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

Politico largely ignored Giuliani-ISG story, still flogging Edwards' haircuts
The Politico, which purports to cover "the politics of Capitol Hill and of the presidential campaign ... with enterprise, style, and impact," largely ignored a June 19 Newsday article reporting that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's (R) "membership on" the Iraq Study Group (ISG) "came to an abrupt end last spring after he failed to show up for a single official meeting of the group." By contrast, The Politico continues to report on former Sen. John Edwards' (D-NC) $400 haircuts and their effect on his presidential campaign. Read more

Mitchell suggested a conflict between Clinton's opposition to the war and support for the troops
On the June 20 edition of NBC's Today, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell cited Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) June 19 schedule -- "after speaking out against the war all day, Clinton was honored by the Marines last night" -- as an example of how "leading Democrats make sure they strike a balance between pleasing the base and positioning themselves to run against a Republican." By juxtaposing the two events as though they were in tension, Mitchell echoed a view commonly articulated by the media that "speaking out against the war" is anti-military or not supportive of the troops. Read more

Stem Cell Research

Wash. Post article on Bush stem cell plan ignored scientists' support for bill Bush vetoed
In a June 20 article, The Washington Post reported that President Bush, upon vetoing a bill to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, "plans to issue an executive order today to encourage government agencies to support research that offers the promise of creating medically useful stem cells without destroying human embryos." But the article did not report -- as the Post itself did on June 7 -- that some of the scientists involved in one of the research methods Bush is touting as an alternative to embryonic stem cell research have themselves called for passage of the bill Bush just vetoed, which, as the Post reported on June 7, "would give federally funded researchers access to embryos slated for destruction at fertility clinics." Read more

LGBT Issues

Limbaugh guest host Belling described same-sex couples' decision to have children as "pure selfishness"
On the June 19 broadcast of Rush Limbaugh's nationally syndicated radio show, while discussing a recent custody battle stemming from a same-sex civil union in Vermont, guest host Mark Belling asked, "Can a baby have two mothers? It's a new concept for us. And I'm not sure it's an especially healthy one. First of all, it demeans the entire notion of fatherhood, implying that a father is an absolute irrelevancy, a concept that has destroyed many black families, the idea that we simply don't need have to have any male role model in the life whatsoever." Belling added that "the desire to have these kids is almost entirely premised on, 'I want to have a baby. We want to have a baby.' Not, 'Are we in the best situation to be able to raise a child?' And I think it comes down to just pure selfishness. And that's what it's all about." Read more

Budget

CNN's King failed to challenge claim that Bush "has stood up for" "wisely spending the taxpayers' dollar"
On the June 19 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN chief national correspondent John King failed to challenge outgoing Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Robert Portman's claim that while the Republicans lost their congressional majority because voters believed they were "not as focused on wisely spending the taxpayers' dollar," President Bush "has stood up for" doing so. In fact, Bush signed every appropriations bill passed by the Republican-controlled Congress, which produced large budget deficits. Read more

Propaganda/Noise Machine

O'Reilly: NBC News "jazzed" over "[d]ead Afghan kids killed in an American air strike"
During the "Talking Points Memo" segment of the June 19 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, responding to the coverage by network newscasts of the deaths of seven Afghan children in a recent air strike in eastern Afghanistan, host Bill O'Reilly said "last night, all three network newscasts reported seven Afghan children were killed in fighting between the Taliban and U.S. forces. ABC News spent 15 seconds on the story, just told you about it. CBS News, 10 seconds. But NBC News gave it a full two minutes." O'Reilly continued: "Dead Afghan kids killed in an American air strike, NBC News is jazzed. But why? You make the call." He later asserted that "we don't censor the news on The Factor; we tell you the truth about Iraq and everywhere else. But we don't help the terrorists either, and that separates us from some in the anti-war press." Read more

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