Jeff Cohen
Jeff Cohen was associate professor of journalism and the director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithaca College, founder of the media watch group FAIR, and former board member of Progressive Democrats of America. In 2002, he was a producer and pundit at MSNBC (overseen by NBC News). He is the author of Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media - and a cofounder of the online action group, www.RootsAction.org. His website is here: http://jeffcohen.org
Articles by this author
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Views Tuesday, April 10, 2018 Do U.S. Oligarchs Exist? Not in Mainstream Media TV news shows are good at getting viewers riled up. Day and night, I hear the anchors on CNN and MSNBC getting us riled up about the schemes of this or that “Russian oligarch with links to the Kremlin.” I’ve heard that phrase incessantly in recent weeks. And plenty of others have heard the “Russian... Read more |
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Views Monday, March 26, 2018 Same Old Media Parade: Why Are Liberals Cheering? When the “War on Terror” was launched in 2001, mainstream media—especially cable TV news—started a parade. It was a narrow parade of hawkish retired military and intelligence brass promoting war as the response to the crime of 9/11, predicting success and identifying foreign enemies to attack. We... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, November 14, 2017 Edward S. Herman: Master of Dissent (1925–2017) One of the greatest and sweetest media critics ever, Edward S. Herman, has passed away. Ed was the main author of Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media , written with Noam Chomsky—the 1980s masterwork that exposed how elite US media typically function as propaganda organs... Read more |
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Views Thursday, May 18, 2017 Roger Ailes: No One Did More to Debase US Politics Roger Ailes, the man who pioneered “alternative facts,” is dead. During the first five years of Fox News —which was built almost single-handedly by Ailes’ genius—I was a regular on-air contributor/panelist there. I dealt with his right-wing lieutenants plenty, but only met Ailes once, at a Fox News... Read more |
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Views Thursday, November 03, 2016 Dangerous Myths About Trump That Some Progressives Cling To Even now, in the last days of this horrendous campaign, we’re amazed by fervent assertions coming from some progressives about Donald Trump. Here are three key myths: Myth #1: “Trump can’t win.” "A Trump presidency—made possible by his demagogic appeals to racism, misogyny, immigrant-bashing and... Read more |
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Views Monday, August 15, 2016 TV Networks Should Open Up the Presidential Debates If ten major TV networks got together and decided to nationally televise a presidential debate restricted to Republican nominee Donald Trump and right-leaning Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson, while barring other candidates including Democrat Hillary Clinton, it would be recognized as an act of... Read more |
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Views Monday, July 18, 2016 Hillary’s VP Choice Will Show If “Unity” Talk Is Just Hot Air When he introduced Christian conservative Mike Pence as his running-mate on Saturday , Donald Trump made a point of acknowledging that “party unity” was a reason for his choice. Pence, who’d endorsed Trump’s main rival, “Lyin’ Ted Cruz,” is beloved by the Republican Party’s loyal base of religious... Read more |
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Views Thursday, May 19, 2016 Should Progressives Unify with the Democratic Party Establishment? Hell No! In countless ways over the last 35 years, our society has become less economically equal and more dominated by corporate power. Less just and more jailed. Vast urban and rural areas decline as government subsidizes economic elites. Funds for education and social services are under constant threat... Read more |
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Views Thursday, February 11, 2016 Reality Check for Democrats: Would Martin Luther King Be Supporting Bernie? Corporate mainstream media have sanitized and distorted the life and teachings of Martin Luther King Jr., putting him in the category of a “civil rights leader” who focused narrowly on racial discrimination; end of story. Missing from the story is that Dr. King was also a tough-minded critic of our... Read more |
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Views Thursday, February 04, 2016 Hillary Clinton Turns Stand-Up Comic: "I’m a Progressive Who Gets Things Done" In her speech claiming victory after the Iowa caucuses, Hillary Clinton proclaimed herself “a progressive who gets things done.” I had to laugh. And it wasn’t just because former President Bill Clinton – the centrist Triangulator-in-Chief – was standing behind her, beaming and clapping. "Like her... Read more |