Friday, September 26, 2008

Media Matters Daily Summary 09-26-08

Couric uncritically reported that McCain "suspend[ed] his campaign"
On the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric uncritically reported that Sen. John McCain "suspend[ed] his campaign so he could be part of the negotiations" on economic recovery legislation. In fact, McCain campaign surrogates continued to appear on cable news networks throughout the day, the campaign's ads also aired, and The Huffington Post reported that it "called up 15 McCain-Palin and McCain Victory Committee headquarters in various battleground states. Not one said that it was temporarily halting operations because of the supposed 'suspension' in the campaign." Read More

ABCNews.com and Time.com headlines mischaracterized Paulson's remarks as blaming Democrats
Headlines on ABCNews.com and on The Page website falsely characterized a reported conversation between Henry Paulson and House Democrats as Paulson blaming the Democrats for failed negotiations on economic recovery legislation, "plead[ing]" with them not to "blow up" the deal. But the article to which both headlines linked characterized the exchange differently, with Paulson acknowledging that House Republicans bore responsibility for the failure of negotiations. Read More

Despite McCain ads running repeatedly, Hannity, Caddell claim he pulled them following campaign "suspension"
Referring to Sen. John McCain's announcement that he was going to "suspend" his campaign, Sean Hannity and Fox News contributor Pat Caddell asserted on Hannity & Colmes that McCain is "not running ads." In fact, as Alan Colmes noted, and as Media Matters documented, McCain campaign television ads ran throughout the day following McCain's announcement. Read More

CNN's Toobin knocks media for "gullib[ility]," which Blitzer and Todd had just demonstrated
On CNN's The Situation Room, Jeffrey Toobin asserted that the media are "being kind of gullible in falling for" Sen. John McCain's announcement that he was going to suspend his campaign. Minutes earlier, however, Wolf Blitzer and correspondent Brian Todd had repeatedly asserted as fact that McCain "suspend[ed]" his campaign, without noting, as Toobin did, that McCain ads were running; that his surrogates repeatedly attacked Sen. Barack Obama on cable networks; or that McCain gave interviews with the three broadcast networks following his "suspension." Read More

In an NRO blog post, Krikorian asked if WaMu's diversity policy was "[c]ause" of bank's demise
In a blog post on National Review Online, Mark Krikorian asked if diversity policies touted by Washington Mutual, which was seized by federal regulators and sold to another bank on September 25, were the "[c]ause" of the bank's collapse. Read More

Fox's Hume reported on Illinois AG investigation of Obama grant without noting Obama reportedly "not a focus of the investigation"
On Special Report, Brit Hume said, "A $100,000 grant that then-Illinois state Senator Barack Obama awarded in 2001 to a group headed by a one-time campaign volunteer is under investigation by the Illinois attorney general." But Hume did not note that a spokesperson for Attorney General Lisa Madigan said "Obama's actions in awarding the money are not a focus of the investigation," according to the Chicago Sun-Times article Hume cited in his report. Read More

Despite evidence to the contrary, NY Times asserted as fact that McCain had "suspend[ed] his campaign"
In a September 26 article, the New York Times asserted as fact that Sen. John McCain "suspend[ed] his campaign," but it did not mention that McCain campaign surrogates continued to attack Sen. Barack Obama on television, that McCain campaign ads continued to air on television, and that McCain campaign offices in various battleground states reportedly remained open. Read More

Ignoring all evidence to the contrary, NBC's Todd asserted as fact that McCain "pulled the plug on his campaign for two days"
NBC's Chuck Todd asserted as fact that Sen. John McCain "pulled the plug on his campaign for two days." But Todd did not note that following McCain's September 24 announcement that he was going to suspend his campaign, McCain campaign ads continued to run; that his advisers repeatedly attacked Sen. Barack Obama on cable news networks; or that McCain gave interviews with the three broadcast networks. Read More

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