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Quick links: Foreign
Affairs
Humor & Essay
Investigative & Consumer
Iraq
Media
Political & Social Issues
Features & Profiles
Sept. 11 and Aftermath
|
Foreign Affairs |
February
26, 2006 - Sunday
Herald
All Sides Turn On Bush Over Ports Deal
The ports controversy is an especially difficult
one for the Bush Administration and the GOP. If
the details get scrutiny, the deal could have
ramifications all the way to the next
presidential election.
|
January
04, 2006 -
TomPaine.com
To Russia, Love Tom Delay
Jack Abramoff's plea is just the beginning.
DeLay's dealings with Russia should be one of
the biggest stories of the year.
|
June 29,
2005 -
Los Angeles Times
Harsh Insight Into How We Make War
A
review of Norman Solomon’s timely new book, “War
Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning
Us to Death”
|
March
31, 2005 - The Nation
Miller's UN Reporting
After
her role in hyping unfounded claims that Saddam had
weapons of mass destruction and Al Qaeda ties – claims
that greatly buttressed the White House’s arguments for
war, Judith Miller of the New York Times faced
unparalleled criticism. So what happened to her? She got
back to work advancing that same unilateralist line.
This time, she started going after the leadership of the
United Nations – the same folks whose sanctions and
inspection program ensured that Saddam did not develop
WMDs. For the past year, she
has been cranking out biased reports about alleged
wrongdoing at the UN in such an exaggerated way as to
cast the organization and its leadership as almost
beyond redemption. An examination of
her recent record.
|
January 14,
2005 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What’s wrong with the coverage of the CBS scandal?
Why are Dan Rather's
failings more important than George Bush's? Russ
questions the media's priorities in their eagerness to
criticize 60 Minutes' story on Bush's National Guard
service.
|
October 27,
2004 - Guerrilla News Network
Bush
Wanted To Invade Iraq
George
Bush had a hankering for war with Iraq well before he
was elected. He fibbed about his military service.
And more revelations from
his former biographer.
|
April 25,
2004 - Washington Post
Olympian
Athens, Stuck Between Alpha and Omega
Russ, puttering around Athens, finds
the city contending with some unusual challenges as it prepares
to host the Olympic Games.
|
April 06,
2004 - Tompaine.com
Born-Again
Hawks
It's one thing to intensely dislike
George W. Bush. It's another thing entirely to want to defeat
him so bad, you are willing to adopt his own bring-'em-on
worldview. But that is exactly the position in which many
progressives and the "liberal media" find themselves.
|
March 22,
2004 - The Observer (UK)
Violence in the Balkans
Russ covers unrest in Serbia
following ethnic violence in neighboring Kosovo.
|
March 22,
2004 - TomPaine.com
The Pain In Spain
Russ suggests we stop blaming the
Spaniards. They’re just quicker at figuring out something even
Americans will, eventually: We have all been had.
|
March 17,
2004 - Newsday
Bush's
War Exercise: The Backpedal
Anniversaries are a time of
remembrance. We look back at an event and recall what was. Or,
in the case of the invasion of Iraq, which began one year ago,
we look back at what wasn't.
|
February 20,
2004 - TomPaine.com
Bush's
Backpedaling
The Bush administration, faced with
a stinker of an economic situation, plans to run for re-election
on a national defense-foreign policy plank. But how's it going
to do that? Can anyone seriously trust any significant claim
from this gang that definitely can't shoot straight—then insists
that the goal was always to hit the wall not the target? Russ
looks at all the foreign policy goals that had to be altered.
|
Jan/Feb,
2004 - The Washington Monthly
Where's Radovan?
Why can’t – or
won’t – the West catch Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian war
criminal connected with up to 200,000 deaths? He’s been on the
run now for eight years. Russ investigates.
