Biography

Jeff B. Cohen (born November 10, 1951) is an American journalist, media critic, professor, and the founder of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a media watchdog group in the US. He is a retired associate professor of journalism at Ithaca College, where he was an 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 2012 California Congressional District 2 candidate, Norman Solomon, who missed the "top two" runoff by only 174 votes. Between 1997 and 2002, Cohen was a regular commentator for Fox News Channel's Fox News Watch, for MSNBC and CNN. He appeared in Outfoxed, a documentary critical of Fox News, and other documentaries. Cohen grew up in Detroit and did undergraduate study at the University of Michigan. He studied law at the People's 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.

Cohen was communications director for the Kucinich presidential campaign in 2003.

In 2006, Cohen became a volunteer journalist for OpEdNews and has since contributed over 50 articles.

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.

Beginning in the 1990s, 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.