Thursday, January 13, 2000

Bias, Censorship, and Tabloidism in Today's Media


Chestertown, MD — The subtleties of day-to-day control over news content and its consequences for informed public debate will be the subject when Jeff Cohen, columnist and director of the media watch group Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), speaks at Washington College on Feb. 2.
"In this era of merger mania and 'New Media' hype, a half-dozen giant media corporations sit on the windpipe of the First Amendment. Journalism gasps for air as news becomes just another entertainment format," Cohen says. "Individuals need to respond as active citizens and critical news consumers."
Cohen has written three books of columns, with Norman Solomon, Wizards of Media Oz: Behind the Curtain of Mainstream News (1997), Through the Media Looking Glass (1995), and Adventures in Medialand (1993). In 1995, he co-wrote The Way Things Aren't: Rush Limbaugh's Reign of Error.
Cohen's commentaries have been carried by USA Today, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Miami Herald, International Herald Tribune, Atlanta Constitution, Baltimore Sun, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Newsday, Oregonian, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch. National publications frequently cite his views on issues of media and politics.
He has co-hosted CNN's "Crossfire" and is a weekly panelist on Fox News Channel's "News Watch." His national television and radio credits include "ABC World News Tonight," "Today," "Reliable Sources," "Larry King Live," MSNBC, C-SPAN, and NPR.
Cohen will present his lecture at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 2 in the Casey Academic Center Forum on the College campus. The lecture is sponsored by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs and is free and open to the public.

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