Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Media Matters Daily Summary 02-09-10

Palin headlines birther conference; press pretends not to notice
If you don't think there's a media double standard that favors Republicans over Democrats, then let's play a game of what-if. Read More

Quick Fact: Carlson falsely claimed Republicans were "sidelined" in health care reform debate
On the February 9 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Gretchen Carlson advanced the false claim that Republicans had been "sidelined through the whole" health care "discussion." In fact, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee and Senate Finance Committee bills contained nearly 200 Republican amendments.
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Conservative media preemptively attack Obama's bipartisan health care summit
Numerous conservative media outlets have criticized President Obama's plan to hold a bipartisan health care summit "to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward," by attacking the summit as a "dog and pony" show or a "PR stunt" before the event has even occurred. Additionally, some have urged Republicans not to participate. Read More

No longer "overexposed"? Fox & Friends complains about lack of recent Obama pressers
On Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade and Fox News legal analyst Peter Johnson Jr. criticized President Obama for not holding press conference since July, which Johnson claimed was a "tactic" to "avoid hard questions." But Fox News' newfound concern with Obama's purported press conference neglect stands in stark contrast to Fox's broadcast network's refusal to air both Obama's July and April 2009 conferences; and at the time of his most recent press conference, Fox News hosts claimed Obama was "overexposed." Read More

Fox & Friends' one-sided coverage of Brennan's remarks widens Fox's credibility gap with its terrorism experts
Since White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan's February 7 appearance on Meet the Press, in which he criticized Republicans for politicizing the Obama administration's response to the attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight, Fox & Friends has repeatedly hosted only conservatives and opponents of the Obama administration to discuss Brennan's remarks and the administration's response to the plot. Moreover -- following a trend set by Fox News since the Christmas Day bombing attempt -- Fox & Friends has hosted these guests, most of whom have a history of making false or outrageous statements about American foreign policy or terrorism, undermining their credibility to discuss those topics. Read More

Brain Freeze: Conservative media still using winter weather to attack global warming
Conservative media figures have used the recent snowstorms in the Washington, D.C., area to level more science-free attacks on global warming. As Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted, scientists agree that short-term localized weather patterns are not relevant to global warming. Read More

Right-wing media narrative on Christmas Day plot falling apart
The right-wing media narrative that the Obama administration endangered security by giving Miranda rights to alleged attempted Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is falling apart. Contrary to claims based on unnamed sources in the right-wing media, Obama administration officials agree that Abdulmutallab gave valuable intelligence during his first interrogation and that Abdulmutallab has begun divulging intelligence again. Read More

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