Media Matters for America summary, May 24, 2007
 
Date: Thu, 24 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/200705250001?src=other">Peers have criticized Clinton bio co-author Jeff Gerth for flawed reporting</a></b><br />
Former <em>New York Times</em> reporter Jeff Gerth,
co-author of a soon-to-be-released biography of Hillary Clinton, has been the
subject of harsh criticism by some fellow journalists for his previous investigative reporting on a
number of subjects, including the Clintons.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705250001?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705240009?src=other">NBC's Gregory allowed Kerrey to falsely characterize Edwards' speech</a></b><br />
In a report on <em>Today</em>,
David Gregory allowed former Sen. Bob Kerrey to suggest that John
Edwards' recent speech questioning the use of the phrase "war on
terror" had ignored the threat of terrorism or spoken against fighting
terrorism. In fact, Edwards' speech identified several situations in
which "force is justified."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705240009?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705240002?src=other">AIM's Kincaid on "Clinton's alleged lesbianism": "[A]s explosive as Senator Barack Obama's mysterious upbringing as a Muslim"</a></b><br />
In his May 2007 "Cliff&#39;s Notes" <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.aim.org/aim_report_cliffs_notes/5478_0_4_0/">report</a>, Cliff Kincaid, editor and writer at
right-wing media "watchdog" organization Accuracy in Media, wrote:
"The sex scandal the media won&#39;t touch involves Senator Hillary Clinton&#39;s
[D-NY] alleged lesbianism." Kincaid later added: "This matter is as explosive as
Senator Barack Obama&#39;s [D-IL] mysterious upbringing as a Muslim in Indonesia and
his quick conversion to Christianity."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705240002?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705240008?src=other">Morris imputed sinister motive to Clinton for disclosure extension, didn't note extensions also granted to McCain, Romney</a></b><br />
In a <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.nypost.com/seven/05242007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/bills_ugly_buddy_opedcolumnists_dick_morris__eileen_mcgann.htm">column</a> that appeared in
the May 24 <i>New York Post,</i> after
noting that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) "obtained an extension of time to file her
financial-disclosure statement for the presidential race," Dick Morris
falsely claimed that Clinton "offered no reason for the
postponement" and baselessly speculated that Clinton sought the extension
because "she hopes to conceal" payments made to her husband, former
President Bill Clinton, by a company named InfoUSA. Clinton has, in fact, reportedly provided a reason for
seeking the extension -- to comply with a disclosure demand by a federal agency -- and
Morris did not note that both former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) and Sen. John McCain
(R-AZ) also received deadline extensions for reportedly the same reason.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705240008?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/200705240006?src=other">CNN's Costello ignored failed Bush nominee's private-sector severance</a></b><br />
On the May 23 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/23/sitroom.01.html">edition</a>
of CNN&#39;s <i>The Situation Room</i>,
contributor Carol Costello reported that manufacturing industry lobbyist
Michael Baroody "is withdrawing his nomination as President Bush&#39;s pick
to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission," and asserted: "Some Senate Democrats strongly opposed him,
saying that as a lobbyist for the National Association of Manufacturers, he is
not the right person to fight for consumers. But the Bush administration says
Baroody has an impressive record of doing just that." However, Costello left out a crucial element of the conflict-of-interest charges
surrounding Baroody&#39;s nomination: that he was
set to receive a $150,000 severance package from the National Association of
Manufacturers (NAM). By contrast, numerous
other outlets noted the
objections over Baroody&#39;s severance package in their coverage of his withdrawal. 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705240006?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705240010?src=other">Ignoring example of Griffin, AP cast concerns about Patriot Act provision as Democratic speculation</a></b><br />
In an article on a House-passed bill repealing the
law that allowed the Bush administration to appoint "interim" U.S. attorneys
indefinitely and without Senate confirmation, the Associated Press reported
that the change "will close a loophole that Democrats say could have permitted the White
House to reward GOP loyalists with plum jobs as U.S. Attorneys." But what
the AP characterized as Democrats' concerns have already borne out: Tim Griffin, a former aide
to Karl Rove, has been serving -- and continues to serve -- without Senate
confirmation.

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705240010?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705240007?src=other">Again ignoring U.S. attorney scandal, <em>CBS Evening News</em> did not report on Goodling's testimony</a></b><br />
Continuing a <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200705170006?src=other">pattern</a> of ignoring developments in
the scandal surrounding
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and the dismissal of several U.S.
attorneys, the May 23 <i>CBS Evening News with Katie Couric</i> was the
only network evening news broadcast that did not cover former Justice
Department official Monica Goodling&#39;s May 23 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/transcripts/goodling_testimony_052307.html">testimony</a> before
the House Judiciary Committee.
During her testimony, Goodling
stated that she may have "crossed the line" by taking "inappropriate political
considerations into account" in hiring career Justice Department officials, potentially a <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/24/washington/24monica.html?ex=1337659200&amp;en=3b959ab90b61cfce&amp;ei=5090&amp;partner=rssuserland&amp;emc=rss">violation</a> of the
law. Goodling, a former aide to Gonzales, also suggested that former Deputy Attorney General
Paul J. McNulty had lied under oath and that
Gonzales may have done so as well during his testimony on the scandal.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705240007?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/200705240005?src=other">CNN aired Bush assertion about Iraq three times in one hour without assessing its validity</a></b><br />
President Bush&#39;s statement,
"The enemy in Vietnam
had neither the intent nor the capability to strike our homeland. The enemy in Iraq
does," was aired three times in the 4 p.m. ET <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/23/sitroom.01.html" title="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0705/23/sitroom.01.html">hour</a> of the May 23 edition of
CNN&#39;s <i>The Situation Room</i>.
While host Wolf Blitzer invited Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards to
respond to the statement at one point, at no point did he or other CNN personalities note that, as <i>Media Matters
for America</i> has <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200705210005?src=other" title="http://mediamatters.org/items/200705210005">documented</a>,
the assertion that terrorists will "strike our homeland" following a
U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq is widely challenged by experts.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705240005?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/200705240004?src=other"><em>Wash.</em><em> Post's </em>Solomon and Birnbaum showed no attempt to contact SF officials about Pelosi funding request</a></b><br />
A May 24 <i>Washington
Post</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/23/AR2007052301782_pf.html">article</a> by staff writers
John Solomon and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, headlined "In the Democratic
Congress, Pork Still Gets Served," reported that House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D-CA) "requested $25 million for a project to improve the
waterfront in her home district of San Francisco," but her "request
did not note that her family owns interests in four buildings near the proposed
Pier 35 project," suggesting that Pelosi violated the requirements of a
"key Democratic reform" noted in the report. The article quoted a
Pelosi spokesman saying that "any suggestion of a conflict of interest is
&#39;ridiculous&#39; " and that "Pelosi was passing along a
spending request from the Port
 of San Francisco and that
she would not benefit from it." But Solomon and Birnbaum gave no
indication that they attempted to contact officials from the Port of San Francisco
to confirm the spokesman&#39;s claim. As <i>Media
Matters for America</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200705080014?src=other">noted</a>, blogger Greg Sargent <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/05/pelosi.php">reported</a> May 8 that Port of San Francisco officials told him in a
phone interview that they requested the waterfront improvement spending. 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200705240004?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>




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