Media Matters Daily Summary 05-05-11

Fox & Friends Largely Ignores Own Guests To Falsely Suggest GOP Wants Bin Laden Photos Released
After the Obama administration announced that it would not be releasing photos of Osama bin Laden's body, Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy attacked the decision and repeatedly suggested that GOP lawmakers across the board want the photo released. However, Fox & Friends largely ignored that on the previous day, the show hosted several GOP figures, including a former Bush official, who expressed reservations about releasing the photos, and many lawmakers -- both Democrats and Republicans -- have expressed similar reservations. Read More

Ignoring Facts, Right-Wing Media Rushes To Congratulate Bush On Bin Laden's Death
Media conservatives are insisting that George W. Bush deserves as much credit as President Obama for the death of Osama Bin Laden, if not more. However, making this argument means ignoring what the Bush administration itself reportedly called its "gravest error" -- not capturing bin Laden at Tora Bora in 2001 -- and Bush's 2002 statement that he was "not concerned" about bin Laden. Read More

Right-Wing Media Figures Reject Obama's Call For Unity
Following President Obama's statement calling for lawmakers to set aside their differences and "harness" the "same sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11" to "confront the many challenges that we still face," right-wing media figures rejected the call, with Fox News' Laura Ingraham suggesting it was a "political" ploy and a "trap." In 2003, however, Ingraham repeatedly attacked progressives for supposedly "eroding our national unity."
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Baier Falsely Claims That Fox News' Rules For Photographing Its GOP Debate Are Unchanged From The Past
On Special Report, Bret Baier covered the decision made by AP and Reuters not to cover Fox News' May 5 Republican presidential debate, claiming that "Fox News is following the same procedures it has used in the past." This has been denied by the AP and contradicted by a former South Carolina Republican Party chairman. Read More