Monday, August 08, 2011

Media Matters Daily Summary 08-08-11

Fox's History Of Mainstreaming Hate
Fox & Friends recently hosted Andrea Lafferty, president of the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC), an organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has labeled an anti-gay "hate group." Lafferty, who has described SPLC's designation of her group as a "badge of honor," is the latest member of an organization that SPLC has designated as a hate group or otherwise criticized for propagating hateful rhetoric to be invited to speak on Fox News. Read More

Ignoring Economists, Fox Attacks Geithner's Decision To Stay On As Treasury Secretary
Following the announcement that Timothy Geithner will remain Treasury secretary, Fox News attacked the decision and called for President Obama to make Geithner "walk the plank." However, economic experts have argued against replacing Geithner, stating that "we can't afford the loss in continuity at this stage." Read More

Fox's Perino And Bolling Rehab The Economy Inherited From Bush
On Fox, Dana Perino and Eric Bolling cherry-picked facts to prop up former President Bush's economic record and complain that the "blaming Bush stuff" is "annoying." In fact, recent data show that the economy inherited from Bush shrank by 8.9 percent in the final months of 2008 -- the largest such decline in more than 50 years. Read More

After Cheering For Economically Harmful Default, Bolling Laments Potential Effects Of "Downgrade"
Fox Business host Eric Bolling took to Fox News' Fox & Friends to discuss the "scary" potential economic consequences of Standard & Poor's (S&P) "downgrade" of the U.S. credit rating. Yet during negotiations over avoiding a default crisis, Bolling repeatedly cheered for the U.S. to default, which experts agreed not only would have led to a downgrade, but also would have had disastrous economic consequences. Read More

Fox Predictably Rushes To Defend Tea Party From Criticism Following S&P "Downgrade"
Following Standard & Poor's (S&P) decision to "downgrade" the U.S. credit rating, Fox News scrambled to defend the tea party's influence on the default crisis debate. Fox's defense is consistent with its long history of promoting the tea party. Read More

"We Win": Conservative Media Celebrate Public Misconception That Climate Scientists "Falsified" Data
After relentlessly pushing the false claim that the so-called "Climategate" controversy showed climate scientists deceitfully manipulating data, conservative media are celebrating a Rasmussen Reports poll finding that a majority of Americans believe "some scientists" have likely "falsified research data" to support "their own theories and beliefs about global warming." Read More

Fox News Gets Its Downgrade
During debate over raising the debt ceiling, Fox News personalities regularly downplayed the consequences of -- and even advocated for -- a U.S. default on some of its debt and a downgrade of the creditworthiness of the country's debt. With Standard and Poor's downgrade of U.S. debt from AAA to AA+, Fox News got what it was asking for. Read More

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