Versions of this article have appeared in The New Statesman
(UK), NRC Handelsblad (Netherlands), Die Welt (Germany),
Ha’aretz (Israel), Helsingin Sanomat (Finland), Morgenbladet
(Norway), O Publico (Portugal), The Age, The Sydney Morning
Herald (Australia), Humo (Belgium), Sunday Herald (Scotland),
Die Presse (Austria), Straits Times (Singapore), South China
Morning Post (Hong Kong), Information (Denmark), Facts
(Switzerland), Korea Herald (South Korea) and El
Mundo (Spain).
|
January
30, 2004 - TomPaine.com
The Definition of Imminent
Team Bush is in
training for the upcoming political Olympics. In recent days,
we've seen vigorous demonstrations of hedging, ducking and
furious backpedaling. Plus that most esoteric of sports: hair
splitting. At issue, of course, is the Bush administration's
attempt to escape responsibility for starting a war over
something that did not exist. Take its parsing of the word
'imminent'.... |
January
29, 2004 - TomPaine.com
Why We Like the UN Again
The White House
wanted the UN to stay out of all important decisions and roles
in Iraq. But suddenly, it can't welcome the UN into that country
fast enough. What gives? Well, there's a mess in Iraq and an
election coming up back here. Russ explains. |
|
January
07, 2004 - Los Angeles Times
(This
article also appeared in Newsday and the Philadelphia Inquirer.)
Put
Spotlight on Bin Laden
Russ argues that the US media does everyone a disservice by
censoring, minimizing and failing to analyze periodic statements
attributed to Osama bin Laden. |
|
October 08, 2003
Serbia's
Secretive Power Broker
A look at the shadowy "spin doctor" waging war on Serbia's
media and, say some, obstructing the evolution of a vibrant
democracy. |
|
September 25, 2003 -
TomPaine.com
The Unilateral Party's Over
Voters traditionally consider Democrats less capable than
Republicans on foreign policy. But is that true? To test
that notion, compare Bush's go-it-alone war on Iraq and
Clinton's multilateralism in the Balkans. |
|
September 19, 2003 -
The Christian Science Monitor
Can Foreigners Fix Bosnia?
Building a pluralistic democracy from scratch is a daunting
proposition. Lessons learned here may apply to Iraq and
elsewhere. |
|
September 08, 2003 -
The Christian Science Monitor
Grisly Clues in Bosnia’s Largest Mass Grave
This site and others demonstrate a coordinated reburial effort
that could not have gone on without high-level approval. |
|
June 25, 2003 -
Christian Science Monitor
Sweet Deal for Balkans Leaves Bad Taste for EU
When the EU
granted trade preferences to Western Balkans countries, it
meant to help poor countries develop. But as a sugar scandal
shows, it’s not easy to overcome a deep-rooted legacy of
corruption in the region. |
|
April 04, 2003 -
The
American Prospect
Stunning
Events in Former Yugoslavia While Iraq Monopolizes The News
(Versions of this article appeared in The Age (Australia)
and Information (Denmark) )
Russ reports on the
fast-shifting investigation into the murder of
prime minister
Djindjic and the fight to rid
Serbia of Milosevic-era organized crime and state-sponsored
thuggery. |
|
March 17, 2003 -
The Sunday Times
(UK)
Butcher of Bosnia
Link To Assassin
(A
version of this article also appeared in The Australian)
More details of
Serbian Prime Minister assassination revealed. |
|
March 13, 2003 -
Toronto Star (Canada)
Serbian Prime Minister Assassinated
(Versions of this article appeared in La Repubblica (Italy),
El Pais (Spain), Information (Denmark), and The Washington
Times.)
