Media Matters for America summary, April 20, 2007
 
Date: Fri, 20 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/200704200014?src=other">KSFO's Morgan: <em>Media Matters</em> like Virginia Tech gunman</a></b><br />
In an April 20 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55298">column</a> for
WorldNetDaily.com, Melanie Morgan, co-host of San Francisco radio station KSFO&#39;s <i>Lee Rodgers &amp; Melanie Morgan Program</i>,
compared <i>Media Matters for America</i>
to the Virginia Tech gunman who killed 32 people before shooting himself to
death. Morgan wrote: "Like that mentally unbalanced and angry gunman at
Virginia Tech, they&#39;ll methodically march through the domiciles of the
conservative movement, targeting the movement&#39;s leaders for career elimination
-- until and unless we stand up and fight back against their campaign of mayhem
against conservative leaders and causes." Morgan also attacked <i>Media Matters</i> as "left-wing free
speech Nazis." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200014?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200003?src=other">Radio host Michael Smerconish to be simulcast on MSNBC in place of <em>Imus</em></a></b><br />
According to an April
20 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20070420_215-854-5915.html">article</a>
on Philly.com, the website of <i>The Philadelphia Inquirer</i>, "The Big Talker 1210 AM morning show of Daily News
columnist Michael Smerconish is to be simulcast Monday through Wednesday on
MSNBC." The article noted that Smerconish will fill the slot previously
held by <i>Imus in the Morning</i>.
MSNBC announced on April 11 that it would no longer
broadcast <i>Imus</i> in
the wake of comments made by host Don Imus on the April 4 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200704040011?src=other" title="http://mediamatters.org/items/200704040011">edition</a> of that show, during which he
referred to the Rutgers
 University women&#39;s
basketball team as "nappy-headed hos." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200003?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200013?src=other">GOP strategist Blakeman again accused Dem leader of "giv[ing] aid and comfort to our enemy"</a></b><br />
On the April 20 edition of <i>MSNBC
Live</i>, during a discussion of
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid&#39;s (D-NV) recent assertion that the Iraq
war "is lost" -- which
he followed by stating that it "can only be won diplomatically,
politically, and
economically" -- Republican strategist Brad Blakeman said that Reid
"is absolutely,
100 percent wrong" and that "[h]is statements give aid and comfort
to our enemy and demoralize our troops."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200013?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200009?src=other">Boortz attacked "Media Morons"</a></b><br />
On the April 20 broadcast of his nationally syndicated
radio show, Neal Boortz attacked
<i>Media
Matters for America,</i> which he
called "Media Morons," for an April 20 <i>New York
Times</i> article
by reporter Jacques
Steinberg headlined "<a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/20/us/20radio.html?_r=1&amp;oref=slogin" target="_new" title="This external link will open in a new window">Talk Radio Tries for Humor and a
Political Advantage</a>." In the article, Steinberg noted
that Boortz, while discussing the recent shootings at Virginia Tech on the
April 18 broadcast of his show, speculated that "[w]hen the history of
this event is written ... we will have 25 students standing meekly waiting
for this guy to execute them" and then aired an instrumental version of
the Pat Benatar song "Hit Me With Your Best Shot." Boortz went on
to state: "[S]omebody out there feeds this, because I know damn well Jacques Steinberg wasn&#39;t listening to <i>The Neal Boortz Show</i>. ... So my guess
is Media Morons, I mean <i>Media Matters</i>.
