Media Matters Daily Summary 05-12-08

Drudge highlighted Financial Times quote echoing false rumor about Obama's religion
The Drudge Report ran the headline "West Virginia country folk keep distance from Obama: 'I heard he's a Muslim ...' " in linking to a Financial Times article. The article quoted a West Virginia resident stating, "I heard Obama is a Muslim and his wife's an atheist." But Obama is, in fact, not a Muslim. While the article characterized the rumors of Obama's religion as "unfounded," it did so 12 paragraphs after quoting the "I heard he's a Muslim" assertion and did not report that the Obamas are both Christians. Read More

Previewing McCain's environment speech, Reuters did not mention his voting record or include criticisms of his positions
Reuters reported that Sen. John McCain would pledge "to take the lead in combating global climate change if elected president in a speech that set him apart from the policies of U.S. President George W. Bush." However, in reporting on McCain's environmental positions that his campaign believes will "win support from independents and centrist Democrats," Reuters did not mention his voting record and did not include any criticism of McCain's positions. By contrast, The Washington Post noted that "McCain's lifetime League of Conservation Voters score is 24 percent, compared with 86 for Obama and 86 for Clinton." Read More

Russert told Harwood, "Speak for yourself," on the media as McCain's "base" -- but Russert's colleague Matthews has said it too
Discussing a potential general election matchup between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, CNBC chief Washington correspondent and New York Times political writer John Harwood asserted on the May 11 edition of NBC's Meet the Press that, though "many Republicans would find [it] ironic," "McCain's people are going to say that the press is pro-Obama." Harwood added, "Now, John McCain's benefited from very friendly press coverage for many years, but he's going to try to argue, which will have a corollary benefit of rallying conservatives, if he can pull it off, of saying, 'The press wants Obama to win. I'm pushing back, too.' " Host Tim Russert responded, "In 2002, John McCain referred to the press as his base," to which Harwood replied, "They were his base." Russert then said, "Speak for yourself, Harwood." Read More

Imus corrected Dietl's slur against Arabs: "It's, uh, 'camel humpers' "
On Imus in the Morning, Richard "Bo" Dietl asked: "Why doesn't Fredo [President Bush] get on his Air Force One, fly over to Riyadh, get those little hamel humpers over there, sit 'em down, and say, 'Look, we got our F-16s --' " Don Imus interrupted Dietl and said: "It's, uh, 'camel humpers.' " Read More

Fox's Hemmer failed to challenge GOP strategist's false and misleading statements about Obama and flag, flag pin, Senate record
On America's Newsroom, Andrea Tantaros stated: "Barack Obama refuses to salute the flag. He refuses to wear a flag pin. He's been named the most liberal senator in the United States Senate right now." Bill Hemmer did not challenge her statements, the first two of which are false and the third of which echoes a National Journal rating given Obama that was based on a limited number of Senate votes selected by National Journal staff. Read More