstream-media-israel-palestine

Mainstream Media Distortion?

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Article in Common Dreams by Roger Bybee, 8/7/26

Headline:  “Establishment Media: Narrow Wisconsin Loss for Hong I​s Massive Defeat for the Left”

Subhead:  “Her defeat was welcomed by conventional media and pundits impatiently awaiting some sign that a wave of progressive victories was finally being halted by sensibly moderate Midwestern voters. But is this accurate?”

“Mainstream media voices reflexively advising ‘moderate’ politics for the Democrats have unveiled a comfortably reassuring explanation of the razor-thin 3,796-vote defeat of democratic socialist Francesca Hong. . .”

Wisconsin’s Democratic gubernatorial primary provided the opportunity to serve up a pre-baked narrative favored by many journalists. Following democratic socialist Francesca Hong’s narrow defeat. . . ‘The socialists met their match,’ The New York Times concluded smugly. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/media-wrong-hong-s-defeat

Legacy Media Put Head in Sand?

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Article in Daily Kos by Oliver Willis, 8/15/26

Headline:  “Why the media ignores the growing Republican schism”

“Republicans are having a bad time ahead of this year’s midterm elections, where the momentum has consistently been with the Democrats. . .”

“Republicans are the ones having the real midterm problem, both internally and in contrast to the Democratic Party. Why? Trump. . .”

“Republican disarray is the new “Democratic disarray,” and someone should tell the mainstream media.”

Read the full article at:

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/8/15/800084437/series/why-the-media-ignores-the-growing-republican-schism/

Avoiding Shot in the Dark

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Article in Status by Brett LoGiurato, 8/14/26

Headline:  “The Media’s Vaccine Hesitancy”

Subhead:  “Donald Trump’s executive order attempting to gut the childhood vaccine schedule was built on debunked science. Too much of the news media’s coverage treated it as a political dispute.”

“. . .the position pediatric medicine has been forcibly pushed into over the past decade, or even longer—having to defend established science to the public because of the rampant mis-and-disinformation poisoning the public discourse.

“That is also the kind of posture the press should have taken this week when Donald Trump signed an executive order that aims to drastically reshape the childhood vaccine schedule. Unfortunately, much of the news media. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.status.news/p/trump-vaccine-order-media-coverage-mmr

Catered Media Dinner

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Article in Reuters By Emily Giles, Elwely Elwelly and Melory Ghazi, 8/13/26

Headline:  “Iran’s state media mock Trump over airplane switch, meme shows him hiding in a catering truck”

“. . .Trump and a ​small group of aides used a catering truck to switch from the big blue-and-white presidential aircraft to a smaller, nondescript C-32A jet for the flight out of ​Turkey on July 8, while Air Force One departed separately carrying senior administration officials, White House staff and the [press], according to the first source. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/irans-state-media-mock-trump-over-airplane-switch-meme-shows-him-hiding-catering-2026-08-13/

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Article in The Borowitz Report by Andy Borowitz, 8/13/26

Headline: “Trump Regularly Hides in Catering Truck to Avoid JD Vance”

“. . .Donald J. Trump routinely hides in a catering truck parked outside the White House to avoid talking to JD Vance, Secret Service sources revealed on Thursday.

“According to the sources, when agents see the vice president approaching the Oval Office they immediately activate a silent alarm and hustle Trump out the back door. . .”

Read the full article at:

https://www.borowitzreport.com/