Media Matters for America summary, July 31, 2007
 
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 22:03:05 -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/200708010003?src=other">MSNBC cleaves to Clinton neckline coverage  controversy</a></b><br />
From 9 a.m. 
to 5 p.m. ET on July 
30, MSNBC devoted a total of 23 minutes and 42 seconds to segments 
discussing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton&#39;s (D-NY) "cleavage." MSNBC broadcast 
separate segments on this topic during the hours of 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 2 
p.m., and 3 p.m. ET, skipping only the noon and 4 p.m. hours. During 
the same period, CNN devoted 3 minutes and 54 seconds to coverage of Clinton&#39;s cleavage, while 
Fox News devoted 
none.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708010003?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707310007?src=other">UPDATED: O'Reilly:  <em>Media Matters</em>, Daily Kos, MoveOn "lead intimidators" of Democratic presidential  candidates</a></b><br />
During the July 30 edition of Fox 
News&#39; <i>The O&#39;Reilly Factor</i>, host 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/billoreilly?src=other" title="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/people/billoreilly">Bill O&#39;Reilly</a> criticized the 
decision by several Democratic presidential candidates to attend the YearlyKos 
convention, calling the decision "beyond shameful" and claiming that "a group of 
far-left bloggers has 
succeeded in frightening most of the Democratic presidential candidates and 
moving the party significantly to the left." He continued: "The lead 
intimidators are <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.moveon.org/" title="http://www.moveon.org/">MoveOn</a>[.org], <i>Media Matters</i> and the vicious <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.dailykos.com/" title="http://www.dailykos.com/">Daily Kos</a>. These people savagely attack 
those with whom they disagree, and the politicians don&#39;t want to become smear 
targets." O&#39;Reilly 
later asked: "[W]hen you get these presidential candidates who are afraid of a 
website, my God, how are they going to deal with Al 
Qaeda?"
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707310007?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/200707310002?src=other"><em>GMA</em> reported that FBI, IRS agents raided Sen. Stevens' home but didn't ID him as Republican</a></b><br />
During the July 31 edition of ABC&#39;s
<i>Good Morning America</i>, anchor
Chris Cuomo reported that "FBI and IRS agents have visited the home of
Alaska Senator Ted Stevens," adding, "The agents are reportedly
focusing on records related to the Stevens[es]&#39; relationship with a contractor jailed
in a corruption investigation." But Cuomo did not identify Stevens as a
Republican. In fact, Stevens is the <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://stevens.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=AboutSenatorStevens.Biography">longest-serving</a> senator
in the history of the Republican Party. A July 31 <i>New York Times</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/31/washington/31stevens.html?ex=1343534400&amp;en=9d715f69530bcd38&amp;ei=5090&amp;partner=rssuserland&amp;emc=rss">article</a> reported that
Stevens is the "only senator known to be under criminal investigation,
and he continues to wield power on the Appropriations Committee, which controls
how the federal budget is distributed." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707310002?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707310004?src=other">Blitzer  identified Dem lawmaker whose home was raided, but did not ID several  Republicans</a></b><br />
Discussing the <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/30/AR2007073001427.html" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/30/AR2007073001427.html">raid</a> on Sen. Ted Stevens&#39; (R-AK) house by 
FBI and IRS agents, on the July 30 edition of CNN&#39;s <i>The Situation Room</i>, host Wolf Blitzer 
noted that there have been "raids on other lawmakers&#39; homes," adding: "William 
Jefferson, a Democratic Congressman from Louisiana, what did-- they found, what, 
$90,000 in cash in his freezer. Randy &#39;Duke&#39; Cunningham out in California, he&#39;s serving 
jail time right now. We could go down the list." But while Blitzer identified 
Jefferson as a Democrat, he did not identify 
Cunningham as a Republican. 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707310004?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/200707310008?src=other"><em>CBS Evening News  </em>falsely described  proponent of Iraq "surge" as former opponent of  it</a></b><br />
On the July 30 edition of the 
<i>CBS Evening News</i>, CBS News national security 
correspondent David Martin falsely described Brookings Institution senior fellow 
Michael O&#39;Hanlon as "a critic" of the Iraq war "who used to think the surge was 
too little too late, [but] now believes it should be continued." In fact, while 
O&#39;Hanlon has been critical of the Bush administration&#39;s handling of the 
Iraq war, he supported the invasion and argued in a January 2007 column 
that President Bush&#39;s troop increase was "the right thing to try." 

