Media Matters for America summary, August 16, 2007
 
Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2007 22:03:04 -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/200708160005?src=other">O'Reilly didn't mention Giuliani's 1994 invite to illegal immigrants who "work hard"</a></b><br />
On <em>The
O'Reilly Factor</em>, Bill O'Reilly noted a viewer's
complaint that during his August 14 interview with Rudy Giuliani,
O'Reilly failed to confront Giuliani "about what he said 10 years ago on illegal
immigration. He protected illegals." O'Reilly did not bring up a
1994 speech in which then-Mayor Giuliani reportedly vowed to
"protect" illegal immigrants and stated: "If you come here
and you work hard and you happen to be in an undocumented status, you're one of
the people who we want in this city."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160005?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160006?src=other"><em>NY  Times</em>  reported Rove claims about Clinton's votes on surveillance without noting  they are false</a></b><br />
In writing about Karl Rove's August 15 appearance on Rush Limbaugh's radio show, 
<em>New York Times </em>reporter Patrick 
Healy reported that Rove claimed Sen. Hillary Clinton "opposed the USA Patriot 
Act, domestic surveillance programs and other antiterrorism measures." The 
<em>Times</em> did not note that 
Clinton, in 
fact, voted for both the original USA Patriot Act in 2001 and its 
reauthorization in 2006. Healy also misrepresented what Rove actually said 
when he 
falsely accused 
Clinton of 
opposing certain changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance 
Act.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160006?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160004?src=other">Obama biographer  Mendell claimed "anti-war" Obama "sent some mixed messages"</a></b><br />
<em>Chicago Tribune</em> reporter David 
Mendell stated on <em>Hardball</em> that 
Barack Obama -- who has said if he were president, the United States would act 
"[i]f we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets" in 
Pakistan -- "sent some mixed messages to some of his true believers ... since he was the anti-war 
candidate early on." However, contrary to Mendell's characterization of Obama as 
"anti-war," Obama said in 2002, "I don't oppose all wars" -- a position he 
elaborated on in an August 1 speech.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160004?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708170003?src=other">After suggesting  Vince Foster was murdered, Hannity praised caller who accused Clinton of multiple  rapes</a></b><br />
While discussing Sen. Hillary Clinton's newest campaign ad, Sean Hannity agreed 
with a caller who argued that "Monica Lewinsky and all those other women that 
Bill Clinton raped were invisible to her." Hannity replied, "I wish I'd thought 
of that."

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708170003?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160009?src=other">Hannity  falsely suggested that Obama "attack[ed]  our troops as murderers"</a></b><br />
On <em>Hannity &amp; Colmes, </em>during a segment 
highlighting Barack Obama's August 13 remark
that "[w]e've got to get the job done there [in Afghanistan] and that requires 
us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing 
civilians," an on-screen graphic read: "Obama criticizes U.S. troops for 'air-raiding villages and killing civilians.' " During the show, co-host Sean Hannity 
asserted that Obama was "slamming the troops," and later suggested that Obama 
had "attack[ed] our troops as murderers." In fact, Obama expressed support for 
increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan so the U.S. 
military is not so reliant on airstrikes in the 
region.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160009?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/200708170002?src=other">CNN's Malveaux  failed to challenge DeLay's assertion that Bush "held the line on  spending"</a></b><br />
During a CNN interview about the effect of Karl Rove's resignation, Suzanne 
Malveaux did not challenge Tom DeLay's claim that "[t]he president held the line 
on spending," despite 
the fact that, even though President Bush assumed office with a $125.3 billion 
surplus, the Bush administration has run a deficit in every fiscal year of the 
Bush presidency. Additionally, Malveaux did not note Rove's reported assertion 
that his "biggest error" of the 2006 election cycle was "not working soon enough 
to replace Republicans tainted by scandal," or point out that DeLay himself 
remained in the House for several months following his indictment on money 
laundering and conspiracy charges.