Russ
reports in from Belgrade as the situation unfolds. |
|
Sunday Herald (Scotland) - November 14,
2002
Yugoslavian officials 'sold chemical weapons to Iraq'
(Versions of this article also appeared in The New York
Daily News, Information (Denmark) and Danas (Yugoslavia) )
Russ obtains and
analyzes an advance copy of a scorching report on the extent
of Yugoslav arms sales and military assistance to Iraq. |
|
November 14, 2002 -
TomPaine.com
Belgrade: Iraq Through A Balkan Lens
(A version of this article also appeared in La Stampa
(Italy)
and Information
(Denmark). )
Past U.S. Efforts Shed
Doubt On Post-War Rebuilding Of Iraq, writes Russ from
former Yugoslavia. "If this place is indicative of the U.S.
commitment after the bombs stop falling, the future Iraq
won't be a pretty picture." |
|
October 13, 2002 -
European Press Network
Serbian Presidential
Election Coverage
Russ covers Serbia's first
post-Milosevic presidential election, but he's more
interested than most of the voters. |
|
October, 2002 -
Razor Magazine
The Land Mine Guy
"If anyone ever finds a way to detect and dig up the 100
million land mines that litter the earth, it’s likely to be
Richard Walden. Russ profiles the irreverent humanitarian
relief maestro, founder of the unconventional relief
organization Operation USA, who has devoted his life to
bringing attention and resources to appalling scenarios of
human misery."
|
February,
2002 -
This article appeared in
Frankfurter Allgemeine (Germany), Toronto Star (Canada), De
Standaard (Belgium) and The Age (Australia) - Feb 2002)
Hawks and doves
circle Washington
Beyond the war
against al Qaeda, there's another anti-terror struggle being
waged within the U.S. foreign policy establishment itself. The
point of contention: To attack Iraq or not. The combatants fall
into two camps: the Saddam Hawks and the Saddam Doves. On the
outcome of their struggle may hang the prospects for peace or
war in the first decade of the 21st century. |
|
Feb 07,
1994 -
The Nation
The Deforesting of Irian Jaya
Carrying its
odd trio through a valley deep in Irian Jaya, the van made
excellent time. The driver, a young hipster from far-off Java in
jeans and reflecting sunglasses, cranked up a scratchy tape of
Indonesian rock and drummed away on the dashboard. The wiry old
man next to me, toothless and sporting nothing save his tribe's
traditional penis gourd, grinned sweetly as we made dust fly.
But his cheeriness could only momentarily transcend a sobering
reality: that his culture, which dates back 10,000 years, may be
wiped out in ten.
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Go Back Up |
|
Humor & Essay |
March 28,
2005 - AlterNet
Fishing for New Environmentalists
With the Bush administration’s
promulgation of stunningly weak standards on mercury
pollution, and with growing evidence of the mass poisoning
of the American people, there’s a prime opportunity.
Environmentalists should do more to reach out to the
millions of Americans who hunt and fish. Assuming that
generally conservative “outdoorsmen” and –women will vote
only based on guns and permits is very short-sighted,
strategically.
|
|
November 26, 2003 -
New York Observer
You've Got Hate Mail!
Virtual Pundits (Mis)Fire Back
Is Russ really like Jerry
Springer? One reader thinks so. Check out some of the
audience feedback. |
|
September 04, 2003 -
TomPaine.com
Bush Moves On
Thanks to President Bush,
we no longer have to wait for others to let us off the hook.
Now we can simply move ourselves on. |
|
June 16, 2003 - The New York Observer
Invasion of the Job Snatchers
When Russ posts an ad for a
research assistant, the response is baffling. |
|
May 13, 2003 -
Nedeljni
Telegraf (Weekly Telegraph), Belgrade
Case Solved
Russ assesses
customer service standards in Belgrade. |
|
May 06, 2003 -
Nedeljni
Telegraf (Weekly Telegraph), Belgrade
Are You a
Spy, Russ Baker?
