Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Media Matters Daily Summary 03-29-11

Beck Pretends His Shows Are Not In "Decline"
On his Fox News show today, Glenn Beck suggested that the efforts of Jewish Funds for Justice and Media Matters to "accelerat[e] Beck's decline" are not working because "the lights are on" in his studio. In fact, Beck's Fox News program has lost over 300 advertisers, he has lost more than 1 million viewers over the last year, his radio show has been kicked off various stations including ones in New York and Philadelphia, and there is a possibility that Fox News executives are reportedly "contemplating life without" Beck. Read More

Fox's Bill Sammon Problem
Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon boasted that he repeatedly lied during the final days of the 2008 presidential campaign when he speculated on-air "about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism." Sammon has repeatedly used his position at Fox to slant the network's news coverage to the right. Read More

New Low? Fox & Friends Hosts Conspiracy Theorist Cashill To Peddle Claim That Ayers Wrote Obama's Memoir
Fox & Friends hosted WorldNetDaily columnist Jack Cashill to promote his discredited conspiracy theory that Bill Ayers wrote President Obama's memoir, Dreams from My Father. Cashill has a long history of pushing insane conspiracy theories about Obama. Read More

Revenge Of The Bush DOJ: Mukasey's War Against The Obama Administration
Bush administration Attorney General Michael Mukasey has regularly used platforms on the op-ed pages of major newspapers and as a guest on cable and broadcast news programs to serve as an attack dog seeking to undermine President Obama, his administration, and in particular Attorney General Eric Holder on a wide variety of issues. Most recently, Mukasey has slammed the Obama Justice department for bringing a discrimination lawsuit against a school on behalf of a Muslim teacher who resigned after her request for time off to make hajj, a religious pilgrimage observant Muslims must take, was denied. Read More

Right-Wing Media Attacked Muslim Advocates For Giving Muslims Common Legal Advice
As a Senate subcommittee is poised to begin a hearing on Muslim civil rights, several right-wing media outlets are attacking Farhana Khera, a witness at the hearing and the executive director of the Muslim legal advocacy group Muslim Advocates, for urging American Muslims to have an attorney present when speaking to law enforcement. But this is standard advice given by many legal rights advocacy groups, including the American Bar Association and the Naval Legal Service Office. Read More

Fox & Friends: A Loving Home For The Right's Craziest Conspiracy Theories
Fox & Friends invited conspiracy theorist Jack Cashill to push his insane theory that Bill Ayers ghostwrote Obama's first book, Dreams from My Father. Fox & Friends has an extensive history of pushing right-wing conspiracy theories and hosting discredited guests to back up their outrageous claims. Read More

Right-Wing Media Falsely Claim Obama "Bashe[d] Bush" During Libya Speech
Following President Obama's national address on the crisis in Libya, the right-wing media has complained that he "bashe[d] Bush" by referencing the Iraq war, with Fox & Friends going so far as to suggest that Obama's reference was gratuitous because "nobody" is comparing Libya to Iraq. In fact, Obama made no mention of Bush and cited Iraq as an illustration of what could happen "[i]f we tried to overthrow Qaddafi by force"; additionally, Fox & Friends itself has pushed comparisons of Libya to Iraq. Read More

Special Report's Contrasting Previews Of The King And Durbin Hearings On American Muslims
On the night before Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) was scheduled to hold hearings on the civil rights of Muslims in America, Fox News aired a segment on Special Report that promoted a right-wing group's attacks on Durbin for his appearance in what they described as "a controversial picture... that critics say undermines the hearing." By contrast, the program did not point out Congressman Peter King's (R-NY) extensive efforts on behalf of the Irish Republican Army before his hearings earlier this month on Muslim radicalization. Read More

More Hypocrisy: Glenn Beck Takes Issue With Calling Opponents "Demons"
Prompted by Louis Farrakhan's remark that America is a "habitation of devils," Glenn Beck asked, "[W]hat happens when you can convince enough people" that something is "full of demons"? Beck himself has a long history of linking progressives to "the devil" and calling them "enemies of God." Read More

Sea Level Researchers Debunk Wash. Times' Distortion Of Their Work
A Washington Times editorial falsely claims that a recent sea level study "shows oceans are not rising." In fact, the study does not dispute that sea levels are rising, and the study's author calls the Washington Times' claim "a mischaracterization of our work." Read More

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