FAIR celebrated its 40th anniversary last week with a party at Littlefield’s in Brooklyn. There were alumni there from every era of FAIR, longtime writers whom I had never met in person before, and supporters who went back to the very first issue of Extra!.
We also got many testimonials from people who couldn’t be there—and some from people who were there, and wanted to write down their thoughts anyway. All the messages really brought home to us the importance of the project that we work on. I wanted to share just a few of them—some of them written, and some on video.
[https://fair.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FAIRs-40th-Messages.mp4](https://eadn-wc04-3257648.nxedge.io/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/FAIRs-40th-Messages.mp4?_=1)
Jon Schwarz
FAIR changed my life. There’s been scattershot media criticism through US history, from Upton Sinclair, George Seldes, I.F. Stone, Noam Chomsky, etc. But no one before FAIR ever did what the world truly needed—for someone to institutionalize this kind of rational, careful, detailed critique of the corporate press. Without institutions, everything eventually falls apart. With institutions, you can—by showing up every day at work for decades—change people’s minds and hearts. They sure did this for me; I could never have understood the world we live in without them. Some days I quietly curse them for this, because look at the world. But most days I’m extremely happy about it, and I will always be grateful to them.
—****Jon SchwarzWriter, former Intercept contributor
One testament to FAIR’s decades-long run of brilliance is seeing how so many of its critiques of the media have become conventional wisdom. It is hard to fathom now, but at one point many journalists scoffed at the idea that corporate ownership of the media landscape made much of a difference to their ability to do their jobs. Whatever the issue—from climate change to the bogus justifications for war to workers’ rights or Social Security—FAIR was right, early and often.
****—Peter HartCommunications director, CEPR; former activism director, FAIR
FAIR’s steadfast and values-based approach has only become more necessary in the years since its founding. Our movements are incredibly fortunate to have FAIR and CounterSpin’s rigorous media analysis as we tackle the crises of our times.
****—Silky ShahExecutive director, Detention Watch Network
Original FAIR staffers: Extra! editor Martin A. Lee, executive director Jeff Cohen, associate director Andy Breslau
When Bob McChesney and I started our work, we recognized that the most vital first steps had already been taken by FAIR. As we started to talk about what a media reform movement might look like, it was abundantly clear that Americans understood the need for reform because Jeff Cohen and Martin Lee, Norman Solomon, Janine Jackson, Jim Naureckas and everyone associated with FAIR had so skillfully, and so thoroughly, identified the crisis. Like Paul Revere and the signal watchers of 250 years ago, they sounded the alarm—and made everything else possible.
****—Jon Nichols
Executive editor, The Nation
I first encountered FAIR’s courageous truth-telling more than 25 years ago as I devoured Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon’s books, which inspired me to focus on media reform activism. Since then, I’ve depended on FAIR for its unwavering and incisive media criticism, always reminding us what journalism could and should be. Given today’s corporate media oligarchy and accelerating authoritarianism, FAIR’s invaluable work is needed more than ever.
****—Victor PickardProfessor at UPenn’s Annenberg School for Communication
Voices of CounterSpin: Laura Flanders and Janine Jackson
FAIR has been steadfast in the fight for independent and representative media. As the media oligarchy becomes increasingly centralized, there has never been a more important time to support work exposing corporate bias. From exposing decades of media bias in Palestine to Cuba, from criticizing the police state to protecting our planet’s climate, FAIR serves the public interest as an essential pillar of watchdog journalism.
****—Priyanka BansalJournalist; former FAIR intern
Congratulations to FAIR on 40 years of pathbreaking, exemplary work. FAIR is an anchor institution. I constantly turn to FAIR’s analysis to help navigate our treacherous media landscape, hear voices that the establishment media have marginalized or ignored, and better understand the stakes of the key political questions of our time. This is critical, indispensable work we all should support and sustain.
