Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Media Matters Daily Summary 07-21-10

Beck's long history of ripping quotes out of context
Stating that "context matters," Glenn Beck suggested he takes care to present information on air only if he has the "full context." However, Beck has repeatedly and grossly distorted the context of people's remarks. Read More

Media across the board reject Breitbart's race-baiting lies
Andrew Breitbart smeared former USDA official Shirley Sherrod as a "racist," using as "proof" a heavily edited video of comments she made during a March NAACP event that he posted on his site BigGovernment.com. In fact, the full video of Sherrod's statements vindicated Sherrod, showing that she was telling a story about getting beyond race, and media figures and outlets from across the board have rejected Breitbart's false claims against her. Read More

Doocy resorts to falsehood in defense of Fox's terrible Sherrod coverage
Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy falsely claimed that "Fox News did not do" the Shirley Sherrod story "until after she had already resigned." In fact, FoxNews.com published a story based on the deceptively edited video before Sherrod resigned; indeed, a subsequent FoxNews.com article reported that she resigned "shortly after FoxNews.com published its initial report on the video." Read More

Wash. Times uses discredited allegations to accuse DOJ of "rigging" elections
Washington Times editorial writer Quin Hillyer dubiously accused the Justice Department of "rigging" elections, citing DOJ actions against the New Black Panther Party, black leaders in Mississippi, and state election officials in Missouri to support the allegation. In fact, the DOJ sought injunctions to protect voters in two of those cases and dropped the third due to outdated evidence.
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"Bravo": Right-wing media's initial praise for Breitbart's "great work" on Sherrod
The right-wing media initially praised Andrew Breitbart for his "great work" in publishing a video which he said depicted the supposed "racism" of then-Obama administration official Shirley Sherrod. However, Breitbart's claims quickly unraveled when more information about the incident emerged and the full, unedited video was released. Read More

Big Falsehoods: An updated guide to Andrew Breitbart's lies, smears, and distortions
Following the dissolution of Andrew Breitbart's smear of former Obama administration official Shirley Sherrod, Media Matters provides an updated look at how his sensationalist stories have been based on speculation, gross distortions, and outright falsehoods. Read More

Despite claim that "context matters," Beck played heavily edited Sherrod clip on radio
On Fox, Glenn Beck said that because he didn't have the "full context" of the clip of Shirley Sherrod speaking to the NAACP, "this is something that I wouldn't air and demand a resignation on." However, earlier that day on his radio show, Beck played the clip and suggested it indicated that America has "transported into 1956 except it's the other way around." Read More

Breitbart flounders as his Sherrod story collapses
As his story about former Obama administration official Shirley Sherrod has disintegrated, Andrew Breitbart has desperately tried to maintain his credibility. Media Matters chronicles Breitbart's shifting stories, lies, and attempts to spin the story and pass the blame to others. Read More

Fox News' response to Sherrod fallout: Ignore, whitewash, mislead
Fox News spent much of July 19 and 20 ginning up controversy about the false claim that Shirley Sherrod made racist remarks at a NAACP meeting earlier this year. As the claim unraveled, Fox media personalities disappeared their role in the story, continued to smear her as "descriminat[ory]" in the face of contradictory evidence, and boldly suggested the network did not contribute to the controversy. Read More

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