My guess is it was them. Because they specialize in disinformation." In
fact, <i>Media Matters</i> did not
publish an item documenting Boortz&#39;s comments -- or choices of music --
on the April 18 broadcast of his show.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200009?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200002?src=other">On Fox News, Steyn attacked Virginia Tech, claiming school "exemplifies" a "culture of passivity"</a></b><br />
On the April 19 edition of Fox News&#39; <i>Your World with Neil Cavuto</i>, <i>Chicago Sun-Times</i> columnist and <i>National Review</i> contributor Mark Steyn
commented on the April
16 mass shooting at Virginia Tech, saying
that "when one man is able to kill dozens of people in the same location
over a period of several hours, that reflects a systemic failure." Steyn
continued: "So we need to understand what caused that failure. And I
think part of the problem is a general culture of passivity, which Virginia
Tech exemplifies."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200002?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200011?src=other">On Irish TV, O'Reilly called <em>Media Matters</em> "an assassination website" that takes him "out of context"</a></b><br />
On April 13, Fox News host <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/billoreilly?src=other">Bill O&#39;Reilly</a>
appeared on RT&Eacute;
One&#39;s <i><a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.rte.ie/tv/latelate/20070413.html">The Late Late Show</a></i>,
a talk show based in Dublin,
 Ireland. During
the interview, host Pat Kenny
asked O&#39;Reilly about his previous references to the poor as
"irresponsible and lazy" and the Iraqi people as
"prehistoric." When Kenny said that he found both remarks on <i>Media Matters for America</i>&#39;s website, O&#39;Reilly responded by
attacking <i>Media Matters</i> as
"an assassination website" and a "far-left propaganda
thing." O&#39;Reilly
further claimed that he didn&#39;t "remember saying" either of
the statements pointed
out by Kenny and
added that <i>Media Matters</i> takes
him "out of context." However, <i>Media
Matters</i> provided documentation of O&#39;Reilly referring to the
poor as "irresponsible and lazy" and the Iraqi people as
"prehistoric."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200011?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/200704200005?src=other"><em>NY Sun</em> editor: Rutgers team must "feel pretty terrible" about Corzine crash</a></b><br />
During the 10 a.m. ET hour of the April 20 edition of <i>MSNBC Live</i>, <i>New York Sun</i> national and foreign editor Nicholas Wapshott told
host Chris Jansing that he "should think" that members of the Rutgers University
women&#39;s basketball team "feel pretty terrible about what&#39;s
happened to [New Jersey] Governor [Jon] Corzine [D], who was racing to attend a
totally unnecessary meeting of reconciliation where these women are paraded as
inadequate." Wapshott was referring to an April 12 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/13/imus.rutgers/index.html">meeting</a>
between Don Imus and the basketball team held at the New Jersey governor&#39;s mansion
following Imus&#39; April 4 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200704040011?src=other">comments</a>, in which he referred to the team as
"nappy-headed hos." According
to an April 13 Reuters <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/13/AR2007041300825.html">article</a>,
Corzine was on his way to the meeting when the vehicle in which he was riding "swerved to avoid
another car and crashed through a guard rail."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200005?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200006?src=other">Will the media ask Bush who is telling the truth about his Syria conversation with Pelosi?</a></b><br />
On April 20, <i>The Washington Post</i>
<a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/19/AR2007041902356.html">reported</a> that House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said President Bush,
at an April 18 White House meeting, "told her he did not criticize her
recent trip to Syria."
According to the <i>Post</i>, Pelosi
said Bush "told her in an unsolicited comment that it was actually the
State Department that criticized her" for heading a bipartisan delegation
to Syria
and meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The <i>Post</i> also reported, however, that deputy
White House press secretary Dana Perino "took issue with Pelosi&#39;s account
of the conversation in the Cabinet Room," claiming "that Pelosi
started the conversation about the Syria trip and that she never heard
Bush back off his criticism." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200006?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/200704200007?src=other"><em>Wash. Post </em>noted Biskupic's overturned prosecution, but not judge's denunciation of the case</a></b><br />
In an April 19 article on the U.S. attorney firings, <em>The Washington Post</em> noted that Milwaukee U.S.
attorney Steven Biskupic secured the conviction of a former Wisconsin
state employee, which an appeals court later overturned, but it did not mention
that the appeals court ordered the former employee released immediately due to
lack of evidence. Additionally, the <em>Post</em>
suggested that the Bush administration first disclosed that millions of emails,
including some about the attorney firings, are missing, when in fact it was Citizens
for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
that first publicized the issue.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200007?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/polling?src=other">Polling</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200010?src=other">CNN's Bash conflated different poll questions to underestimate public support for gun control</a></b><br />
On the April 18 edition of CNN&#39;s <i>Lou Dobbs Tonight</i>, CNN congressional
correspondent Dana Bash asserted that "public support for tightening gun
laws has been steadily dropping" and, in support, added: "In 1990,
78 percent of Americans backed stricter gun laws. Now, it&#39;s only 49
percent." However, Bash appeared to be conflating numbers from two different
questions asked by Gallup in its long-running poll on gun-related issues
(updated in January) and, in so doing, suggested a much larger drop in support
for stricter gun laws than polling indicates. 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200010?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/war_in_iraq?src=other">War in Iraq</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200012?src=other">Media outlets reported that Reid said Iraq war "is lost," but failed to note his further comments</a></b><br />
On April 19 and 20, numerous print and television media
outlets reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had said that
"the [Iraq]
war is lost" during a press conference discussing Congress&#39;
standoff with President Bush over emergency funding for the war. However, these
outlets did not also report that, later
during the press conference, Reid added that "the war, at this stage, can
only be won diplomatically, politically, and economically." Other news outlets reporting on
Reid&#39;s statement
-- for example, <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070419184534.ileoeb47&amp;show_article=1">Agence France-Presse</a>
and <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1943792720070419">Reuters</a> -- noted Reid&#39;s further comments. Moreover, during a <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getpage.cgi?dbname=2007_record&amp;page=S4744&amp;position=all">speech</a> on the
Senate floor the same
day, Reid reiterated his stance, advocating a "political solution"
in Iraq
and asserting that
"there is still a chance to change course."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200704200012?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>




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