Here are today's news items from Media Matters for America, click on the title or 'read more' to read the entirety of each story.

2008 Elections

Hill, Globe, others quote Romney attack on Pelosi trip without correction
During an April 10 speech, presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) recent trip to meet with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad was "one of the most partisan, divisive and ill-considered of any national leader in this decade." Subsequent articles about Romney's speech in The Hill, The Boston Globe, The Dallas Morning News, and The Washington Times quoted Romney's characterization of Pelosi's trip as "partisan" without noting that a Republican -- Rep. David Hobson (OH) -- was part of Pelosi's delegation. These reports also omitted mention of recent trips to Syria by a Republican-led delegation and by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). Read more

Media continue to falsely suggest that Giuliani has been consistent on public funding of abortion
Several news outlets and media figures have continued to portray former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's (R) recent comments on public funding for abortion as "honest" and consistent with his previous statements on the issue. Among them are Politico chief political writer Mike Allen, a Washington Post editorial, National Public Radio senior national correspondent Juan Williams, and NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson. However, as Media Matters for America has noted, Giuliani and his campaign have made conflicting statements about his position on public funding for abortion. Read more

Politico's Smith: Fox News' coverage of Hillary Clinton "has been largely respectful"
In an April 10 Politico article on the decisions by Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, and Barack Obama to not participate in a debate co-sponsored by Fox News, Politico senior political writer Ben Smith wrote: "Each of the leading Democrats has handled the situation differently, reflecting different relationships with Fox." Smith went on to claim: "Fox's coverage of the Clintons, too, while rarely warm, has been largely respectful, and appears to have retreated from the stridently anti-Clinton line of the 1990s." Read more

Race/Affirmative Action

Tumulty suggested Clinton is using Imus controversy to raise money
In an April 11 post on Time magazine's Swampland weblog, Time Washington bureau chief Jay Carney observed that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) "has put out a statement condemning" MSNBC host Don Imus' recent reference to the Rutgers women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." Carney further noted that Clinton "has a link on her website that allows visitors to 'send a message of respect and support' to the young women of Rutgers.' " In a follow-up post, however, Time national political correspondent Karen Tumulty appeared to suggest that Clinton's campaign is attempting to benefit from the recent controversy. Tumulty wrote: "Hmmm ... and right next to that Respect for Rutgers/"Send a Message" link on her website is a big red one that says CONTRIBUTE. Sisterhood is powerful." Read more

Imus regular Tim Russert yet to speak out on racial slur
According to a Media Matters for America review*, as of the time of this posting, NBC News Washington bureau chief Tim Russert, a regular guest on MSNBC's Imus in the Morning, had not commented on host Don Imus' April 4 reference to the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." An NBC spokeswoman told The New York Times on April 7 that a statement issued by MSNBC "expressing regret about the remarks reflected Mr. Russert's feelings about the matter as well." That statement read in full: "While simulcast by MSNBC, 'Imus in the Morning' is not a production of the cable network and is produced by WFAN Radio. As Imus makes clear every day, his views are not those of MSNBC. We regret that his remarks were aired on MSNBC and apologize for these offensive comments." Read more

Immigration

Print outlets reported Bush claim that decrease in border arrests is a sign of progress, but not that he said opposite in late 2005
In April 10 articles on President Bush's new immigration reform plan, four news outlets -- the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, the Associated Press, and McClatchy Newspapers -- noted that, during an April 9 speech at the Yuma, Arizona, headquarters of the U.S. Border Patrol, Bush touted the decrease in the "number of people apprehended for illegally crossing our southern border" as evidence that his administration is "making progress" in curtailing illegal immigration. But none of the four outlets mentioned that, in November 2005, Bush cited an increase in the number of illegal immigrant seizures in the same geographic area as an indication that his border patrol policy was "getting results." Similarly, reporting that Bush attributed the decrease in apprehensions to the efficacy of his administration's policies, The New York Times noted criticism of the link but also ignored the apparent inconsistency in the two claims. Read more

Ethics

National media bury Wisconsin story backing up charges that Bush has politicized U.S. attorney offices
An April 11 article in The Washington Post on the House Judiciary Committee's decision to subpoena hundreds of Justice Department documents related to the U.S. attorney firings noted that Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) has "joined other members in demanding records and additional information about a federal public corruption case" in Wisconsin. Regarding the case, the Post reported only that a federal appeals court in Chicago ordered a former state employee to be "released after overturning her conviction." The article did not report that Georgia Thompson -- who was not identified by name -- was convicted on charges brought by a Bush-appointed U.S. attorney just before the 2006 election, that Wisconsin Republicans used her conviction to attack Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle (D) during the campaign, that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit took the highly unusual action of ordering the defendant released during oral argument because of the lack of evidence to support the conviction, and that Feingold and five other senators have requested information about the case to investigate whether "politics may have played an inappropriate role" in the prosecution. Read more

War in Iraq

Politico falsely reported Bush invited Dems to "negotiate" war spending bill
An April 10 Politico article regarding the standoff between President Bush and Congress over war funding reported that Bush "call[ed] on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid [D-NV] and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [D-CA] to come to the White House next week to negotiate a 'clean bill' to pay for combat operations" in Iraq and Afghanistan but that Pelosi and Reid "rejected the offer." In fact, White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino clearly stated on April 10 that Bush did not offer to "negotiate." Speaking with reporters, Perino explained that Bush would invite Reid and Pelosi only to "discuss with him how they are going to be able to bring him a clean bill that he can sign." Perino added: "I will point out this is not a negotiation." Moreover, in a joint statement released on April 10, both Pelosi and Reid said that they are "willing to meet with the President at any time," but that they "believe that any discussion of an issue as critical as Iraq must be accomplished by conducting serious negotiations without any preconditions." Read more

Propaganda/Noise Machine

UPDATE: Politico's Smith claimed "cowards" line "was tongue in cheek" -- but few readers seemed to get joke
Politico senior political writer Ben Smith posted an update to his April 9 Politico.com weblog entry, claiming that he was being "tongue in cheek" when he asserted, as Media Matters for America noted, that Fox News can "confirm to its viewers that Democrats are ... cowards" after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and former Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) declined to participate in a presidential debate sponsored by Fox News and the Congressional Black Caucus Political Education and Leadership Institute. Read more

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