Friday, October 20, 2006

Media Matters Latest, October 20, 2006

Hannity to Democrats: "[S]tay home on Election Day ... for the sake of the nation"
On the October 18 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, Fox News host Sean Hannity encouraged Democratic voters to "stay home on Election Day," adding that, "your vote doesn't matter anyway." He added that Democrats should not turn out to vote "for the sake of the nation" because Democrats' votes "won't change who occupies the White House" and Democratic "candidates have absolutely no idea how to win the war on terrorism." Hannity also appeared to predict he would be criticized for his remarks, stating: "This is how the press is going to report this: 'Hannity says Democrats should stay home on Election Day.' " He did not explain how that would be a mischaracterization of his comments. Read more

In campaign season, Fox News has repeatedly aired GOP smear ads with practically no Democratic or progressive responses
Fox News programs in recent weeks have aired false and misleading Republican campaign advertisements attacking Democrats or Democratic congressional candidates and have hosted guests to defend the attacks, smears, and falsehoods put forth in the ads. But in all but one of the segments about the ads, Fox News failed to air a counter-ad by a Democratic candidate or host any progressive or Democrat to respond to the smears in the advertisements; the other aired only part of a Democratic ad and did so without sound. Read more

PBS' Lehrer, MSNBC's Shuster reported Rove's optimism about GOP chances in midterms, failed to note that's his job
PBS NewsHour host Jim Lehrer reported without challenge or rebuttal that White House senior political adviser Karl Rove "dismissed Democrats' chances of winning control of Congress." MSNBC's David Shuster similarly reported without challenge that Rove "remain[s] very calm and optimistic about the election." But as CNN's Wolf Blitzer noted, Rove "ha[s] to say that." Read more

Columbus Dispatch reported DeWine has new ad "assail[ing] Brown on taxes" -- didn't mention state of Ohio says ad is false
In reporting that the re-election campaign of Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) had agreed -- in return for "millions of dollars" from the Republican National Committee -- to air "much tougher" ads against DeWine's opponent, Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), including "a brand-new commercial" that "assail[s] Brown on taxes," The Columbus Dispatch made no mention of the fact that the ad's attack on Brown for not paying "an outstanding tax bill for 12 years" is "false," according to a state official. Read more

Cables devoted big coverage to bogus NFL threat, did not mention evidence of political motivation for prior threat announcements
CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC dedicated a considerable amount of airtime to a purported threat to NFL stadiums in seven cities, despite the fact that the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI both characterized the threat as not credible. Further, with one brief exception, at no point was there any reference on any of the three channels to evidence that the Bush administration has used terrorism-related announcements for political gain. Read more

Fox News guest Simmons claimed stadium terror hoax is "the perfect example" of "how vital" the detainee bill and warrantless domestic spying program are
Moments after host Neil Cavuto noted that the FBI had officially determined that a purported terrorist plot to attack seven NFL stadiums was a "hoax," former CIA agent Wayne Simmons cited the fake plot as "the perfect example of the president's Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the NSA [National Security Agency] terrorist eavesdropping program, how vital they are." Simmons's comment came on the October 19 edition of Fox News' Your World, where he appeared with Frank Gaffney, founder and president of the conservative Center for Security Policy. Gaffney responded to Simmons's statement by saying that he "hope[d]" the fake plot would convince Americans that terrorists are "gunning for us not just in a place like Iraq, but truly worldwide," while Cavuto agreed that "[w]e dodged a bullet here, or presumably a hoaxed bullet." Read more

Blitzer did not challenge J.C. Watts's claim that there's a "perception" "Feingold and people like him are always on the side of the terrorists"
On the October 17 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN political analyst and former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-OK) declared: "[I]t seems as though [Sen.] Russ Feingold [D-WI] and people like him are always on the side of the terrorists. That's the perception." But rather than challenge Watts's accusation, host Wolf Blitzer simply turned to CNN political analyst and Democratic strategist Paul Begala and said: "[T]here are plenty of voters out there who believe that, when it comes to fighting terrorists, the Republicans know how to do it better." In fact, recent polling indicates that most voters prefer Democrats over Republicans on the issue of terrorism and national security, as Begala noted, and Media Matters for America recently documented. Read more