****—Anthony ArnoveCo-founder of Haymarket Books
I’m teaching English to high schoolers right now at a private education company, and I added FAIR on my recommended reading list for all my students! Hoping that these teens can start their media literacy early and engage in their reading with intention.
****—Kat Sewon OhEducator, former FAIR intern
FAIR alumni: development director Hollie Ainbinder, administrative/activist director Renu Nahata and office manager Nancy Graham
The climate crisis is in some ways a media crisis—the effort to get action on this greatest of human problems has always been hampered by the inability of our media to cope with the problem. Thank heaven that FAIR has been there to prod and goad and expose and provoke!
****—Bill McKibbenEnvironmental studies scholar at Middlebury College; co-founder of 350.org
Ever since I first read Extra! in the late 1980s, FAIR has been my go-to source for media criticism. Over the years, FAIR has been a lifeline for me, an essential source of seriously illuminating media analysis. I’ve been fortunate to work with FAIR and to learn from their research and reporting, and most of all, from the amazing staff who keep FAIR thriving, decade after decade. Thank you!
****—Bill HoynesProfessor of sociology at Vassar College; FAIR board member
When working at FAIR I had a task where I archived many of the Extra! magazines. Reading their articles from before I was born, it was remarkable how similar they were to the editorial line FAIR follows today, showing, through evidence, the bias in national media. I think consistency and commitment to a vision for a fact-based ethical media that holds power accountable is what sets FAIR apart in a media landscape that is dominated by corporate interests.
****—Silas Guaghran-BedellResearcher; former FAIR intern
FAIR founder Jeff Cohen and former Extra! publisher Deborah Thomas
FAIR is the OG. FAIR has been with us through all of it. The 2000 election coup, during which FAIR’s commenters were the only ones with the sense to say what we could all see with our own eyes: that Republican operatives, with the collusion of an already-compromised Supreme Court, had succeeded in stealing the election—an undeniable fact that the New York Times shamefully decided to downplay and gaslight all of us about. I was a cub reporter back then, and felt like I was going out of my mind. I still remember reading FAIR’s clear, accurate, truth-telling analysis and thinking: We all saw this happening, so why are these guys the only ones saying it? Decades later, I still find myself thinking the same thing. Thanks to all of you for always telling the truth!
****—A FAIR Reader
Anonymous
FAIR’s groundbreaking work launched an explosion of media monitoring and awareness of the corporate media’s collusion with corporate interests. The staff, tech people, interns and supporters of FAIR all contribute to this amazing organization. The uncontested analysis and criticism published by FAIR needs to be told each and every day—and it is, by the most committed group of media activists anywhere in the world.
****—Deborah Thomas
Former publisher of Extra! and Grand Street
For 40 years FAIR has been calling out the bias in media coverage. With the media moving ever further to the right, their work is more valuable than ever.
****—Dean BakerEconomist; co-founder, CEPR
FAIR’s current staff: Editor Jim Naureckas, program director Janine Jackson, senior analyst Julie Hollar and administrative/fundraising director Olivia Riggio
FAIR has been extremely important to me for many years. I teach critical media literacy at UCLA and have used FAIR’s articles and podcasts as an invaluable resources for almost 20 years. The excellent analyses and documentation of media manipulation, misrepresentations, corporate bias, and the cooptation of journalistic integrity has been exceptional. FAIR has consistently produced powerful examples with critiques that uncover the problems of corporate media and explain the complexity.
****—Jeff ShareProfessor of critical media literacy at UCLA
FAIR is entering its fifth decade of peerless work as an organization that documents and challenges media bias. What passes for journalism in corporate media routinely serves the interests of the powerful, and what passes for media criticism in corporate media rarely exposes the pivotal power dynamics operating below the surface. FAIR is a tireless and unique force for actual journalism that truly strives for fairness and accuracy in reporting.
****—Norman SolomonJournalist, media critic, activist; FAIR associate
Affiliations for identification purposes only.
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