Media Matters Daily Summary 06-29-09

Hannity continues to push debunked cap and trade cost figure
Sean Hannity again repeated the Republican claim that President Obama's energy proposal would cost as much as $3,000 per family. But that figure is based on a distortion of an MIT study, and a CBO analysis of a version of the bill passed by a House committee estimated that the net impact to households would be significantly lower. Read More

AP ignores Sessions' assertion that "[y]ou don't have to read everything [Alito has] written"
In reporting Sen. Mitch McConnell's call to delay Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing and Sen. Jeff Sessions' request for more information related to Sotomayor's judicial career, the AP did not note that Sessions urged fast action on Justice Samuel Alito's nomination, reportedly saying: "You don't have to read everything he's written." Read More

GMA host falsely reports that Ricci plaintiffs were "passed over for promotion in favor of less-qualified black candidates"
ABC's Bob Woodruff falsely reported that Ricci v. DeStefano was about firefighters "passed over for promotion in favor of less qualified black candidates." In fact, no one was promoted over any other; the test results were thrown out because of a racial disparity in the results. Read More

In covering Ricci, media should not promote "extraordinary rebuke" myth
In covering the Ricci case, reversing Judge Sonia Sotomayor's decision, media should not promote the myth that the reversal represents a "historic rebuke" or that Sotomayor's Supreme Court reversal rate is "high." Read More

Fox's Baier, Kilmeade apparently oblivious to their network's own characterization of ABC special as "infomercial"
Brian Kilmeade and Bret Baier falsely suggested that only Republicans had called the ABC health care special with President Obama an "infomercial." In fact, numerous Fox News personalities, including Kilmeade, and the network's Fox Nation website, echoed Republicans and called the ABC special an "infomercial." Read More

Conservative media claim Supreme Court decided Ricci "9-0" against Sotomayor
Several conservative media figures have claimed that the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in Ricci v. DeStefano is a "9-0" decision "against" Sonia Sotomayor. Read More

Media conservatives continue to push widely disputed Spanish study on green jobs
Conservatives in the media have continued to cite the findings of a widely disputed study by a Spanish economist to assert or suggest that the United States will lose two jobs for every one green job created if the American Clean Energy and Security Act passes. Read More

Reporting on possibly "suppressed" EPA document, CBS suppressed actual climate science
CBSNews.com uncritically reported an internal EPA document's false claim that "global temperatures have declined for 11 years." Read More