Media Matters for America summary, April 06, 2007
 
Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2007 22:03:03 -0400


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<p>Here are today's news items from <i>Media Matters for America</i>, 
click on the title or 'read more' to read the entirety of each story.</p>
<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/propaganda_noise_machine?src=other">Propaganda/Noise Machine</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060010?src=other">On Fox, Hannity, North, and Coulter baselessly attacked Pelosi over Syria trip</a></b><br />
On the April 4 and 5 editions of Fox News&#39; <i>Hannity &amp;
Colmes</i>, co-host
<a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/seanhannity?src=other">Sean Hannity</a>
repeatedly claimed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had "allow[ed] herself to be used for
propaganda purposes" by
<a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/03/world/middleeast/03cnd-pelosi.html?ex=1333252800&amp;en=76d17d43700d0a61&amp;ei=5090&amp;partner=rssuserland&amp;emc=rss">meeting</a> with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad
in Damascus. During the
April 4 segment on Pelosi&#39;s trip, Hannity hosted Fox News military
analyst Oliver North,
who asserted that Pelosi "didn&#39;t just allow herself to be used, she was a willful
participant in this." North went on to claim that that he "didn&#39;t
hear a thing from her statement today saying, &#39;I&#39;m standing shoulder to
shoulder with George Bush and opposing what this regime is doing.&#39; " In fact, following
her April 3 meeting with Assad, Pelosi claimed to have criticized Syria&#39;s
ties to terrorist regimes such as Hezbollah and Hamas. She further <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401728.html">stated</a>,
"[T]here is absolutely no division between this delegation and the
president of the United States on the issues of concern." On the April 5
edition of the show, Hannity hosted right-wing pundit <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/anncoulter?src=other">Ann Coulter</a>,
who agreed with his claim that Pelosi allowed herself to be used for propaganda
purposes. Coulter went on to state: "I think it would have been good if
Nancy Pelosi had mentioned something about women&#39;s rights." But contrary to Coulter&#39;s
suggestion that she remained silent about women&#39;s rights,
Pelosi brought up the issue during her visit to Saudi Arabia.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060010?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060014?src=other">CNN's Malveaux, GOP strategist Galen uncritically cited <em>Wash. Post</em> editorial to bash Pelosi</a></b><br />
On the April 5 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/05/sitroom.01.html">edition</a> of CNN&#39;s <i>The Situation Room</i>, Republican strategist
Rich Galen, who served as communications director for former House Speaker Newt
Gingrich (R-GA), cited an April 5 <i>Washington
Post</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040402306.html?nav=rss_opinion">editorial</a> that attacked
current Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi&#39;s (D-CA) trip to Syria as
"counterproductive" and "foolish," and claimed the <i>Post</i> is "not generally known as a
mouthpiece for the Bush administration." Guest host Suzanne Malveaux did
not challenge Galen&#39;s use of the <i>Post</i> editorial,
which omitted key information reported by its own paper that undermined the
editorial&#39;s attacks on Pelosi, nor did she mention the <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=215">rebuttal</a> to the editorial issued by
Pelosi&#39;s office. Instead, Malveaux quipped, "Well, let me flesh
that out just a little bit, because you have stolen my note cards here,"
and went on to quote the editorial at length, including its claim that
"Ms. Pelosi&#39;s attempt to establish a shadow presidency is not only
counterproductive; it is foolish."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060014?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060016?src=other">GOP strategist Blakeman said Pelosi gave "aid and comfort" to Assad, called her "the Neville Chamberlain of our time"</a></b><br />
On the April 6 edition of <i>MSNBC
News Live</i>, while discussing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi&#39;s (D-CA)
recent meeting with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus, Republican
strategist Brad Blakeman said that Pelosi "abandoned her post up on Capitol Hill" and went to Syria
"to give aid and comfort to him [Assad] instead of funding our
troops." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060016?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060008?src=other">On <em>Hannity</em> radio show, WABC's Levin said of Pelosi: "You could bounce a dime off her cheeks"</a></b><br />
On the April 5 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio
show, <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/seanhannity?src=other">Sean Hannity</a>
asked conservative radio talk show host Mark Levin, host of WABC&#39;s <i>The Mark Levin Show</i> and <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.landmarklegal.org/">Landmark Legal
Foundation</a> president, why he referred to House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D-CA) as "<a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://marklevinfan.com/?page_id=797">Stretch</a>." Levin
replied: "You could bounce a dime off her cheeks. The woman has had so
many face-lifts."

