Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Media Matters Daily Summary 04-27-11

REPORT: Fox Promotes Birther Myth In At Least 52 Segments
Following potential Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's embrace of theories regarding President Obama's birthplace, Fox News has significantly ramped up its coverage of birther conspiracies. A Media Matters review of Fox News' opinion programs found that in recent weeks, the network devoted nearly two hours and 20 minutes to the issue, and in the vast majority of the cases, the hosts either espoused birther conspiracies or did not challenge or correct false claims about Obama's birth that aired on their shows. By contrast, when possible GOP presidential candidate and Fox News host Mike Huckabee similarly questioned -- but subsequently walked back - Obama's origins, Fox devoted just over five minutes of coverage to Huckabee's false claim that Obama was raised in Kenya. Read More

Right-Wing Media Kick Off 2012 Election By Defaulting To Race-Based Attacks
Following Obama's official announcement that he is running for reelection, the right-wing media has resorted to a series of racially charged attacks against the president. These attacks have ranged from false claims about the president's place of birth and religion to claiming Obama has "black nationalist sympathies." Read More

Sorry, O'Reilly: Fox Has Long Been A Home For Race-Baiting Attacks
Bill O'Reilly attacked Rev. Wallace Charles Smith, whose church President Obama attended on Easter Sunday, as a "race activist" for claiming that Fox News provides a forum for racially charged statements. In fact, Fox News has a history of hosts and guests who make race-baiting statements, in addition to its relentless promotion of the phony New Black Panthers controversy. Read More

Will Fox Now "Move On" From Focusing On President Obama's Birth Certificate?
Fox hosts have claimed that President Obama need only produce his birth certificate to "put ... to bed" the endless right-wing speculation about his place of birth. Now that Obama distributed copies of his birth certificate to reporters and posted it on the White House website, will Fox, in the words of its host Sean Hannity, "move on"? Read More

Conservative Media Go On Attack After Release Of Obama's Long-Form Birth Certificate
Right-wing media responded to the release of President Obama's long-form birth certificate by attacking the president and claiming that certain questions surrounding the document remain unanswered. Below is a sampling of the early attacks by conservative media following the release of Obama's long-form birth certificate. Read More

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