Thursday, June 26, 2008

Media Matters Daily Summary 06-26-08

What you've been missing: NBC, CBS nightly news shows fail to report on McCain's campaign loan
NBC's Nightly News and the CBS Evening News have yet to cover Sen. John McCain's campaign loan, despite a February 29 post on the MSNBC.com blog First Read that stated: "We've noticed today the [Sen. John] McCain/FEC stories -- that McCain very well might have to abide by spending limits before the GOP convention -- are starting to roll in. But why is this only now starting to get more traction, compared with all the stories about [Sen. Barack] Obama waffling on his pledge to accept public funds in the general?" Read More

Monica Crowley forwarded smear that Obama has lied about his ethnicity
On The Laura Ingraham Show, guest host Monica Crowley stated that "according to this genealogy -- and again, because I haven't done the research, I can't verify this -- but according to this guy Kenneth Lamb, Barack Obama is not black African, he is Arab African." Crowley continued: "And yet, this guy is campaigning as black and painting anybody who dares to criticize him as a racist. I mean, that is -- it is the biggest con I think I've ever seen." Read More

On Reliable Sources, Kurtz said "press is cutting [Obama] a break" over public finance decision, but Kurtz has yet to discuss McCain's loan on the show
On CNN's Reliable Sources, Howard Kurtz asserted that "the press is cutting" Sen. Barack Obama "a break" on his decision to forgo public financing for the general election. But at no point during the show did Kurtz question whether Sen. John McCain has received "a break" from the press regarding the loan agreement McCain signed during the primary, which could have forced him to remain in the race -- even if he had no chance of winning -- in order to be eligible for public matching funds to repay the loan. Further, a Media Matters for America review found that Kurtz has never mentioned McCain's loan on Reliable Sources. Read More

Hugh Hewitt on OSU-USC football game: "[I]t's probably the last football game we'll ever get to see before the United States gets blown up by the Islamists under Obama"
On the June 25 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, while discussing the upcoming September 13 football game between Ohio State University and the University of Southern California, Hugh Hewitt referred to the game as "probably the last football game we'll ever get to see before the United States gets blown up by the Islamists under Obama." Read More

Hume falsely claimed Obama "contradicted what he wrote in his book" about town hall meetings
On Special Report, Brit Hume falsely claimed that Sen. Barack Obama "contradicted what he wrote in his book" about town hall meetings and quoted from Obama's book The Audacity of Hope, in which Obama wrote: "One of my favorite tasks of being a senator is hosting town hall meetings." But contrary to Hume's assertion, Obama has hosted 18 town hall meetings in the past two months. Read More

Kilmeade, who once falsely said Obama "[e]vidently ... went to a madrassa" asked Muslim guest if he is insulted when Obama says, "I am not a Muslim'"
On Fox & Friends, Brian Kilmeade, who previously falsely asserted that Sen. Barack Obama "[e]vidently ... went to a madrassa" as a child, asked his guest: "[D]o you find it insulting at all when Barack Obama goes out of his way to say, 'Hey, I am not a Muslim. I'm a Christian, and let's stop these spread' [sic] as if being a Muslim is bad?" Read More

CNN's Borger claimed Obama's decision to forgo public financing gives McCain "opening" to attack Obama's character, didn't note McCain's loan
On The Situation Room, Gloria Borger asserted that Sen. Barack Obama's decision to forgo public financing for the general election "is going to become a character issue for Barack Obama, because ... [i]t gives [Sen.] John McCain an opening to say, 'This is not the man you think you know.' " But Borger did not note that McCain has also given Obama an "opening" on the issue of public financing: a loan agreement McCain signed during the primary season that could have forced him to remain in the race -- even if he had no chance of winning -- in order to be eligible for public matching funds to repay the loan. Read More

Reuters uncritically reported McCain adviser's assertion that McCain no longer believes Russia should be excluded from G-8
Reuters falsely suggested that Sen. John McCain most recently called for Russia to be excluded from the Group of Eight major industrialized nations (G-8) in October 2007, and uncritically quoted an anonymous McCain adviser's assertion that McCain no longer holds that position. In fact, McCain again called for Russia to be excluded from the G-8 in a March 2008 speech. Read More

Network evening newscasts ignore IG report finding politicization of hiring practices in DOJ honors program
Continuing a pattern of ignoring developments in the ongoing investigation into the firing of several U.S. attorneys, none of the broadcast networks' June 24 or 25 evening newscasts reported on the Justice Department Inspector General's findings of politicization of hiring practices in several of the department's recruiting programs. Read More

Purporting to cite Obama's "arrogance," Rove misrepresented Obama's comments in latest WSJ column
In a Wall Street Journal column, Karl Rove wrote, "After Rev. [Jeremiah] Wright repeated his anti-American slurs at the National Press Club, Mr. Obama said their relationship was forever changed -- but not because of what he'd said about America. Instead, Mr. Obama complained, 'I don't think he showed much concern for me.' " However, Rove cropped Obama's quote, excluding his next statement: "[M]ore importantly, I don't think he showed much concern for what we are trying to do in this campaign and what we're trying to do for the American people and with the American people." Read More

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