<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060008?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060012?src=other">Despite evidence to the contrary, Angle claimed Pelosi didn't press Syria on "serious issues"</a></b><br />
In an April 5 report for Fox News&#39; <i>Special Report with Brit Hume</i> regarding
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi&#39;s (D-CA) recent meeting with Syrian President
Bashar Al-Assad in Damascus, Fox News chief Washington correspondent Jim Angle claimed: "There
was a long list of serious issues with Syria. Ms. Pelosi did not raise
them in public comments, but it remains to be seen whether she pressed any of
them in private." In fact, as <i>Media
Matters for America</i> previously <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200704050010?src=other">documented</a>, several news outlets have
reported that Pelosi and others in the delegation stated that they pressed Assad on Syria&#39;s support of such groups as Hamas and Hezbollah, which have been designated by the <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/fs/37191.htm">State Department</a> as terrorist organizations. 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060012?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/2008_elections?src=other">2008 Elections</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060002?src=other">AFA's Wildmon, Focus on the Family's Minnery attacked reporter for publishing Dobson's questioning of Thompson's faith</a></b><br />
On the March 30 edition
of American Family Radio&#39;s (AFR) <i><a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.afr.net/newafr/tiarchive_last10.asp">Today&#39;s Issues</a></i>, co-host Tim
Wildmon -- president of the conservative <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.afa.net/">American Family Association</a>
(AFA) -- and Focus on the Family&#39;s Tom Minnery
suggested that Focus on the Family chairman James C. Dobson&#39;s comment
questioning the faith of possible 2008 presidential candidate and former Sen.
Fred Thompson (R-TN) occurred in the context of "a private conversation
... between two friends" and should not have been reported. In fact,
Dobson was speaking with a man he knew was a reporter for a national
newsmagazine, and Minnery and Wildmon did not claim that Dobson had stipulated
his comments were not for publication. 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060002?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060004?src=other">CNN's Bash falsely suggested Giuliani's position on abortion has been consistent</a></b><br />
On the April 4 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/04/sitroom.01.html" title="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/04/sitroom.01.html">edition</a>
of CNN&#39;s <i>The Situation Room</i>,
while discussing her earlier
interview with Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani, CNN congressional
correspondent Dana Bash stated that the former New York City mayor "makes very clear
that he is and always has been for abortion rights." She added that
"he says his position since he has been mayor ... is the same and will be when he&#39;s
president" and that "he will allow and use the levers of
government, taxpayer funding, to allow abortion." But when Giuliani made those statements during the interview, which <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/04/sitroom.03.html" title="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/04/sitroom.03.html">aired</a>
in its entirety on the 7 p.m. ET hour of the April 4 <i>Situation Room</i>, Bash did not challenge him, even though
Giuliani has not "always been for abortion rights" and the position he articulated in favor of public funding for abortion appears to conflict
with recent statements made
by his campaign.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060004?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060007?src=other"><em>Wash Post</em>'s Will echoed right-wing attacks on Clinton's proposal to tax oil profits</a></b><br />
In his April 5 <i>Washington
Post</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040402251.html">column</a>,
George Will wrote that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton&#39;s (D-NY) February 1 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.hillaryclinton.com/video/8.aspx">speech</a> at the Democratic
National Committee&#39;s (DNC) 2007 Winter Meeting
"reveals her confiscatory itch,"
citing her proposal
"to take" the oil industry&#39;s record profits and " &#39;put them into a
Strategic Energy Fund that will begin to fund alternative, smart energy ...
