Crowley, Fox & Friends advance false claim that Obama is reluctant to "acknowledge ... war on terror"
In a Washington Times op-ed, nationally syndicated radio host Monica Crowley advanced the false right-wing talking point that President Obama does not use the word "terror" when describing attacks on the United States; on the January 6 Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade echoed Crowley's attack, falsely claiming that the Obama administration "won't even acknowledge that we're in the war on terror or that a terror strike could occur." Crowley also falsely claimed that "we hear little to no true condemnation of these acts from the Muslim world," when, in fact, Muslim groups in the United States routinely condemn terrorism. Read More
Kilmeade invents contradiction between Obama and his administration's message on attempted terror attack
On Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade falsely claimed that in his January 5 remarks about the attempted attack on a Northwest Airlines flight, President Obama both "contradicted" an earlier statement he made about the suspect in the case and "refuted" claims his "top aides" made while discussing the aftermath of the attempted attack. In fact, the context of his aides' comments show that they are not inconsistent with Obama's; moreover, Obama's first response to the attack discussed "those plotting against us," undermining Kilmeade's suggestion that Obama limited blame for the attempted attack to "an isolated extremist." Read More
Right-wing media baselessly claim CIA has "diverted" resources to climate research
Echoing a press release from the conservative and ExxonMobil-funded National Center for Public Policy Research, several right-wing media figures, including Sean Hannity and the Fox Nation, have baselessly asserted that the CIA has "diverted" intelligence resources to climate change. In fact, federal officials have reportedly said that the program, which allows the scientific community to gather data from CIA equipment, "has little or no impact on regular intelligence gathering." Read More
Conservative media blame '93 civilian trials for 9-11 attacks
Citing no evidence, conservative media figures have baselessly claimed that the civilian trial of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers led to the attacks of September 11, 2001. The claim echoes Sean Hannity's previous suggestion that documents released during the trial of the 1993 bombing mastermind "tipped off" Osama bin Laden; in fact, Attorney General Eric Holder testified that this charge is based on "misinformation" because prosecutors had the power to request that such documents be protected from release. Read More
In WSJ, du Pont misuses scientific data to mislead on climate change
In his January 5 Wall Street Journal column, Pete du Pont used data from the U.K.'s Met Office Hadley Centre, which he misidentified as the "Hadley Climatic Research Unit," to suggest that climate change is not human-caused. In fact, according to the Met Office, "human activities like burning coal, oil and gas, have led to an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, causing an enhanced greenhouse effect and extra warming," and as a result, "over the past century there has been an underlying increase in average temperatures which is continuing" and "[g]lobally, the ten hottest years on record have all been since 1997." Read More
Media report on Dodd's "sweetheart deal" without noting Ethics Committee cleared him
Following reports that Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) would not seek re-election this year, several media figures -- including Fox News' Stuart Varney and Steve Doocy and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough -- have claimed Dodd received a "sweetheart" mortgage deal from Countrywide. However, in their reports, these same media figures failed to note that the Senate Ethics Committee "found no credible evidence" Dodd's mortgages violated Senate ethics rules. Read More
LV Review-Journal publisher falsely claims no domestic terrorism cases since 9-11 under Bush
In his January 3 column, Las Vegas Review-Journal publisher Sherman Frederick falsely claimed that "the two cases of domestic terrorism since 9/11" happened "on Obama's watch." In fact, while Frederick and other conservative media figures have recently downplayed the number of attacks on the United States under former President Bush, there were numerous post-9-11 terrorist attacks attempted during the Bush administration, including the attempted detonation of an explosive device on an airplane by shoe bomber Richard Reid and the anthrax attacks. Read More
Quick Fact: On Fox News, return of dubious claim that KSM's interrogation thwarted L.A. plot
On Fox News' Live Desk, co-host Trace Gallagher allowed Fordham University professor and former Republican candidate Annemarie McAvoy to assert that the Bush administration's interrogation of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM) "thwart[ed] the bombings, or the attack in L.A." But the Bush administration itself said that the attack was thwarted in February 2002 -- more than a year before Mohammed was captured. Read More
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