<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707310008?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707310009?src=other">Echoing GOP  talking points, NPR's Tom Bowman asserted Dems support "precipitous withdrawal"  from Iraq</a></b><br />
On the July 31 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12370624" title="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12370624">edition</a> of NPR&#39;s <i>Morning Edition</i>, reporting on Navy 
Adm. Michael Mullen&#39;s 
upcoming Senate confirmation hearing on his nomination as Joint Chiefs of Staff 
chairman, NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman asserted that Mullen "will not be calling for, like the 
Democrats are, for any precipitous withdrawal of U.S. troops" from Iraq. 
Bowman&#39;s assertion echoes characterizations by President Bush and other 
Republicans of proposals for 
U.S. troop withdrawals 
from Iraq. While Bowman did not specify which or how 
many "Democrats" support a "precipitous withdrawal" from Iraq, there are several plans supported 
by Democrats -- 
including at least one 
supported by some 
Republicans 
-- that 
call for a "gradual" withdrawal or a "phased redeployment" of U.S. 
troops from Iraq, with 
some troops remaining in Iraq for specified missions after the withdrawal of 
most combat troops. Moreover, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. 
Jack Reed (D-RI), co-sponsor of a leading proposal dealing with troop 
levels in Iraq, have both 
specifically stated that Democrats are not calling for a precipitous withdrawal. 

<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707310009?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/immigration?src=other">Immigration</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707310003?src=other">O'Reilly opposes  "clustering" of not only  gays --  but Mexicans, too</a></b><br />
During the July 30 edition of Fox 
News&#39; <i>The O&#39;Reilly Factor</i>, host 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org//issues_topics/people/billoreilly?src=other" title="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/people/billoreilly">Bill O&#39;Reilly</a> asserted that "despite 
the heated rhetoric" regarding immigration, "most Americans ... don&#39;t want to hurt any 
poor Mexican people. 
... [T]hey want to know 
who they are. They want to know where they are, what they&#39;re doing. They don&#39;t 
want them clustering in neighborhoods and changing the tempo of the whole 
neighborhood." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200707310003?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/terrorism?src=other">Terrorism</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708010002?src=other">Reporting on conflict in Bush-Brown terrorism remarks, media did not note that U.S. intel expert supports Brown</a></b><br />
In reporting on President Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown&#39;s July 30
<a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/07/20070730.html" target="_blank">
press availability</a>,
several media outlets reported Brown&#39;s statement that "Afghanistan is
the front line against terrorism," and noted that Brown&#39;s comments
seemed to conflict with Bush&#39;s repeated assertions that Iraq is the "<a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/03/20070315-6.html" target="_blank">central front</a>" in "the war on terror." But
 none reported that the congressional testimony by the
chief
U.S. intelligence analyst for international terrorism backs up Brown&#39;s
assertion, describing Al Qaeda&#39;s growing presence in Afghanistan and
Pakistan as a greater threat than "Al Qaeda in Iraq." 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708010002?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/200708010001?src=other">Savage: "You're telling me there's no possibility of a conspiracy by the Democrats" to cause Roberts' seizure?</a></b><br />
On the July 30 
broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Michael Savage reacted to <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20039923/" title="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20039923/">news</a> that Chief Justice John Roberts had 
suffered a seizure that day by raising the possibility that "his health was in 
some way tampered with by the Democrats." Savage said, "Something&#39;s wrong with 
this picture," after noting that Roberts&#39; seizure occurred just three days after 
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said he would seek in general to reject any future 
Supreme Court nomination made by President Bush. Schumer told the American 
Constitution Society (ACS) in a July 27 <a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.acslaw.org/node/5174" title="http://www.acslaw.org/node/5174">speech</a>: "I will recommend to my 
colleagues that we should not confirm any Bush nominee to the Supreme Court 
except in extraordinary circumstances." Schumer said that, since the 
confirmation of Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, the court had come to 
represent "what a diminishing clique of conservative ideologues wish 
for."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708010001?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>




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