Saturday, September 15, 2007

Media Matters for America, September 15, 2007

Wash. Post report on "views from Iraq" failed to note poll indicating widespread dissatisfaction

Washington Post staff writer Joshua Partlow's September 12 article on the "views from Iraq," headlined "Perceptions of Progress Since Buildup Vary Widely," included quotes from only six Iraqis -- two senior Iraqi National government officials, one restaurant owner, one shop owner, a Sunni lawmaker, and a spokesperson for cleric Moqtada al-Sadr -- and failed to mention the findings of a recent BBC/ABC News/NHK survey of more than 2,212 Iraqis that indicates 78 percent believe things are going badly or very badly in the country, up 12 percent since February. Read more



CNN's John King claimed "critics" say that strain on troops necessitates withdrawal -- but Petraeus said it too

CNN's John King reported that in his Iraq speech, President Bush would "say we can begin to bring troops home because of successes in Iraq." King earlier asserted that "critics say ... that the president is only doing this because he has to do it," since "the Pentagon doesn't have the troops to sustain the surge." In fact, it is not only "critics" who say this, but top officials at the Pentagon, including Gen. David Petraeus. Read more



CNN covers criticism of Boehner's "small price" comment

The September 14 edition of CNN's The Situation Room featured a report on House Minority Leader John Boehner's (R-OH) September 12 response to CNN host Wolf Blitzer's question regarding the "$2 billion a week or $3 billion a week" spent in Iraq and the "loss in blood, the Americans who are killed every month," in which Boehner said: "We need to continue our effort here because, Wolf, long term, the investment that we're making today will be a small price if we're able to stop Al Qaeda here." As Media Matters for America documented, CNN initially ignored the controversy surrounding Boehner's comments, but extensively covered Sen. John Kerry's (D-MA) October 30, 2006, "botched joke" regarding President Bush and the Iraq
war. Read more



Covering Bush address, Larry King didn't challenge Giuliani claim that Iraq mission is "no different now" than in 2003

On a special edition of CNN's Larry King Live specifically focused on reaction to President Bush's Iraq address, Larry King failed to challenge Rudy Giuliani's assertion that "our goal is in Iraq is no different now than it was at the very beginning. The goal of the mission in Iraq is to provide safety and security so we can have an ally in Iraq against the Islamic terrorists. And that was the mission that most of the Democrats agreed to in 2003." In fact, the Bush administration has frequently changed its "goal of the mission in Iraq," which at various times it has articulated as disarming Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, building democracy, and providing stability and security in the Middle East. Read more



Stossel report again failed to identify conservative expert, did not report WHO rankings of health systems

Good Morning America aired a preview of John Stossel's "Whose Body is it Anyway? Sick in America," which contained an interview with one expert, David Gratzer, whom Stossel identified only as an author and "Canadian doctor." Stossel failed to note that Gratzer is a senior fellow
at the conservative Manhattan Institute or that the World Health Organization ranks Canada and Great Britain -- whose nationalized health systems he criticized for their long waits -- ahead of the United States in its ranking of world health systems. At the end of Stossel's report, Diane Sawyer told him: "It is so hard to get perspective on this. Thank heaven you're doing it." Read more

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