In the first installment of
his new weekly column, Russ addresses local suspicions that
he isn’t what he says he is. |
May 06, 2002 - New York Times
I'm The Other Guy
Russ reveals the
identity crisis that has dogged him throughout his
career. |
Mar, 2002 - Philadelphia Inquirer
Martha
Stewart Seizes Fawlty Towers
Russ visits
what may be America’s best Bed & Breakfast Inn and meets
its zealous proprietor. |
November, 2001 - Arena
Magazine
The Smoking Gun: They Spy on the FBI
It’s not easy
being a cop. I know this because I read a police report
describing how officers in Manchester, NH, on routine
bicycle patrol, encountered a man wearing “what appeared
to be a costume made to resemble a penis.” |
|
June 01, 2000 - New York
Times
The Procrastinator's Guide to Summer Rentals
Russ cruises the
greater New York area for bargains in last-minute summer
rentals, with some unexpected and humorous results. |
|
May 29, 2000 - New York
Observer
Amadou Lives At Marie Runyon's Dinner Table
85-year old Marie
Runyon, a white Southern lady living in Harlem for the
last half-century, where she has been a pioneer in civil
rights and housing matters, has a chance encounter that
leads to a remarkable dinner with the mother of Amadou
Diallo, shot by police 41 times in a tragic accident. |
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Go Back Up |
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Investigative &
Consumer |
|
January, 2003 -
Razor Magazine
An
Embarrassment of Riches: the Inside Story of the World's
Biggest Con
(Versions
of this article also appeared in The Good Weekend (magazine
of the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age), Politiken
(Denmark), South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) and Die
Tageszeitung (Germany). )
It’s the world’s biggest –
and perhaps most elaborate -- scam, and it’s growing
rapidly. Maybe you didn’t bite when those e-mails or calls
came in, but plenty of people did. Read one such story… |
|
March 2001 -
Esquire (Netherlands)
More than the usual Hollywood fodder
This article
appeared in the magazines Esquire (Netherlands edition) and
Focus Knack (Belgium), and in the magazine supplements of La
Repubblica (Italy) and Die Tages-Anzeiger (Switzerland).
When
the marriage of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman busted up, longtime
Scientology-watchers suspected there was more there than just
the usual gossip column histrionics. Russ takes a look. |
|
September 19, 1999 -
New York Daily News
Credit Quicksand Traps Consumers
Deceptive
tactics employed by banks that issue credit cards mean
astoundingly high interest rates and mammoth fees. Find out how
not to be a victim.
|
|
1999 -
Vote.com
Card Sharks: Low-Interest Credit Offers Can Bite Back
A growing
number of consumers are being financially squeezed by what many
contend to be the blatantly unfair and misleading practices of
the $1.2 trillion credit card industry. |
|
February 14, 1999 - The
Observer (UK)
MK-ULTRA: The CIA and LSD
This Also Appeared in Der Spiegel (Germany), and The Good Weekend
((The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald)
In 1952,
Stanley Glickman was a promising young painter studying in
Paris. Then one night he shared a drink with some fellow
Americans, and his life fell apart. Did the CIA spike his
drink with LSD? |
|
December 5, 1999 - New York Daily News
The Cell Phone Mess
Cellular phone companies seem more interested in signing up
customers than in making sure their service works.
Russ explores the problem areas.
|
|
December 1998
- Salon.com
Portrait of a political pit bull
Rep. Dan Burton
(R-Ind), the powerful chairman of the House Government
Reform Committee, made a name for himself by investigating
alleged improprieties in the Clinton White House. He famously
called Clinton a "scumbag" for his personal behavior and has
relentlessly pursued White House campaign finance
irregularities, but as this in-depth investigation shows, Burton
has his own complicated history. |
|
April, 1997 -
P.O.V.