Morgan appeared to deny American Mourning is "a Cindy Sheehan talk-trash book" -- but the book accuses Sheehan of Internet porn addiction
On the October 18 edition of his CNN Headline News program, Glenn Beck asked radio host Melanie Morgan, co-author of American Mourning: The Intimate Story of Two Families Joined by War, Torn by Beliefs (WND Books, October 2006), whether the book is a "Cindy Sheehan talk-trash book. Because, honestly, I've heard so much -- is there anything new about Cindy Sheehan that I don't already know?" Sheehan is an anti-war activist whose son was killed in Iraq. Morgan responded that "there's a lot of new things in there," but then contradicted herself, asserting: "Well, not a lot. I mean, this isn't about Cindy Sheehan." But as Media Matters for America noted, while American Mourning is purportedly a biography of two families who lost soldiers in Iraq, including the family of Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, Morgan and co-author Catherine Moy assert in the book that, following Casey's death in Iraq in April 2004, "Cindy had become addicted to online chat rooms of a pornographic nature" and "eventually had physical rendezvous as well." As Media Matters further noted, on the October 16 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Morgan, Moy, and co-host Sean Hannity compared Sheehan's purported interest in online pornography to sexually explicit instant messages former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) allegedly sent to underage congressional pages. Read more

Touting her new book, Amanda Carpenter claimed it is "alarming" that Hillary Clinton could use "foreign money" earned by her husband in 2008 presidential race
On MSNBC and Fox News, Amanda Carpenter touted the purportedly damaging charge in her new book that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will use "foreign money" made by her husband to mount a potential presidential campaign for 2008. Carpenter asserted that it is "alarming ... that there are millions of dollars in foreign money available to fund Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign as we speak." Read more

Beck hosted Rosenberg to discuss briefing of White House, "a number of congressional leaders and Homeland Security, Pentagon [officials]" about "end of days scenarios"
On the October 18 edition of his CNN Headline News program, Glenn Beck interviewed Christian author Joel C. Rosenberg about what Rosenberg claimed are his visits to "speak at a White House Bible study" and conversations with "a number of congressional leaders and Homeland Security, Pentagon [officials] about my novels, which are based on Bible prophecy." Rosenberg later added that "the question that's been most interesting among these various administration and congressional officials is, 'Are you saying that the Bible talks about an alliance between Iran, Russia, and a group of Middle Eastern countries to attack Israel at some point?' And the answer is yes." As Media Matters for America has noted, Rosenberg appeared on CNN and Fox News in July and August, respectively, to tout his prediction that the escalated violence between Israel and Hezbollah was evidence that the Apocalypse was nigh. Read more

Cavuto falsely claimed Bush "polls highly" on "likability"
On Your World, Neil Cavuto falsely claimed that "most Americans, when they're polled on the likability of this president, he polls highly in that regard." In fact, recent surveys demonstrate that more people -- over 50 percent in major October polls -- give Bush an unfavorable rating. Read more

ABC reported on Sen. Reid's "new ethics controversy" but continued to ignore FBI inquiry into Rep. Weldon
The October 17 broadcast of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson featured a brief report on Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) "new ethics controversy" -- allegations that he, as the Los Angeles Times put it, "has been using campaign donations instead of his personal money to pay Christmas bonuses for support staff" at his Washington, D.C., home. Anchor Charles Gibson also noted that Reid said he would "file a new financial disclosure statement on a controversial land deal that earned him $700,000 in profit." ABC has yet to report, however, on the FBI's October 16 raids of Rep. Curt Weldon's (R-PA) daughter's home and other locations, as part of what The New York Times described as an "intensifying corruption inquiry" into whether Weldon "misused his official position to help his daughter's company obtain lobbying contracts from foreign clients and helped steer contracts to favored firms." Read more


CNN's Velshi reported Dow reached "a new record," but did not account for inflation
On the October 19 edition of CNN Newsroom, business news anchor Ali Velshi reported that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been setting "record after record after record," and that by closing at 12,011.73 on October 19, the Dow had reached "a new record. ... The first time ever [closing] over 12,000." But when adjusted for inflation, the Dow is well below its peak set in January 2000, as Media Matters for America has noted. As The New York Times reported on October 3: "By some measures, the Dow still has some ways to go before it can be said to have reclaimed its previous heights. On an inflation-adjusted basis, the average would have to reach 14,104.97 points for it to match its January 2000 peak." Read more

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