Media Continue to Mislead on Warrantless Domestic Spying Program

Yesterday, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program. In reporting on his testimony and other aspects of the controversy, various media outlets have put out falsehoods and misleading statements.

For example, an Associated Press backgrounder purporting to address some of the issues regarding the domestic surveillance program contained misleading and incomplete answers. Other networks and publications -- including CNN, Fox News, and The Washington Post -- have also aired false or misleading information on this issue. America deserves to hear the truth, especially on an issue of such importance.

Please review the examples of misinformation below and urge the responsible media outlet to provide more honest and accurate commentary on this important issue:

• On TV and in print, Time claimed, despite contradictory evidence, that Bush has "put the NSA story to bed" [1/30/06]
  
• AP provided a misleading, incomplete backgrounder on domestic spying program [1/31/06]
  
• Fox News follows Bush's lead, renames domestic spying program "terrorist surveillance program" [1/31/06]
  
• NBC's Tim Russert falsely suggested that Bush's SOTU escorts "all knew about" NSA domestic spying program [2/1/06]
  
• Wasting little time, MSNBC's Chris Matthews repeated spy program falsehoods immediately after State of the Union address [2/1/06]
  
• The Washington Post's Dana Milbank repeated as fact President Bush's misleading explanation for 2004 comments denying conduct of warrantless wiretaps [2/1/06]
  
• Media uncritically cast Bush's defense of spy program as "strong" and "vigorous" [2/1/06]
  
• CNN's Kelli Arena failed to question Gonzales on accusation that he "misled" Congress [2/3/06]
  
• CNN's David Ensor suggested Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV was disingenuous in criticism of administration briefings on domestic spying program [2/3/06]
  
  
  
  Additional resources:
  The Media Matters for America domestic spying topic page