A Royal Pain
A
Spanish prince, a blonde bombshell and a few surreptitious
pictures. For a 23-year-old photographer named Hugo
Arriazu, the scoop of a lifetime led to a jailhouse nightmare. |
|
April 1997
-
George Magazine
The War Between Scientology and Germany
The German
Government says the Church of Scientology is a tyrannical cult that
recalls the country's dark history. The Scientologists say
it's the Germans who haven't changed. In an increasingly
bitter battle, two powers collide over the meaning of freedom and
the burden of the past.
|
December, 1997
-
Men's Health
Zinc for Yourself
Miracle
treatment... or hype? Here's the truth about zinc and
colds. |
|
December 07, 1993 - The
Village Voice
The Rogue Police Union
Patrolman Phil
Caruso and lawyer Richard Hartman built the Patrolmen’s
Benevolent Association into an arrogant, insular, and
wealthy institution that stands above the law and beyond
scrutiny. Where is the $63 million a year in tax funds
and union dues going? Only their friends know for
sure. |
1991 - Village Voice
Putting the Cult Back In
Culture
A
mysterious new Hollywood studio turns out to be a
front for the controversial cult, Scientology. |
March 20, 1990 - Village Voice
Breaking The Faith: - A Close Look at Covenant House
The sexual abuse was
one part of a bigger story. Russ looks at the
broader failures at this famous home for runaways.
|
|
Go Back Up |
|
Media |
April 08,
2006 - TomPaine.com
The
Media's Chance at Redemption
When, oh when,
will the U.S. “mainstream media” finally stop
hemming and hawing, parsing and understating?
When will they simply go for the jugular to
confirm what any thoughtful American has already
learned from “less reputable” but increasingly
relevant alternative information sources: that
from the beginning of the Bush administration,
invading Iraq has always been as much an article
of faith for the president as, well, promoting
faith over reason?
|
February
21, 2006 -
TomPaine.com
The Media's Next Quarry
Now that the press has come alive over the
hunting accident, will it investigate the bigger
scandals where Cheney plays a central role?
|
January
11, 2006 -
Columbia Journalism Review
Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution
Times have certainly changed when bloggers
who rail about mainstream journalism can
rent part of the Rainbow Room, atop
Manhattan's GE building -- a temple of the
media establishment -- to announce the
latest iteration of the revolution.
|
November 14,
2005 -
TomPaine.com
It's Not Just Judy
The
notorious Times
reporter is only a symptom of the disease affecting
political journalism.
|
October,
2005 -
Columbia Journalism Review
Anonymous Sources: the Q&A
In
a Q&A, Steve Engelberg, once Judith Miller’s editor,
gives some surprising answers about when to use –
and when not to use – anonymous sources.
|
September 6,
2005 -
TomPaine.com
The Media's Labor Day Revolution
Watch them cry and shout! With the colossal
screw-ups over Hurricane Katrina, even Fox News
Channel reporters were furious at the
administration. Read the amazing story of the
media’s late wake-up call on the Bush
Administration’s priorities and competencies. Also,
follow the links to watch STUNNING footage of
reporters gone wild!
|
July 21,
2005 -
TomPaine.com
Why Was Miller Fit to Print
Appropriate
compassion for jailed New York Times reporter Judith
Miller notwithstanding, the editors of the Times
have failed to clarify the exact role of their
controversial colleague in the so-called Valerie
Plame Leak, aware as they are of Miller's checkered
professional record and her seeming disdain for
standards the rest of the profession strives to
uphold. While defending its own, the paper also has
a larger responsibility—both to its readers and to
journalism—not to serve as a propaganda organ,
obscuring key unresolved questions about Miller, her
work and this particular case.
|
June 29,
2005 -
Los Angeles Times
Harsh Insight Into How We Make War
A
review of Norman Solomon’s timely new book, “War
Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning
Us to Death”
|
June 24,
2005 -
Alternet
The Sins of Judith Miller
The New
York Times’ Inspector Clouseau-like Judith Miller
continues on her crusade to prejudge and taint the UN
leadership and the promise of multilateralism – making
mistakes as fast as her editors can clean them up. Why,
oh why, is this woman still working there?
|
June
13, 2005 -
TomPaine.com
Tomorrow's Woodwards And Bernsteins
Well,
wasn’t that some excitement over the unmasking of Deep
Throat? Besides resolving a long-standing mystery, the
revelation came at an especially auspicious moment.
