Sunday, January 17, 2010

Media Matters Daily Summary 01-17-10

Quick Fact: Fox Nation gets "nuclear option" wrong again
The Fox Nation again falsely described the budget reconciliation process that some Democrats have suggested as an alternative avenue to passing health care reform legislation as the "nuclear option." In fact, reconciliation is not the "nuclear option"; the term "nuclear option" was coined by Sen. Trent Lott in 2005 to refer to a possible Republican attempt to change Senate filibuster rules, while reconciliation is already part of Senate procedure and Republicans have used it repeatedly in the past. Read More

Taranto's profile of fellow News Corp. employee Beck is all fluff
In the January 17 Wall Street Journal, James Taranto -- a member of the paper's conservative editorial board and fellow News Corp. employee with a history of advancing conservative misinformation -- penned a profile of Glenn Beck, which, among other things, completely ignored Beck's history of misinformation and inflammatory rhetoric. Additionally, Taranto wrote that Beck "reported on major news stories" like Van Jones without noting that Beck smeared Jones with the false claim that he was a convicted felon and repeated Beck's denial that he is a "crazy showman that's doing anything for money," while ignoring Beck's frequent promotion of gold to his viewers, without disclosing his financial interest in gold investment firms. Read More

Selective memory? Former Bush official Hughes ignored Reid's ties to Al Qaeda
On Meet the Press, public relations executive and former Bush administration official Karen Hughes argued that Northwest Airlines bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab should not be tried in a criminal court -- as "shoe bomber" Richard Reid was -- because the "circumstances weren't similar. He [Reid] was not sent here by Al Qaeda to engage in an act of war against our country." However, Reid's indictment explicitly tied him to Al Qaeda training camps; the FBI reportedly believed "an al Qaeda bomb maker" made Reid's bomb; and, during his sentencing, Reid professed "allegiance" to Osama bin Laden before saying he was "at war" with the United States. Read More

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