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

LA Times ignored its earlier reporting in asserting that Thompson stood up to party
A July 10 Los Angeles Times article about conservatives' reaction to then-Sen. Fred Thompson's (R-TN) 1997 investigation into allegations of improper campaign fundraising asserted: "The way Thompson conducted the hearings may raise questions about whether he has the zest for cut-and-thrust partisanship that many conservatives want in their leaders: Although conservatives wanted to keep the focus on [former President Bill] Clinton and the Democrats, Thompson defied [then-Senate Majority Leader Trent] Lott [R-MS] and broadened the scope of the investigation, giving Democrats opportunities to question GOP practices." However, while Thompson did offer Democrats a chance to subpoena and question some witnesses, he later canceled the hearings before Democrats were able to present evidence of Republican wrongdoing, as previously reported by the Times and as Media Matters for America has noted. Read more

News outlets ID'ed Giuliani ally as "former firefighter"; no mention of business partnership with Giuliani
In reports on the release of an online video critical of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's [R] 9-11 record, The New York Times, the Associated Press, and the New York Daily News reported former New York City firefighter Richard Sheirer's criticism of the video without noting that Sheirer is a senior vice president at Giuliani Partners LLC, a consulting firm established by Giuliani, who is still listed as the firm's chairman and chief executive officer. Read more

Kristol falsely claimed of Clinton and Obama: "She hasn't passed any legislation. He hasn't either."
On the July 8 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday, Weekly Standard editor and Fox News contributor William Kristol falsely claimed that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) "hasn't passed any legislation" and added that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) "hasn't either." In fact, Clinton and Obama have both been instrumental in the passage of legislation during the time they have served in the Senate, including legislation on which they were the lead sponsors. Read more

CNN, NY Times, Wash. Post uncritically repeated Giuliani's claim that anti-Giuliani firefighter unions are partisan
In a July 11 report on a new online video critical of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani's (R) 9-11 record, CNN correspondent Carol Costello uncritically reported the claim by Giuliani's presidential campaign that the union that produced the video, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF)," is "partisan" and "has a long history of backing Democratic presidential candidates." Blogs on the websites of The New York Times and The Washington Post also reported the Giuliani campaign's rebuttal. However, neither CNN nor the Post and Times blogs noted that the IAFF issued an "e-mail press release" -- posted on a USA Today blog at 2:50 p.m. ET on July 11 -- noting that the group has endorsed Republican candidates in other recent races. Moreover, these outlets ignored the fact that IAFF Local 94 -- listed in the video's end credits as having "cooperat[ed]" and "participat[ed]" in the production of the video -- endorsed President Bush in 2004, as Media Matters for America noted. Read more

War in Iraq

Wash. Post editorial joined Bush in conflating "Al Qaeda" and "Al Qaeda in Iraq," despite Post's own reporting
A July 12 Washington Post editorial headlined "Wishful Thinking on Iraq" asserted that U.S. generals in Iraq "believe they are making fitful progress in calming Baghdad, training the Iraqi army and encouraging anti-al-Qaeda coalitions." But by claiming that the generals are "encouraging anti-al-Qaeda coalitions," the editorial conflated -- as the Bush administration has done -- the Sunni insurgent group "Al Qaeda in Iraq" with the Osama bin Laden-led group responsible for the 9-11 attacks. As Media Matters for America has noted, "U.S. military and intelligence officials" reportedly "reject[]" the Bush administration's claim that, in President Bush's words, "[t]he same people that attacked us on September the 11th is the crowd that is now bombing people, killing innocent men, women and children" in Iraq. The Post itself reported on the distinction between the two groups in a July 11 article, a distinction ignored by the Post's editorial writer. Read more

On ABC's World News, McCarthy adopted Bush rhetoric about threat of "Al Qaeda" in Iraq

On the July 11 edition of ABC's World News, correspondent Terry McCarthy uncritically repeated the assertion by Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S.-led forces in Iraq, that "[t]he enemy in Iraq that is causing the horrific attacks that is igniting the sectarian violence, that is causing the mass casualties and damaging the infrastructure by and large is Al Qaeda." McCarthy repeatedly referred to the military's strategy for fighting "Al Qaeda," but at no point did he note that that the Bush administration's assertion that Al Qaeda is the America's primary enemy in Iraq and the source of most of the violence in the country has been rejected by many military and intelligence analysts, as The Washington Post and McClatchy Newspapers have reported. Read more