Investigative journalism desperately needs a boost right
about now. Here’s why – and how.
|
May
20 2005 - TomPaine.com
Winning The Media Wars
Were you inspired by Bill Moyers' recent speech about
media reform? Here's your users' guide to making it
happen.
|
March
31, 2005 - The Nation
Miller's UN Reporting
After
her role in hyping unfounded claims that Saddam had
weapons of mass destruction and Al Qaeda ties – claims
that greatly buttressed the White House’s arguments for
war, Judith Miller of the New York Times faced
unparalleled criticism. So what happened to her? She got
back to work advancing that same unilateralist line.
This time, she started going after the leadership of the
United Nations – the same folks whose sanctions and
inspection program ensured that Saddam did not develop
WMDs. For the past year, she
has been cranking out biased reports about alleged
wrongdoing at the UN in such an exaggerated way as to
cast the organization and its leadership as almost
beyond redemption. An examination of
her recent record.
|
March 14,
2005 - NiemanWatchdog.org (Nieman Foundation for
Journalism at Harvard University)
More Questions on the 'Secret' Bush Tapes
Faced with difficulties of
maintaining White House access in a time of unsurpassed
administration spin and hostility to the media, did New
York Times editors lower their guard in the way they
handled a front-page article about suspect 'secret
tapes' of conversations between George W. Bush and "a
friend?" If the tapes were really worthy of front-page
treatment, why didn't the paper do better analysis and
work up a hard lede instead of presenting the
'revelations' in a kind of soft-focus way that revealed
little?
|
January 14,
2005 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What’s wrong with the coverage of the CBS scandal?
Why are Dan Rather's
failings more important than George Bush's? Russ
questions the media's priorities in their eagerness to
criticize 60 Minutes' story on Bush's National Guard
service.
|
April 22,
2004 - TomPaine.com
Maturing
Media?
Has this immature president
spawned a sudden maturation of his inquisitors? Recent
evidence indicates just that. And we can only hope that
this growth spurt continues.
|
February 13,
2004 - TomPaine.com
Strangling Public Debate
Why those controversial
issue ads must be allowed to run.
|
January 07, 2004
- Los
Angeles Times
Put Spotlight on Bin Laden
Russ argues that the US media does everyone a disservice by
censoring, minimizing and failing to analyze periodic statements
attributed to Osama bin Laden.
|
June 05, 2003 - The Nation
(A
version of this article also appeared in the Sydney Morning
Herald.)
'Scoops'
and Truth at The Times
There’s turmoil at The New York Times, but Russ finds that
the problems go deeper than
Jayson Blair or Howell Raines. He focuses on the
role of the paper, and one star reporter in particular, in
promoting the now-discredited Bush Administration line that Iraq
possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, the key justification for
the invasion. |
|
May 13, 2003 -
TomPaine.com
News Without a Compass
What
happens when ambition and scoop-lust blinds top media? Russ
looks at Judith Miller’s bizarre Iraqi chemical weapon
exclusive. |
|
March 20, 2003 -
The
Nation
The Big Lie
A look at how Newsweek buried a
hugely important story casting doubt on the reasons behind
the invasion of Iraq.
 |
|
January 13, 2003 -
TomPaine.com
'Lovely
Outrage'
(A version of this
article also appeared in Information (Denmark) )
Blunt Words About
the Soft Press
Serbian journalists think American media outlets are too
provincial, nihilistic and timid. |
|
June 23, 2002
-
Los Angeles Times
The
Contrarians
Why outrage,
irreverence and a sense of fun is good for journalism. |
|
May/June, 2002
-
Columbia Journalism Review
Want To
Be A Patriot? Do Your Job
Russ examines
rush among journalists in the aftermath of September 11 to
prove, first and foremost, their patriotic credentials. And
he explains why this is not the appropriate role of the
media.
