Media Matters for America summary, May 22, 2007
 
Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 22:03:06 -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/2008_elections?src=other">2008 Elections</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705230001?src=other"><em>Wash. Post</em>'s Romano challenged Matthews on his "obsession" with Clinton marriage "logistics"</a></b><br />
On the May 21 edition of MSNBC&#39;s <i>Hardball</i>, in his dogged quest for what he
would consider "straight answers" on the Clintons&#39; marriage and on how much time
the couple spends together, host Chris Matthews elicited the following response
from <i>Washington Post</i> reporter
Lois Romano: "[W]hat is your obsession with logistics here?" 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705230001?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220009?src=other">CNN's Foreman touted McCain's "straight talk" in 2000, despite admission of dishonesty on Confederate flag</a></b><br />
On <em>The Situation Room</em>, correspondent Tom Foreman reported that Sen.
John McCain "became famous for his straight talk during his first run for
the White House." However, Foreman did not report information that undermines the "straight talk" label, including McCain's
admission that he "broke [his]
promise to always tell the truth" when, in 2000, he declined to call for the removal
of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Statehouse.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220009?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220001?src=other">Interviews of Buchanan contained falsehoods about Clinton's '02 vote on war resolution</a></b><br />
In television appearances to
promote her new book, Bay Buchanan<em> </em>claimed
that Hillary Clinton said in a magazine article that she "didn't
know" her vote in favor of the 2002 resolution authorizing the use of
force against Iraq
"was a vote for war." In fact, Clinton
is not quoted as saying -- as Buchanan claimed -- that "I didn't
know it was a vote for war," or "I didn't vote for war," and
the article's context makes it clear that Clinton knew what the bill authorized.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220001?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220007?src=other"><em>SF Chronicle</em> called Edwards' speech fee "whopping" but ignored Giuliani's much larger fees</a></b><br />
In a May 21 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=14&amp;entry_id=16809#readmore">entry</a>
to the <i>San Francisco Chronicle</i>&#39;s
Politics Blog, <i>Chronicle</i>
political reporter Carla Marinucci wrote, "Democratic presidential
candidate John Edwards, who recently proposed an educational policy that urged
&#39;every financial barrier&#39; be removed for American kids who want to
go to college, has been going to college himself -- as a high paid speaker, his
financial records show." According to Marinucci, Edwards "charged a
whopping $55,000 to speak to a crowd of 1,787 [at] the taxpayer-funded University of California
at Davis on
Jan. 9, 2006," before Edwards declared his intention to seek the
presidency. However, Marinucci made no mention of Republican presidential
contender Rudy Giuliani, who reportedly charged Oklahoma State
 University $100,000 for a
speech he delivered in 2006 and an additional $47,000 for the use of a private
jet.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220007?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220005?src=other"><em>Wash. Post </em>left out inconsistencies in Romney camp's hunting statements</a></b><br />
In a May 22 <i>Washington Post</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/21/AR2007052101690.html">article</a>, staff writer Michael D. Shear wrote that a comment by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) "managed
to tweak [former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt] Romney [R] on ... his support for gun rights (he once bragged about bagging small
varmints)," but Shear left out the real reason that Romney was
"bragg[ing] about bagging small varmints." In fact,
Romney&#39;s comments regarding his experience hunting "small
varmints" were not simply a boast about his support
for gun rights, but
an attempt to clarify his prior claim of
having been a lifelong hunter -- a claim reportedly undermined by
his staff.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220005?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></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/200705220008?src=other">For the second time in a week, Dobson suggested the loss of U.S. cities to an Islamic terror attack</a></b><br />
On the May 16 edition of his <i>Focus on the Family</i> radio show, Focus on the Family founder
and chairman James C. Dobson broadcast an interview with evangelical pastor
Michael Youssef, founder of The Church of The Apostles and host of the syndicated radio and TV program <i><a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.leadingtheway.org/">Leading the Way</a></i>,
from an earlier event held in Naples, Florida, in which the two discussed
"Insights on Radical Islam." During the broadcast, Dobson said that "it&#39;s a matter of time" before a
terror attack destroys "a city or two or three or
four." Two days earlier, Dobson had cited the "danger" posed
by Iran and the possibility of subsequent "pile on" attacks by
"North Korea and Russia and China." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220008?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220006?src=other">Reporting Carter comments, media repeat myth of "unwritten rule" against ex-presidents criticizing successors</a></b><br />
On the May 21 edition of NBC&#39;s <i>Nightly News</i>, anchor Brian Williams teased
a segment on former President Jimmy Carter&#39;s (D) recent <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/21/washington/21carter.html?ex=1337400000&amp;en=5c7047e95cb6e051&amp;ei=5090&amp;partner=rssuserland&amp;emc=rss">criticism</a> of President
Bush by asking, "[D]id a former president break an unwritten rule when
commenting on the current president?" Williams later asserted that
"[t]he thought has been there are four guys alive who know the pressures
of" the presidency -- "three former, one current president"
-- and "there&#39;s kind of an unwritten rule about criticism."
