Bad Journalism
Help expose bad journalism — and fight the spin that is spreading in the news media and on the Internet.
The week of February 22, 2010, Howard Rheingold’s digital journalism class at Stanford teamed up with NewsTrust in a News Hunt for Bad Journalism: together, we looked for news and opinions that are inaccurate, biased, irresponsible or superficial.
To contribute to this project, try reviewing some of the most recent stories on this page — and rate them for journalistic quality. For tips on how to review a story, check our quick guide — and read journalism professor Howard Rheingold’s excellent article, Crap Detection 101.
We also invite you to post more examples of bad journalism on this page (be sure to type Bad Journalism in the topic field when posting a story). Once a story has been rated by 3 members, it will be listed either in our ‘Most Trusted’ or ‘Least Trusted’ tabs below.
To see the results of our last News Hunt for Bad Journalism, check our blog.
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Obama’s claim that the Bush tax cuts led to the economic crisis
“Now Governor Romney believes that with even bigger tax cuts for the wealthy, and fewer regulations on Wall ...Posted by Pamela Hogle -
Scott Powers: How my wait in a closet almost brought down the White Housealmost brought down White House
I was kidnapped. That was news to me. My paper and I conspired to cover this up, to protect Vice President Joe ...Posted by Barry Grossheim -
Vicious Assault Shakes Texas Town
The police investigation began shortly after Thanksgiving, when an elementary school student alerted a teacher to a ...Posted by Jon Mitchell -
Cafferty File: Tell Jack how you really feel Blog Archive - What does it mean if social welfare benefits make up 1/3 of wages, salaries in U.S.? ...
(Video) Americans have become alarmingly dependent on handouts from Uncle Sam, according to a new report. Government ...Posted by Fabrice Florin -
Concern That Terror Teams Have Selected Targets, Ready to Strike
Strong concerns that terrorist teams in Europe have selected their targets, completed their surveillance, eluded ...Posted by Jon Mitchell -
'Credible But Not Specific' Threat of New Terrorist Attack
US and European officials said Tuesday they have detected a plot to carry out a major, coordinated series of ...Posted by Jon Mitchell -
Americans' wealth fell in spring as stocks tanked
The decline in net worth underscores how dependent families' wealth is on stock investments. About a fifth of total ...Posted by Dwight Rousu -
Fox Parent Org Gives $1 million to Republican Gov. Assoc
News Corp., which owns Fox News and the New York Post, gave $1 million to Haley Barbour's Republican Governors ...Posted by Joey Baker
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The Whoppers of 2011
Despite what you may have heard in 2011: The new health care law won’t cost many jobs (and they’ll be poorly ...Posted by Fabrice Florin -
Columbia Spent U.S. Anti-Drug Aid on Hiding Government Ties to Drug Rings
(Blog Post) The U.S.-funded counterinsurgency campaign against a Marxist rebel group in Columbia was viewed as so successful ...Posted by Kristin Gorski -
An environmental journalist's lament
Dying bees have become symbols of environmental sin, of faceless corporations out to ransack nature. Such is the ...Posted by Roland F. Hirsch -
Casual Libel at ThinkProgress
This is, of course, the latest chapter in ThinkProgress's crazed attacks on the Koch brothers. The gist of TP's ...Posted by Roland F. Hirsch -
Speculating About Oil
Again, what we are talking about here is a "risk premium" arising from events in the Middle East--events which ...Posted by Roland F. Hirsch
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O'Grady: John Kerry's Record in Latin America
A left-wing world view and an earnest conviction that it is his destiny to impose it on others may make him a ...Posted by Pamela Hogle -
Cuomo's De-Fracking
New York's Governor favors rich greens over the upstate poor.Posted by Pamela Hogle -
Poor economy worsens Social Security's finances
High energy prices and an economy that has been slow to rebound are worsening Social Security's finances, ...Posted by Dwight Rousu -
Nir Rosen's Offensive Tweets Shouldn't Have Surprised Us
(Blog Post) After examining Rosen's past writings (and Tweets), none of us should be terribly surprised that he would have so ...Posted by Jon Mitchell -
Cable News Broadcasts: Bad Uses Of Your Time
Olbermann offered something that couldn't be found elsewhere on television. For liberals who like that medium, I'm ...Posted by Jon Mitchell -
Jamie Dimon - America’s Least-Hated Banker
Back in 2004, way before the mortgage bust and before Americans thought of banks as four-letter words, Jamie Dimon ...Posted by Doug Greer -
Listen to Me, Barack!
On Friday, the Washington Post published the worst column of the year. It's been a long year, and a stupid year, so ...Posted by Jon Mitchell -
The business of news
(Video) But [Fox News] never criticized George W. Bush for anything, even when he was doing things that were sort of not ...Posted by Jon Mitchell
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Fox News Has Tricked People Into Thinking Obama Is A Big Spender
Read it and weep conservitards.Posted by Mark Pettit -
America Is #1…In Corporate Taxes
America is used to leading the world but not like this: As of April 1, the U.S. has the dubious distinction of ...Posted by Dwight Rousu -
Murdoch's American Sins: Less Sensational, But More Dangerous
Right now, there's still a big disconnect between the uproar over the Murdoch empire in Great Britain -- salacious, ...Posted by Chris Finnie -
Backing Bill O'Reilly in a Debate: Like Rooting for a One-Legged Man in an Ass-Kicking Contest
(Blog Post) Bill O'Reilly invited Jon Stewart on his show to debate the faux controversy over rapper Common's invitation to the ...Posted by Paul Belle-Isle -
Jon Stewart Rips Fox News' First Presidential Debate
While Stewart finds it hard to imagine a candidate beating President Obama post-killing bin Laden, he had to ...Posted by Dwight Rousu
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Ben Ross reviewed this story
Wonderful half truths....a true glimpse at the radical rights view of global politics. a text book use of bits of info to paint a stilted view.
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