|
|
June, 2002 -
Razor Magazine
Tina Brown
Talks No More
Russ reconstructs the wild ride
that was Talk Magazine, and recounts the zany antics of its
buzz-obsessed leader, Tina Brown. |
|
Mar/April, 2002 -
Columbia Journalism Review
The Skeptical Environmentalist
Russ
examines how journalists get taken in by contrarian books
and sexy if deeply flawed theses. A case study: The
Skeptical Environmentalist, the best-seller with the rosy
prognosis on the state of the earth's ecosystems.
|
|
Mar/April, 2002 -
Columbia Journalism Review
The
Last Word On Talk
Russ finds himself stranded in – gasp!—Paris while on
assignment for Talk Magazine at the precise moment its
owners decide to fold the publication. Here, Russ ruminates
on the magazine’s short, fabulous life. |
|
Jan/Feb, 2002 -
Columbia Journalism Review
The Freedom Forum Narrows Its Vision
Freedom Forum’s Financial Follies: Russ looks at how
journalism’s largest foundation lost hundreds of millions in
investments, but continues to plan an opulent new journalism
museum – and to pay officers huge salaries. |
|
Sept/Oct, 2001
-
Columbia
Journalism Review
A Happy Newsroom
Why People Like Working for the St. Petersburg Times. |
|
Mar/April, 2001 -
Columbia
Journalism Review
Hanging Chads
Our man
at the great Florida recount. |
|
January, 2001 -
Columbia Journalism Review
The Script
The 2000
presidential campaign was remarkably scripted, and the
debate severely constricted. Does that mean the media can't
broaden the discussion, can't compel candidates to talk
about what really matters most? Russ says we can -- and
must.
|
|
Nov/Dec, 2000
-
Columbia Journalism Review
Inner Circles
After a month
of Sundays with the news programs, a reporter finds
himself semi-informed and greatly in need of some fresh
political air. |
|
Columbia Journalism Review -
Sept/Oct, 2000
Looking In The Shadows
The media
hordes at the Democratic and Republican conventions
complained about a lack of substance while ignoring the
Shadow Conventions nearby, which had substance -- and edge
-- galore. |
|
Los Angeles Times
- June 25, 2000
Book Review: Breaking the news
Russ reviews five recent
books on media mergers, and considers their effect
on freedom and democracy. |
|
May/June, 1998 -
Columbia Journalism Review
Murdoch's Mean Machine
How Rupert
uses his vast media power to help himself and hammer his
foes. |
|
Sept/Oct, 1997 -
Columbia Journalism Review
The
Squeeze
Worried
about appearing inside the same covers as material that, in
one industrial giant's phrase, "encompasses sexual,
political, social issues," big advertisers are stepping up
pressure on magazines to alter their content.
|
|
Go Back Up |
|
IRAQ |
April 08,
2006 - TomPaine.com
The
Media's Chance at Redemption
When, oh when,
will the U.S. “mainstream media” finally stop
hemming and hawing, parsing and understating?
When will they simply go for the jugular to
confirm what any thoughtful American has already
learned from “less reputable” but increasingly
relevant alternative information sources: that
from the beginning of the Bush administration,
invading Iraq has always been as much an article
of faith for the president as, well, promoting
faith over reason?
|
October 27,
2004 - Guerrilla News Network
Bush
Wanted To Invade Iraq
George
Bush had a hankering for war with Iraq well before he
was elected. He fibbed about his military service.
And more revelations from
his former biographer.
|
|
July 09,
2003 -
TomPaine.com
All Spin, All The Time
In the White House
where nothing matters but politics, no unfounded claim requires
correction or apology. Russ examines all the Weapons of Mass
Destruction claims that vanished like hot air. |
June 05, 2003 - The Nation
(A
version of this article also appeared in the Sydney Morning
Herald.)
'Scoops'
and Truth at The Times
There’s turmoil at The New York Times, but Russ finds that
the problems go deeper than
Jayson Blair or Howell Raines. He focuses on the role
of the paper, and one star reporter in particular, in
promoting the now-discredited Bush Administration line that
Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, the key
justification for the invasion. |
|
May 05, 2003 - TomPaine.com
Passive And Mute?
