Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Media Matters Daily Summary 10-15-08

AP, CNN report that Obama represented ACORN, but not that DOJ was also a plaintiff in the lawsuit
The AP and CNN reported that Sen. Barack Obama represented ACORN in a 1995 lawsuit against the state of Illinois but did not mention that the Justice Department was also a plaintiff in the case, along with the League of Women Voters of Illinois and the League of United Latin American Citizens. The lawsuit sought to require that Illinois implement federal law on voter registration. Read More

Echoing smear emails, Halperin falsely suggested video shows Obama during "pledge of allegiance"
In an October 14 entry on his Time.com website, The Page, Time magazine's editor-at-large Mark Halperin falsely suggested that a photograph of Sen. Barack Obama in an anti-Obama television ad shows Obama without his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance. Halperin wrote that the ad, by the Our Country Deserves Better PAC, "hammers the Democratic presidential nominee with the kitchen sink and more: pledge of allegiance picture, Cuban flags, Palestinians, Hamas, and -- of course -- Reverend [Jeremiah] Wright." In fact, the ad -- which itself makes misleading claims -- does not show Obama during the "pledge of allegiance." A photo from the event, footage of which was included in the ad, appeared in Time with a caption indicating it was taken during the national anthem, not the Pledge of Allegiance. Read More

CNN's Griffin suggested ACORN should not hire "recovering alcoholics" and "homeless people"
In a report on ACORN's voter registration drives, CNN's Drew Griffin asked an ACORN official: "[W]hy is the deputy city commissioner of Philadelphia telling me that ACORN is hiring recovering alcoholics, drug addicts, homeless people, who are so desperate to get money that they know that, if they don't make their quota, they just fill in any old name?" After the official responded, "That is not the point," Griffin asked: "But has it presented itself as a problem to ACORN? Wouldn't ACORN like to run a nice, clean, smooth voter registration drive?" Read More

Dick Morris baselessly accused ACORN of "committing voter fraud"
Fox News' Dick Morris baselessly accused ACORN of "committing voter fraud." In fact, ACORN does not stand accused of "committing voter fraud," and Morris did not point to any allegations that ACORN has engaged in voter fraud. Read More

ABC World News reported on ACORN but ignored voter suppression, including indictment of GOP official in NH case
On World News, Jake Tapper reported on "accusations of voter fraud" against ACORN workers, noting that "ACORN officials said the primary problem isn't a few phony names on voter registrations, but real voters being prevented from casting their ballots." But World News did not report on the indictment of former RNC official James Tobin and in the past two weeks has not aired any reports on the issue of voter suppression. Read More

ABC's Wright did not note falsehoods in the attacks on Obama that he reported McCain will make
During a preview of the third presidential debate on ABC's World News, David Wright said that Sen. John McCain "plans to present [Sen. Barack] Obama as someone who will raise your taxes" and will "question Obama's judgment and character following from [Gov.] Sarah Palin's charge that Obama has been palling around with terrorists, like former '60s radical William Ayers" without noting the misrepresentations in those attacks. Read More

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