NBC Nightly News ignored senior intel official's assessment regarding violence in Iraq
On the July 11 edition of NBC's Nightly News, host Brian Williams reported that according to information obtained from a White House assessment, "there is unsatisfactory progress on 10 of the 18 so-called benchmarks laid out by Congress" for the Iraqi government but that "there is some good news, though, including a drop in those sectarian killings in Baghdad." Williams' report did not contain any other information regarding the administration's report, thus ignoring a more negative assessment on progress in Iraq from National Intelligence Council chairman Thomas Fingar, who is also the deputy director of national intelligence for analysis. According to prepared testimony presented to the House Armed Services committee on July 11, Fingar asserted that "even if violence is diminished, given the current winner-take-all attitude and sectarian animosities infecting the political scene, Iraqi leaders will be hard pressed to achieve sustained political reconciliation." Read more

Ethics

Blitzer interviewed Domenici, but failed to ask about attorney firings
On the July 11 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer hosted Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) to discuss the Senate debate on the Iraq war. But during the interview, Blitzer failed to ask Domenici about his role in the Bush administration's controversial firings of nine U.S. attorneys despite the fact that, minutes earlier, Blitzer had reported on the Senate Judiciary Committee's well-publicized hearing on the issue that day. During interviews with other prominent Republicans -- including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (TX) -- Blitzer similarly failed to ask them about relevant issues -- in Bloomberg's case, about allegations that the New York Police Department engaged in surveillance of protestors at the 2004 Republican National Convention, and in DeLay's case, his indictment on money laundering and conspiracy charges. Read more

Kondracke assumed voter fraud as fact in claiming prosecutor firings were about "the failure to prosecute" it
Morton Kondracke said that the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the Bush administration's firing of nine U.S. attorneys have "discovered nothing specifically nefarious that any of -- that these firings had anything to do with, except, maybe, the failure to prosecute voter fraud cases." In fact, two of the fired prosecutors have said that they investigated voter fraud allegations but found insufficient evidence to warrant prosecution or a grand jury investigation, while administration officials have stated that a third was fired for reasons unrelated to his performance.
Read more

LGBT Issues

O'Reilly: To "cluster" gays near children is "insane" and "inappropriate"
On the July 11 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly called the San Diego Padres' decision to host a gay pride night and a children's hat giveaway promotion during the same July 8 baseball game "insensitive," "dumb," "almost unbelievable," and a "mistake." He called it "insane" to "cluster" gay men and lesbians during a "hat giveaway for any kid under 12." O'Reilly reported that "thousands of gay adults showed up and commingled with straight families," and stated, "[C]lear-thinking people understand it is completely out of context and inappropriate." When San Diego Pride executive director Ron deHarte said that it "was no different than any other game," O'Reilly responded: "But you are focusing in and putting more homosexuals into an area. OK? See, that's the problem," adding: "You're putting it in a kid's face at a baseball game." O'Reilly later asserted: "This is social engineering by the Padres." Read more

Propaganda/Noise Machine

Boortz: Media Matters' "Dave Brock is the illegitimate bastard child of Hillary Clinton and George Soros"
On the July 12 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, host Neal Boortz said he does not want to go on vacation "without having stirred the pudding with Media Myrmidons at least one more time." He went on to suggest that Media Matters for America President and CEO "David Brock is the illegitimate son of [Clinton deputy White House counsel] Vince Foster and [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY]" and later said, "Dave Brock is the illegitimate bastard child of Hillary Clinton and [philanthropist] George Soros." In the same segment, Boortz said he used to refer to Hearst Newspapers columnist Helen Thomas as "the hag" but would no longer be able to use the term because at a "White House Christmas party one year, she took [his wife] Donna and me under our [sic] wing like a craggy old aunt and started showing us around the White House. ... I mean, she was just the perfect aunt or grandma." Boortz continued: "[S]o I can't call her 'the hag' anymore. ... 'Left-wing bitch,' maybe." Boortz followed by saying, "I'm sorry. No, but she was just so sweet." Read more

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