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708170002?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708170001?src=other">Reporting on  Pentagon IG finding that officers violated ethics rules, Fox's Griffin ignored officer's alleged  actions</a></b><br />
On <em>Special Report</em>, Jennifer 
Griffin reported that a former Pentagon chaplain had "arranged" 
for the 
nonprofit Christian Embassy to 
film at the 
Pentagon, but 
not that, according to 
the inspector general's report, he did so in part by "mischaracterizing the 
purpose and proponent of the video" by "impl[ying] that the video was being 
produced to document the Pentagon Chaplain's ministry rather than to promote a 
non-Federal entity," a violation of Department of Defense 
regulations.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708170001?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/200708170004?src=other">Fox  News' Angle, <em>Wash.</em><em> Post</em> editorial misrepresented  upcoming  Iraq  report as "Petraeus' report"</a></b><br />
Fox News' Jim Angle asserted that the upcoming report to Congress on the 
Iraq war will be "General David 
Petraeus' report." In fact, the bill mandating the report requires 
that President Bush submit the report to Congress and that Petraeus 
"be 
made available to testify in open and closed sessions before the relevant 
committees of the Congress." Similarly, a <em>Washington Post</em> editorial contradicted its 
own paper's reporting in 
asserting that Petraeus is "expected to elaborate" on 
his claims 
of progress in 
Iraq "in a report to Congress in 
September."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708170004?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160007?src=other">Jon Stewart: "[S]ome idiot from Fox ... call[ed] me a phony"</a></b><br />
On the August 15 edition of Comedy 
Central&#39;s <i>The Daily Show</i>, host 
Jon Stewart briefly mentioned comments that, as <i>Media Matters 
for America</i> has noted, John Gibson and his Fox News Radio show&#39;s 
executive producer made 
on <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200708140001?f=h_latest" title="http://mediamatters.org/items/200708140001?f=h_latest">August 10</a> and 
again on <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200708150004?f=h_latest" title="http://mediamatters.org/items/200708150004?f=h_latest">August 14</a>, 
mocking Stewart&#39;s emotional on-air reaction 
after the 9-11 terror attacks as "phony." On <i>The 
Daily Show</i>, during an interview with Stephen F. Hayes, author of 
<i><a href="http://mediamatters.org//rd?http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061337048/Cheney/index.aspx" title="http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061337048/Cheney/index.aspx">Cheney: 
The Untold Story of American&#39;s Most Powerful and Controversial Vice 
President</a>,</i> (HarperCollins, July 2007) about Hayes&#39; <a href="http://mediamatters.org//items/200707240004?src=other" title="http://mediamatters.org/items/200707240004">characterization</a> of Vice 
President Dick Cheney, Stewart said 
that "there&#39;s a real feeling in this country that your patriotism 
has been questioned by ... people in ... very high-level positions. Not fringe 
people." Stewart continued: "I myself had some idiot from Fox playing the tape 
of me after September 11th -- very upset. And them calling me a phony 
... because, 
apparently, my grief didn&#39;t mean acquiescence."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160007?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/200708160001?src=other">Morgan named  "Worst Person" for attacks on VoteVets.org's Soltz</a></b><br />
On <em>Countdown</em>, Keith Olbermann 
named Melanie Morgan the "winner" of his nightly "Worst Person in the World" 
segment for<em> </em>asserting that Jon 
Soltz, co-founder and chairman of VoteVets.org, violated military law by engaging in political activism 
while serving in the Army Reserve.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160001?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160008?src=other">Worst  of the Web Today: Taranto  ignored  Bush attacks in '99, claiming he "for  the most part ignored" Clinton</a></b><br />
OpinionJournal.com editor James Taranto claimed that "[e]ight years ago," 
then-presidential candidate George W. Bush "understood that he was not running 
against Bill Clinton and for the most part ignored him." In fact, Bush 
repeatedly attacked the Clinton administration throughout 
1999.

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160008?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/lgbt_issues?src=other">LGBT Issues</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160003?src=other">O'Reilly noted poll on effect of gay rights groups' endorsements, but not that he had been wrong about results</a></b><br />
On <em>The O'Reilly Factor</em>, Bill O'Reilly read a letter criticizing him for
"erroneously report[ing] that a poll found most Americans would not vote
for a presidential candidate endorsed by a gay rights organization." But while O'Reilly noted that the poll was taken
"in a few states," not nationally as he had earlier suggested, he did not
acknowledge that his original assertion that the result applied to a
"majority" of respondents was false.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200708160003?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>




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