Similarly, during the May 21 broadcast of Fox News&#39; <i>Special Report with Brit Hume</i>, <i>Weekly Standard</i> executive editor Fred
Barnes asserted that "Carter&#39;s remarks were unprecedented," and also claimed that one of the
things "former presidents didn&#39;t do" was "criticize their
successors." In fact, as <i>The
New York Times</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/washington/22carter.html?ex=1337486400&amp;en=80c11661229f19aa&amp;ei=5090&amp;partner=rssuserland&amp;emc=rss">reported</a> May 22,
"there have been several instances of &#39;when ex-presidents
attack&#39; over the years" and "presidential scholars roll their
eyes at the notion that former presidents do not speak ill of current
ones."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220006?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220010?src=other">On Fox, Morgan blamed <em>Media Matters</em> for apparent PBS ban</a></b><br />
On the May 21 edition of Fox News&#39; <i>Hannity &amp; Colmes</i>, conservative radio
host and <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.moveamericaforward.org/index.php">Move
America Forward</a> chairman <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/melaniemorgan?src=other">Melanie
Morgan</a> addressed a May 17 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2007/05/ombudsmans_mailbag_7.html">statement</a> by
Linda Winslow, executive producer of Public Broadcasting Service&#39;s <i>The NewsHour
with Jim Lehrer</i>, in response to
viewer complaints regarding the <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june07/iraq_05-08.html">discussion</a>
between Morgan and <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.votevets.org/">VoteVets.org</a>
chairman Jon Soltz on the May 8 edition of the <i>NewsHour.</i>
Winslow wrote: "Since the program is produced live, we can&#39;t do much to
eliminate rude guests from your television screen once the segment has begun;
what we can do is guarantee you will never see that person on our program
again." On <i>Hannity</i>, Morgan
accused <i>Media Matters for America</i>
-- which published a May 9 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200705100002?src=other">item</a> on
Morgan&#39;s <i>NewsHour</i> appearance
-- of encouraging "their people" to call PBS and get her banned
from the network. Morgan further stated: "I am demanding an apology from
Linda Winslow, because this is a woman who clearly is lying about the
situation." Morgan also asserted: "PBS has a blatant
anti-conservative bias. They don&#39;t want to hear a proud pro-American, pro-troop
point of view," adding, "I think that ... PBS should be ashamed
of itself." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220010?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/iran?src=other">Iran</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220004?src=other">Glass houses? O'Reilly derided "talk show nuts" who believe U.S. will "nuke Iran"</a></b><br />
On the May 18 broadcast of his nationally
syndicated radio show, while discussing May 17 Senate <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/18/washington/18immig.html?_r=2&amp;hp&amp;oref=slogin&amp;oref=slogin">negotiations</a> on a
comprehensive immigration bill, Fox News host <a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/billoreilly?src=other">Bill O&#39;Reilly</a>
asserted: "Now, the far right, the hard right, somehow believes that, in
the United States of America, the federal government at some point is gonna
form federal squads to go in and grab people where they live or where they work
and throw them out of the country. These are the talk show nuts who are telling
you that they&#39;re gonna nuke Tehran."
In fact, as <i>Media Matters for America</i>
has documented, O&#39;Reilly is among those who have predicted that the United States will eventually bomb Iran.
O&#39;Reilly&#39;s statements include:
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705220004?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>




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