Media Matters Daily Summary 06-01-11

Fox News Helps "Renew Interest" In Sarah Palin's "Brand"
Fox News hosts and analysts helped portray Sarah Palin's bus tour, organized by her Political Action Committee, as an effort to revitalize Palin's "brand." Palin then sat for an interview on the bus tour with Greta Van Susteren, who devoted the first half of her Fox News show to what Fox itself is describing as an effort to renew interest in Palin's brand. Read More

Fox Medical Expert Marc Siegel's History Of Health Care Fearmongering And Misinformation
On Fox & Friends, Fox News medical contributor Dr. Marc Siegel recently seized on a report of drug shortages to fearmonger about "government-controlled rationing" and to baselessly attack the health care reform law. Fox regularly turns to Siegel for commentary on health care reform despite his history of baseless fearmongering and pushing false claims about health care reform. Read More

Hyping Boehner's "150 Economists," Media Ignore That Many Have History Of Dubious And Extreme Claims
Several media outlets have reported on a letter sent by House Speaker John Boehner to President Obama signed by "150 economists" who support Boehner's spending cut proposal. But these media outlets have ignored that many of the economists who signed the letter have made baseless predictions in the past, some have endorsed dubious theories, and others have used extreme rhetoric to attack Obama and other Democrats. Read More

Fox's Bolling Resurrects Falsehood That Federal Employees' Compensation Doubles That Of Private Sector
Fox's Eric Bolling repeated a long-debunked talking point that federal workers' total compensation is twice that of private-sector workers. In fact, the comparison does not account for occupation, education, or experience, and government salaries are based on private-sector pay for comparable occupations in a given region. Read More

On Fox, Lars Larson Seizes Opportunity To Rehash Immigration Myths
On Fox News, radio host Lars Larson repeated the myths that immigrants commit a disproportionate amount of crime and that the Obama administration "has not been great on deportations." In fact, data don't support the claim that undocumented immigrants have high crime rates; moreover, under Obama, deportations are at an all-time high. Read More