Media Matters Daily Summary 05-06-10

Kilmeade falsely suggests Phoenix Suns players were forced to be used "as billboards"
On the May 6 Fox & Friends, Brian Kilmeade falsely suggested that Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver forced his players to be used "as billboards" to protest the Arizona immigrant law. In fact, Sarver "left it up to the players," and they "unanimously" decided to wear "Los Suns" jerseys during their May 5 game.
Read More

Phoenix police chief disputes right's claim that AZ law is needed because of violent crime
Conservative media have defended Arizona's controversial new immigration law by suggesting the law is necessary to fight violent crime. Phoenix police chief Jack Harris has rejected this claim, and he and many other law enforcement officials have argued that the law will distort police priorities. Read More

Note to media: Don't trust attacks on judicial nominees by NRO's Whelan
National Review Online's Ed Whelan has attacked Judge Sidney Thomas for supposedly being on the far left, citing, in part, Thomas' decision in Harper v. Poway Unified School District. But Whelan's comments are contradicted by statements from Thomas' colleagues as well as by an examination of that case. Read More

Glossing over broken immigration system, Fox claims U.S. allows "a lot of people" to immigrate legally
Suggesting that recent protests against Arizona's new immigration law are unreasonable, Fox & Friends claimed the United States naturalized "a lot of people" from Mexico in 2009. However, immigration policy experts have pointed out that the U.S. immigration system offers very few channels for legal entry for low-skilled workers, who are drawn to the country by the demand in the labor market.
Read More

Fox runs with right-wing group's absurd "estimate" that "2,158 killed by illegals every year"
Fox & Friends displayed an on-screen graphic promoting a ridiculous Family Security Matters estimate that "2,158 killed by illegals every year." But that statistic is derived from completely baseless assumptions about immigrants' crime rates. Actual studies have found that immigrants in general are less likely to be incarcerated and that there is no evidence that undocumented immigrants commit a disproportionate amount of crime.
Read More