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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Liz Rose, Communications Director, 202-265-1490 x 32

Free Press Introduces MediaFAIL

Fox’s Brit Hume Dominates Opening of New Interactive Site Exposing Worst Moments in Media

WASHINGTON

Fox News host
Brit Hume's comments
about the "minimal"
impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill catapulted him to the top spot
on the newly launched MediaFAIL website this week.

On Wednesday, Free Press launched MediaFAIL, a user-powered site
aimed at drawing attention to the weak reporting, flawed analysis and
meaningless sideshows that often dominate the news and drown out real
issues of public concern.

What often passes for news is badly sourced, unaccountable and
tainted by commercial interests. MediaFAIL lets users identify such
media failures by submitting their own examples of poor reporting, and
then sharing them with friends via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter and
voting for other FAILS on the site.

"The goal of MediaFAIL isn't just to give the media a failing grade -
we want to make it better," said Josh Levy, online
campaign manager at Free Press. "We want the media to know that people
are paying attention, and are ready to call them out when they try to
pass off shallow stories and bad reporting as news."

MediaFAIL connects participants to advocacy efforts by Free Press and
allied organizations, so users can move from critique to action to
build a more democratic, diverse and accountable media system.

Free Press was created to give people a voice in the crucial decisions that shape our media. We believe that positive social change, racial justice and meaningful engagement in public life require equitable access to technology, diverse and independent ownership of media platforms, and journalism that holds leaders accountable and tells people what's actually happening in their communities.

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