Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Media Matters Daily Summary 01-26-10

O'Reilly falsely equates waterboarding of detainees, training for U.S. military
On January 25, Bill O'Reilly falsely equated the waterboarding of detainees by U.S. interrogators with the training U.S. soldiers undergo. In fact, officials familiar with both the techniques used in harsh interrogations and those used in military training programs have said that such a comparison is false; those who undergo certain interrogation techniques in such training programs are aware that there are safeguards and know they can stop the training immediately if necessary. Read More

Hannity falsely claims charges dropped against New Black Panther carrying nightstick
Sean Hannity falsely claimed charges were dropped against a member of the New Black Panther Party who was "carrying a nightstick" outside a Philadelphia polling place on Election Day 2008. In fact, the Obama administration won an injunction against that person. Read More

Does Fox News coverage = GOP campaign contribution?
With its open and aggressive cheerleading -- not to mention on-air fundraising -- for Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown last week, Fox News crossed yet another threshold in its unabashed transformation into a purely political entity. Now completely turning its back on producing any semblance of independent journalism, Fox News eagerly flaunts its role as GOP kingmaker. Read More

Wash. Times falsely equated emergency contraception with abortion
In recent days, The Washington Times has repeatedly falsely equated emergency contraception with abortion. In fact, health experts have noted that emergency contraception does not terminate pregnancies; rather, emergency contraception is used to prevent pregnancies. Read More

Defending Limbaugh, right-wing media smear Foxman
After Anti-Defamation League (ADL) national director Abraham Foxman criticized Rush Limbaugh for his January 20 statement that "a lot of those people on Wall Street are Jewish. So I wonder if there's starting to be some buyer's remorse there" -- remarks Limbaugh later lied to defend -- the right-wing media has rushed to defend Limbaugh and to attack Foxman. Foxman has been smeared as a "terrible Jew" and a "plague on his people," and described as a "disgusting, craven little twerp." Read More

How will SCOTUS decision affect corporate media?
In 2004, the United Church of Christ produced a television commercial promoting its inclusive approach to organized faith. The ad showed two nightclub-style bouncers guarding the rope line of a church as they denied entry to a gay male couple, several people of color, and a man in a wheelchair. By contrast, a white family of four had no problems getting through. Read More

Post falsely contrasts deficit-reducing health care reform with Obama's call for deficit reduction
The Washington Post reported that, "After spending much of his first year in office pursuing expensive initiatives such as a far-reaching overhaul of the health-care system, Obama has pledged to devote much of the next year to reducing record budget deficits," falsely suggesting that health care reform would add to the deficit. But according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), both the House and Senate health care reform bills would reduce the deficit by over $100 billion through 2019. Read More

Right-wing media suggest stock market fluctuations are good judge of policy, experts disagree
Following President Obama's January 21 proposal to limit the size and risk-taking behaviors of banks, right-wing media figures have cited the recent dip in the stock market to criticize Obama's plan. However, economic and financial experts have said that a decline in financial stocks is not an indication that regulation is ill-advised and that stock market fluctuations do not necessarily represent the broader health of the economy. Read More

In stories on spending freeze, major print outlets left out an important voice: economists
Reporting that President Obama would propose a three-year freeze on some domestic spending, many major print outlets did not quote a single economist about the effect that such a freeze could have on the U.S. economy. The Wall Street Journal cited an American Enterprise Institute economist who called the reported plan a "step in the right direction," but no other economists, although economists including Paul Krugman and Mark Thoma have criticized the policy. Read More

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