David Zurawik
The Sun's TV/media critic since 1989, David Zurawik earned a Ph.D. in American Studies (pop culture-media studies) from the University of Maryland, College Park. He has an M.A. from the University of Wisconsin in specialized reporting (pop culture) and is the author of "The Jews of Prime Time," a look at 50 years of Jewish identity in network TV (Brandeis University Press/University Press of New England, 2003). He was previously TV critic/columnist at the Dallas Times Herald.
Recent Articles
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CBS denial of $120 million to Moonves is righteous, but claims on corporate culture ring hollow
The board of CBS Monday denied former chairman and CEO Les Moonves $120 million of severance money after a investigation found ample cause for his firing. That’s the news getting headline treatment, but the larger story is that the board of directors investigation also found that “harassment and...
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Sinclair 2018: Even having a friend in the Oval Office couldn't save this troubled year
Last year at this time, the Sinclair Broadcast Group was riding about as high as a media company can ride these days. The Hunt Valley-based company was poised to close on a $3.9 billion deal for Tribune Media that would make it the most powerful broadcast group in the nation with more than 200...
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Mueller filings on Trump: another example of two very different news realities
Yet again, we are faced with another major Trump related story and another tale of two very different news realities. Two weeks ago, the story was that of law enforcement authorities firing tear gas at some members of the migrant caravan as they approached the American border near San Diego. Right-wing...
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Zurawik: Some good news in press pushing back against Trump lies, propaganda this week
I can’t let the week end without noting some good news for once in the White House war on the press. In Sunday’s print column, I wrote about the need for cable channels to seriously rethink how they covered press sessions at the White House. What are we and the American people getting out of them...
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Zurawik: Sinclair looks to be distancing itself from Epshteyn's claims of border 'invasion.' Really?
Sinclair took to Twitter Wednesday to try and put some distance between itself and the words of its chief political analyst Boris Epshteyn about what happened on the border near San Diego Sunday between migrants and border enforcement agents. In one of his must-carry “Bottom Line with Boris” segments,...
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Mighty no more: The sad, greedy decline of network television into games and circuses
Just when I start to think network television couldn’t get worse, along comes a promo for a new prime-time show that convinces me it has not hit bottom yet. But, oh, what a long, sad, downward journey it has been for the once-mighty media brands of NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox. CBS and NBC all but invented...
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To see snapshot of two different news worlds, check out framing of Sunday border coverage
The deeper that Fox News has gone in the tank as propagandists for President Donald Trump, the more we have been talking in this blog about there being two very different news worlds and views of America depending on what channel you are watching. We talked about that some more Sunday morning on...
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Zurawik: After Trump v. Acosta, it's time to stop broadcasting White House press briefings live
With a holiday pause in what’s been largely covered as the warfare between President Donald Trump’s White House and CNN correspondent Jim Acosta, this is a good time to step back and look at the issue of presidential news conference coverage on TV through a broader lens. Let’s put aside the heated...