Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Media Matters Daily Summary 03-16-11

Fox & Friends Whitewashes Problems With O'Keefe's NPR Video
Last week, discredited conservative activist James O'Keefe released a video in which former NPR executive Ron Schiller appeared to disparage the tea party movement and say that NPR would be "better off" without federal funding. Since then, several media outlets have noted that the full video shows that these and other comments Schiller made were taken out of context, yet Fox & Friends has continued to promote O'Keefe's video without noting that it is deceptively edited. Read More

Right-Wing Media's Surprise At Conyers' Support Of Single Payer Doesn't Change Facts On Health Care Law
Right-wing media are shocked by a recent interview in which Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) says he supports single-payer health care and are claiming Conyers's statement "confirms" that the health care bill is "a Trojan horse for an eventual government takeover of health care." But Conyers' support for single-payer health care is not new, and his statement does not change the fact that the Affordable Care Act is still not a "government takeover" of health care. Read More

Right-Wing Media Aghast Obama Can Focus On More Than One Issue At A Time
The right-wing media have attacked President Obama for supposedly not focusing on crises in Japan and Libya by instead honoring women's history month, going golfing, and filling out NCAA tournament brackets. Yet, Obama has engaged on both issues by making numerous public addresses and ordering humanitarian relief efforts in Japan and the Middle East. Read More

WSJ Badly Misrepresents EPA's Effort To Address Greenhouse Gas Emissions
A Wall Street Journal editorial accused the EPA of subverting democracy to impose the greenhouse gas controls that Congress rejected. In fact, as the Bush administration's EPA privately acknowledged, a 2007 Supreme Court decision and the body of scientific evidence on climate change compel EPA to regulate GHG emissions as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. Moreover, the EPA rules differ substantially from the comprehensive climate bills that Congress has repeatedly failed to pass.
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Limbaugh Laughs In The Face Of Human Suffering
During a recent radio broadcast, Rush Limbaugh laughed at the fact that the fifth largest earthquake ever recorded struck Japan despite that nation's environmentally conscious record. However, this is part of a long pattern from Limbaugh of outrageous responses to human suffering. Read More

Right Wing Gins Up Hysteria Over Obama's Initiative To Curb Bullying
Right-wing media figures are demagoguing an Obama Administration initiative to combat bullying and harassment, likening it to "big brother" and "Facebook stalking" of students. In fact, the initiative is an effort to assist schools and parents in preventing and dealing with bullying and harassment, which is estimated to affect as many as 13 million students each year. Read More

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