SNL Mocks ISIS, Boehner Mocks His Ultras, and It’s All Pretty Funny SNL Mocks ISIS, Boehner Mocks His Ultras, and It’s All Pretty Funny
Sharia’s coming to get you.
Mar 4, 2015 / Leslie Savan
Why Nobody Seems to Mind That Bill O’Reilly Is a Total Fraud Why Nobody Seems to Mind That Bill O’Reilly Is a Total Fraud
The Fox News anchor’s war stories have been exposed as lies. And it’s all good.
Mar 4, 2015 / Column / Eric Alterman
True Grit? True Grit?
Nation contributor and TV host Laura Flanders isn’t the first feminist to face down some gun-toting cowboys, but her battle is a little unusual. Since 2008, Flanders’s GRITtv has broadcast the voices of marginalized experts and grassroots activists on cable, satellite and public television, as well as online. “I interview people with grit,” Flanders explained in a phone interview. But last summer, she received a phone call asking if she was aware that there was another Grit TV station in town. Flanders jumped online, where she discovered the new Grit (grittv.com), an “action-oriented” digital channel targeting men between 25 and 54 (sexagenarians, beware!). Launched on August 18, the new Grit is “built around the classic male hero, with a focus on western, war and action movies,” said Jonathan Katz, president and CEO of Katz Broadcasting, which operates the network. Please support our journalism. Get a digital subscription for just $9.50! No sane person is likely to mistake Harrison Ford for Naomi Klein—but viewers might find it difficult to separate the near-identical branding. Flanders says her voicemail and e-mail have been filled with messages from viewers frustrated with the quality of Grit’s digital signal. Viewers confuse contact information on her website for Grit’s—and even the programming. One disgruntled viewer wrote to Flanders: “Your channel showing war films is propaganda!” Last fall, GRITtv’s lawyer sent Grit a cease-and-desist letter. GRITtv has applied for a trademark; Grit has, too. Legally, Flanders’s longtime prior use of “GRIT” gives her the right to the brand. The Grit guys have yet to acknowledge the consumer confusion, but even a cowboy could tell you that intellectual property law no longer resembles the Wild, Wild West. That frontier mentality goes by another name now: theft. Read Next: Greg Grandin on Venezuela after Chávez
Mar 4, 2015 / Ava Kofman
We Need a Leader With a Superiority Complex We Need a Leader With a Superiority Complex
If you don’t think we’re better than the rest of the planet, what are you doing in office?
Mar 3, 2015 / Tom Tomorrow
There’s Only One Thing That Could Actually Get Bill O’Reilly in Trouble, and It’s Not Lying There’s Only One Thing That Could Actually Get Bill O’Reilly in Trouble, and It’s Not Lying
Magical thinking may forever protect him.
Feb 27, 2015 / Leslie Savan
What Bill O’Reilly Really Did in El Salvador Was Worse Than Lying What Bill O’Reilly Really Did in El Salvador Was Worse Than Lying
The Fox News host's exaggerations are bad—but his failure to report on murders committed by US allies is even more disturbing.
Feb 27, 2015 / Greg Grandin
What Are ‘Nation’ Interns Reading the Week of 2/27/15? What Are ‘Nation’ Interns Reading the Week of 2/27/15?
What Are ‘Nation’ Interns Reading the Week of 2/27/15?
Feb 27, 2015 / Books & the Arts / StudentNation
Dori Maynard and the Unfinished Business of Integrating the News Dori Maynard and the Unfinished Business of Integrating the News
Maynard was a champion of the idea that newsrooms needed to reflect the communities they covered and served.
Feb 26, 2015 / Dani McClain
Today Is a Big Day for the Internet Today Is a Big Day for the Internet
Today, a coalition of activists beat the well-funded cable lobby as the FCC voted to use Title II reclassification to preserve net neutrality.
Feb 26, 2015 / NationAction
The Activists Who Won Net Neutrality Must Defend It in 2016 The Activists Who Won Net Neutrality Must Defend It in 2016
The FCC has guaranteed net neutrality, for now. But special interests will try to elect a president to undo it.
Feb 26, 2015 / John Nichols