that will begin to actually move us towards the direction of [energy]
independence.&#39; "
Will continued:
"Her clunky &#39;toward the direction of&#39; suggests that she
actually knows that independence is as chimerical a goal as Soviet grain
production goals were."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060007?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/national_security_foreign_policy?src=other">National Security/Foreign Policy</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060015?src=other">Media failed to report Pelosi's clarification of her message to Syria</a></b><br />
The April 5 editions
of several cable news programs reported criticisms of House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi&#39;s (D-CA) trip to Syria and touted an April 5 <i>Washington Post</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200704050010?src=other">editorial</a> criticizing Pelosi&#39;s remarks in Syria, without
noting that Pelosi had clarified her remarks after the editorial was published. Pelosi, the <i>Post</i> editorial asserted, had "misrepresented
Israel&#39;s position" when she announced, at an April 4 press conference with
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, that she had told him that "Israel was ready to engage in peace
talks" with Syria. "Only one problem," the editorial asserted:
"The Israeli prime minister had entrusted Ms. Pelosi with no such
message," and instead had "quickly issued" a <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2007/Clarification+regarding+Israeli+policy+vis-a-vis+Syria+4-Apr-2007.htm">statement</a> that "[w]hat was communicated
to [Pelosi] does not contain any change in the policies of Israel"
regarding the terms under which it would negotiate with Syria. As
<i>Media Matters for America</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200704050010?src=other" title="http://mediamatters.org/items/200704050010">noted</a>, Pelosi&#39;s office issued
a <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=215" title="http://mediamatters.org/rd?src=other&http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=215
http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=215">statement</a> on April 5 saying she had made clear to Assad that Israel continued to demand that Syria cut
ties with extremist groups, telling Assad that "in order for Israel to
engage in talks with Syria, the Syrian government must eliminate its links with
extremist elements, including Hamas and Hezbollah." That statement was
released at 1:57 p.m. ET, yet it was ignored by several programs that aired
well after it was released: 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060015?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/government_and_elections?src=other">Government and Elections</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060011?src=other">On <em>Today</em>, Russert baselessly asserted that Democrats have had difficulty being competitive" on foreign policy issues</a></b><br />
While discussing House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi&#39;s (D-CA) trip to Syria
on the April 6 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12495633/" title="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12495633/">edition</a>
of NBC&#39;s <i>Today</i>, NBC News Washington bureau chief
Tim Russert asserted without evidence that "Democrats have always had a
difficulty being competitive with the Republicans in the public voters&#39;
mind on national security and foreign policy issues." But despite
Russert&#39;s assertion that Democrats "always" have difficulty
competing with Republicans on these issues, several polls in the past year have
found that Democrats had an advantage on national security and foreign policy
issues: 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060011?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/media?src=other">Media</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060009?src=other">Olbermann named Allen, Beck "Worst Person" runners-up for blasting Dems' "<em><em>1984</em></em>"-like decision</a></b><br />
On the April 5 edition of MSNBC&#39;s <i>Countdown</i>, host Keith Olbermann awarded <i>Politico</i> chief political correspondent
Mike Allen "the bronze" and CNN Headline News&#39; and ABC&#39;s <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/glennbeck?src=other">Glenn Beck</a> "the
silver" in his nightly "Worst Person in the World" segment
for their comments on the April 4 edition of Beck&#39;s CNN Headline News
program. As <i>Media Matters for America</i>
<a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200704050007?src=other">documented</a>, Allen claimed that the recent decision by Democrats on the House
Armed Services Committee to <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6533329,00.html">refrain</a> from using
the term "global war on terror" had a "sort of a <i>1984</i>
quality to it," while Beck said of the Democrats, "Why don&#39;t
you do some real work instead of all this political garbage?"
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060009?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/race_affirmative_action?src=other">Race/Affirmative Action</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060003?src=other">Imus apologized for "nappy-headed hos" remark  <br /></a></b><br />
After reportedly defending his April 4
description of the Rutgers
 University women&#39;s
basketball team, which is <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.scarletknights.com/basketball-women/roster/roster-alph.asp">comprised</a>
of eight African-American and two white players, as "nappy-headed
hos," on the
April 6 edition of MSNBC&#39;s <i>Imus in the
Morning</i>, host Don Imus apologized for the remark. Imus called his comments "insensitive
and ill-conceived," adding that "[i]t was completely inappropriate, and we can understand why
people were offended." He further called the comments "thoughtless
and stupid." <i>Media Matters for America</i>
<a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200704040011?src=other">noted</a> Imus&#39;
initial comments at the time.  
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060003?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/ethics?src=other">Ethics</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060013?src=other">According to <em>Wash. Post</em> journalist, editor purged "dated" Pelosi smear from profile of GOP Rep. Putnam</a></b><br />
An April 6 <i>Washington
Post</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/05/AR2007040501906.html">profile</a>
of Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL) asserted that Putnam "won&#39;t apologize for
trying to make headlines," and that, as chairman of the House Republican
Conference Committee, his "new job is to jump on anything that makes
Democrats look bad and exploit it for maximum effect." However, the
article made no mention of the fact
that Putnam has <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200702220012?src=other">admitted</a>
that he baselessly
accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) of "an arrogance of
extravagance that demands a jumbo jet that costs $22,000 an hour to operate to
taxi her and her buddies back and forth to California." During an April 6 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/03/30/DI2007033002016.html">online
discussion</a> on washingtonpost.com, in response to a reader&#39;s question about why
Putnam&#39;s baseless accusation was not included in the article, the article&#39;s
author, <i>Post</i> congressional
reporter Lyndsey Layton, stated
that she had included "[t]he Pelosi
plane" in the article&#39;s lead paragraph, but "it was sliced
from the final version because the editor felt the reference was dated."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704060013?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>




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