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

Tucker Carlson hosted all-white panel of journalists to discuss "Obama's blackness"
On the August 8 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, an all-white group discussed an upcoming forum at a National Association of Black Journalists convention that will address, according to the convention program -- as quoted by The Washington Post -- the question Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) "cannot seem to shake -- is he black enough? Is this an unfair question? What is the measure of blackness and who gets to decide?" Host Tucker Carlson asked A.B. Stoddard, associate editor of The Hill, and Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter: "What exactly do people mean when they talk about Obama's quote, "blackness"? ... I'm not even sure what that question means. I know that it makes me uncomfortable and it strikes me as unfair, but what does it mean?" Carlson, who is white, devoted a full segment of his show -- more than six minutes -- to the issue of Obama's racial identity and the effect of stereotypes on his bid for the presidency with Stoddard and Alter, two white journalists. Read more

Matthews: Where have all the "big, beefy" "every-way big guy" Democrats gone?
While discussing the Democratic presidential candidates on the August 8 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews asserted: "I don't see a big, beefy alternative to [Sen.] Hillary Clinton [D-NY] -- a big guy. You know what I mean? An ... every-way big guy. I don't see one out there. I see a lot of slight, skinny, second- and third-rate candidates." Matthews prefaced his comment by saying, "I guess I'm thinking of an Eddie Rendell were in the race -- the governor of Pennsylvania -- or if [former Vice President] Al Gore were in the race or someone else who's a good heavyweight to be running." Read more

SF Chronicle joined NY Times in false assertion that pro-Obama group allows supporters to break legal contribution limits
An August 8 San Francisco Chronicle article by staff writer Lance Williams on Vote Hope -- a political action committee (PAC) that says it "intend[s] to deliver California for Barack Obama" in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, and an unaffiliated "527 group" -- claimed that Vote Hope "rake[s] in donations in excess of what is allowed under tough federal campaign finance laws." The article's headline asserted "Obama's supporters get around money limit." As Media Matters for America noted after a New York Times article raised the question "Have some of Senator Barack Obama's supporters figured out how to give more than the $2,300 legal maximum to back their candidate?" both the Vote Hope PAC and "527 group" are, by law, independent of the Obama campaign, and donations to either entity are separate from the $2,300 limit on direct donations to Obama's primary or general election campaigns. Contributions to the PAC are capped by law at $5,000 per individual. The non-PAC "527 group" does not have contribution limits but is barred by law from expressly advocating for the victory or defeat of a federal candidate such as Obama. The "527 group" has reportedly stated that it will use its money "to support local candidates 'inspired by Obama' and for voter-registration efforts." Therefore, the Chronicle's claim that donations to Vote Hope -- either the PAC or the "527 group" -- "exce[ed] ... what is allowed under tough federal campaign finance laws" is false. Read more

NY Times buried correction of false anecdote supporting "cool" Clinton-Obama relationship, leaving questions unanswered
In its August 9 edition, The New York Times issued a correction to an August 7 article by reporter Jeff Zeleny, noting that an anecdote that Zeleny had used to support his thesis that "Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have barely spoken to each other -- at least in any meaningful way -- for months" was false. The article, headlined "Competitors, Once Collegial, Now Seem Cool," asserted that "after the State of the Union address, the two senators found themselves doing back-to-back interviews on CNN. Mr. Obama went first, with Mrs. Clinton pacing a few feet away. Finally, an aide escorted her completely around the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building, avoiding walking directly by Mr. Obama." In fact, according to the correction, "Mrs. Clinton took a circuitous route past Mr. Obama not to avoid him, but to accommodate a television producer." Read more

Ethics

CNN's Yellin failed to identify jailed lobbyist, disgraced members of Congress as Republicans
On the August 8 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, congressional correspondent Jessica Yellin reported that the recently passed congressional ethics bill "was pushed by Democratic leadership in response to scandals involving Jack Abramoff and Congressmen Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney." Yellin, however, failed to identify either of the two former members of Congress as Republicans, nor did she identify Abramoff as a Republican lobbyist. Read more

War in Iraq

NY Sun headline falsely claimed Sen. Durbin "concedes surge is working"
An August 9 New York Sun article on recent statements by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) regarding President Bush's troop increase strategy in Iraq appeared under the headline: "A Ranking Senate Democrat Concedes Surge Is Working." The Sun based its article on comments Durbin made during a CNN interview with American Morning co-host John Roberts on August 8. Yet while Durbin cited military progress in Iraq during the CNN interview, he did not "concede" that the "surge is working" as the Sun article's headline stated. Rather, he specifically said that he sees "two important parts to this story. ... As we are seeing military progress, the political scene is discouraging." When President Bush announced his troop increase strategy in January, he observed, "A successful strategy for Iraq goes beyond military operation." Read more

Government and Elections

Numerous media outlets publish misleading attacks on decision to limit electronic voting
While reporting on California Secretary of State Debra Bowen's decision to decertify the state's electronic voting machines in light of a study that found the systems are vulnerable to security breaches, numerous media outlets attacked the study's "unrealistic" methodology or uncritically reported criticism of the study's premise, without noting the researchers' explanation for their methods.
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