Syria and the 'Red Line' Nonsense

Peter Hart Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Most pundits are careful about not advocating for direct U.S. military intervention in Syria (that is left to the Republican politicians who appear on the Sunday shows). But their message boils down to a concern over the credibility of the president's threats of violence more important than the credibility of his evidence. The White House has been saying their reticence is informed by the Iraq debacle; many pundits don't seem to have learned a similar lesson.

Media Bits and Bytes - February 19, 2019

Portside
New Report Exposes Facebook Fake News Schemes; Net Neutrality: FCC's Ajit Pai Loses in Court; The End of Amazon HQ2; Digital Pollution; New Tech for Privacy Protection; Automated Propaganda; The Ressa Case; We Interrupt This Emergency Declaration  

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‘Supergirl’ Leads a Wave of Female Heroes

DAVE ITZKOFF New York Times
When “Supergirl” has its premiere on Oct. 26, it will enter a cultural landscape where female superheroes are better represented than ever before: where they have nearly as much opportunity to right wrongs and fight crime – and to play the central roles in their own stories — as their muscle-bound male counterparts.

Regulating the Magic that is Homeopathy: The Sabotage of Poor Reporting and False Balance

Orac Science Blogs
Homeopathy is, as Steve Novella characterized it, an “excellent example of the purest form of pseudoscience,” and as I, more blunt that Steve, like to call it, “The One Quackery To Rule Them All.” Failing to make that clear in media coverage of homeopathy lets advocates of homeopathic quackery to label skeptics as “homeopathic naysayers” and claim that the current FDA regulatory framework for homeopathic products is working just fine.
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