Known for Founder of FAIR Name Jeff Cohen | Role Journalist | |
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Alma mater University of Michigan
Peoples College of Law Occupation Journalist, media critic, professor, pundit, writer, lawyer Education University of Michigan, People's College of Law People also search for Jim Naureckas, Steve Rendall, Steven Rendall, Rush Limbaugh, Chuck Wild Organizations founded Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting Books Cable News Confident, The Complete Idiot's Gui, Adventures in Medialan, Through the Media Looking | ||
Jeff Cohen is a journalist, media critic, professor, and the founder of Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), a media watchdog group in the US. He is associate professor of journalism at Ithaca College, where he is endowed chair and founding director of the Park Center for Independent Media. He was formerly a lawyer for the ACLU and authored or coauthored five books that criticize media bias, mainly written with Norman Solomon. He was a regular commentator for Fox News Channel's Fox News Watch, for MSNBC and CNN, and appears in Outfoxed, a documentary critical of Fox News, and other documentaries.
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Biography
Cohen grew up in Detroit and did undergraduate study at the University of Michigan. He studied law at the Peoples College of Law in Los Angeles and was admitted to the California Bar in 1981. Cohen then worked as a journalist in the L.A. area and after law school was a lawyer for the ACLU. Cohen founded FAIR in 1986 and subsequently served as executive director and on the board of directors.
In 2002 Cohen left FAIR to work full-time for MSNBC as senior producer of Phil Donahue's show, Donahue. Previously, he briefly co-hosted CNN's Crossfire in 1996 and was a regular panelist on FNC's Fox News Watch from 1997 to 2002. Cohen had also been a return commentator at multiple networks.
In 2008, Cohen became the founding director of the Park Center for Independent Media at the Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College where he is an associate professor in the journalism department. The center studies, educates about, and advocates for non-corporate-controlled, independent news journalists and media outlets. Cohen additionally lectures across the country. He was communications director for the Kucinich presidential campaign in 2003. Cohen, with Norman Solomon, wrote the "Media Beat" column syndicated in newspapers across the US, wrote occasional commentaries in various newspapers, and wrote a column for Brill's Content. He also has written investigative pieces for Rolling Stone, New Times, The Nation, Mother Jones, and other publications. In 2006, Cohen became a volunteer journalist for OpEdNews and has since contributed over 50 articles.