Why are those who opposed the war in Iraq left feeling like
they opposed freedom? Russ explains the White House tricks
that turned the tables on the real humanitarians, and what
the humanitarians should have done about it. |
April 11, 2003 -
The Nation
The US vs the UK
A comparison of
media coverage of the Iraq war. |
March 20, 2003 -
The
Nation
The Big Lie
A look at how Newsweek buried a hugely important story
casting doubt on the reasons behind the invasion of Iraq.
|
March 12, 2003 - TomPaine.com
Dubya's
Profound Double Standard
Russ details the president’s resolute commitment to
hypocrisy. |
February 14, 2003 - In
These Times
(A version of this article also appeared in La Stampa
(Italy) )
The Proof Is In The Padding
So Colin Powell’s presentation of “evidence” of Iraqi
weapons violations is “persuasive” and “impressive” to many
politicians and pundits? Did anyone give it even a
five-minute taste test? Russ did.
|
November 14, 2002 -
TomPaine.com
Belgrade: Iraq Through A Balkan Lens
(A version of this article also appeared in La Stampa
(Italy)
and Information
(Denmark). )
Past U.S. Efforts Shed Doubt On Post-War Rebuilding Of
Iraq, writes Russ from former Yugoslavia. "If this place is
indicative of the U.S. commitment after the bombs stop falling,
the future Iraq won't be a pretty picture."
|
March/April,
1993 - Columbia Journalism Review
IRAQGATE
The big one that (almost) got away, who chased
it -- and who didn't.
|
|
Go Back Up |
|
Political &
Social Issues |
September 12, 2006 -
TomPaine.com
The PBS-FEMA Connection
President Bush brought Ken Tomlinson in as
his broadcasting czar with a mandate to rid
public airwaves of perceived liberal bias at
PBS, the home of Frontline, Sesame Street,
Nova, and (when Tomlinson came on board)
Bill Moyers. Now, having already been canned
for improprieties in that witch hunt, he is
under investigation for alleged misdoings
while holding a second administration post.
Among other things, he is being
investigated for using his office to oversee
a stable of racehorses named after Afghan
rebels, as well as more banal corruption and
self-dealing, including
improperly putting a friend on the payroll,
repeatedly tasking government employees to
run personal errands, and over-billing his
hours to the government. Due to a lack of
press coverage, few Americans know about any
of this – nor how it is part of a larger
pattern of cronyism, self-dealing and
flat-out madness in this administration.
|
June 29, 2006 -
TomPaine.com
Democrats' K Street Addiction
Though they publicly
bemoan the “culture of corruption,”
Democratic leaders and operatives privately
acknowledge that they see no means of
regaining power without cozying up to the
real “special interests.” And so, albeit to
a lesser extent than the republicans who now
control all branches of the federal
government, the would-be reformers find
themselves fighting the quicksand of
corporate entanglements.
Though they profess a need
for campaign finance reform and other
policies that prioritize the common good,
many key figures in the Democratic pantheon
personally earn a living helping corporate
interests advance the very causes that their
party publicly deplores.
A new study by the Real News Project,
a nonprofit noncommercial investigative
reporting entity I founded, shows the extent
of the problem. Examining 25 key Democratic
consultants, advertising and public
relations execs and lobbyists, we discovered
a veritable witches’ brew of odious
agendas…….
|
June
14, 2006 -
RealNews.org
25 Democratic Consultants
As the nation
gears up for a battle over control of
Congress this year and for the presidency in
two years, there will be much effort to
differentiate the two dominant parties. Less
likely to be discussed are the ways in which
the parties are alike. A new report
from the Real News Project (www.realnews.org)
examines the work performed by key
Democratic Party operatives who earn their
“real money” helping corporations exert
influence in Washington. The report raises
questions about conflicts of interest that
have so far escaped public attention.
|
May 08,
2006 - TomPaine.com
Crashing WatergateGate
| |
