Thursday, September 04, 2008

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-04-08

Media report Palin's claim that Obama has not "authored ... a single major law or reform" without noting laws he has passed
Numerous print media outlets uncritically reported Gov. Sarah Palin's claim that Sen. Barack Obama "is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform -- not even in the state senate," without noting that Obama has played key roles in the passage of reform legislation at both the federal and state levels, including a bill that McCain co-sponsored and thanked Obama for his work on. Read More

Quinn called NOW the "National Organization for Whores," said columnist Fatimah Ali should "get an American name"
On his syndicated radio show, Jim Quinn referred to the National Organization for Women as "the National Organization for Whores," and said of Philadelphia Daily News columnist Fatimah Ali: "[Y]ou know, Fatimah, what's your real name? Come on, seriously. I mean, get an American name, will you, if you want to be an American." He then asked: "You don't suppose she's a liberal black Muslim, do you?" Read More

Without refuting it, AP, Bloomberg report Palin accusation that Obama "wants to raise" taxes
In reports on Gov. Sarah Palin's acceptance speech at the RNC, the AP and Bloomberg both reported her accusation that Sen. Barack Obama "wants to raise taxes," without noting that, in fact, Obama has proposed cutting taxes for low- and middle-income families and raising them only on households earning more than $250,000 per year. Read More

AP doesn't challenge Huckabee's claim that Palin "got more votes" than Biden, despite having previously called it a "whopper"
The Associated Press reported Mike Huckabee's claim that Gov. Sarah Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States." The AP did not challenge the claim despite its characterization of the claim in a separate "fact check" as a "whopper" because, according to the AP, Palin received a total 1,525 votes during her two runs for mayor while Biden received 76,165 votes in the 2008 Democratic primaries.
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Media ignore "bridge to nowhere" falsehood in Palin speech, despite having previously flagged it
The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post have previously challenged Gov. Sarah Palin's assertion that she "told the Congress, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on that bridge to nowhere," but they did not report that she repeated the false claim in her September 3 vice-presidential acceptance speech. Read More

Limbaugh continues to repeat falsehood that Obama favors "infanticide"
On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh continued to repeat the falsehood that Sen. Barack Obama favors "infanticide," saying that Obama "believes and favors infanticide. Not just abortion, but infanticide." He added: "This guy approves of abortion in the fourth trimester." Read More

ABC's Gibson did not challenge earmark claim, much less inform viewers that McCain promoted a falsehood
In a September 3 interview, Charles Gibson did not challenge the claim by Sen. John McCain that after Sarah Palin obtained millions of dollars in earmarks as mayor of her home town, she "learned that earmarks are bad" when she became governor and said, "No more for my state." At no point did Gibson point out that as governor, Palin, by her own account, requested hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks for Alaska just this year. ABC News did not air that part of the interview on the September 3 broadcast of World News, much less note that McCain was promoting a false claim. Read More

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