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

Reporting that Romney "asserts his firm belief in the separation of church and state," Wash. Post did not note attack on "religion of secularism"
In an article on Mitt Romney, The Washington Post reported that Romney "repeatedly asserts his firm belief in the separation of church and state" and quoted from Romney's "Faith in America" speech: "No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes president, he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths." But the Post did not mention that, in that same speech, Romney attacked unnamed people who "seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God," or his claims that "[f]reedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom," and "[f]reedom and religion endure together, or perish alone." Read more

MSNBC's Brzezinski praised Huckabee as "honest" despite his documented deceptions in response to AIDS controversy
On Morning Joe, while discussing the controversy surrounding Mike Huckabee's 1992 statements about AIDS, Mika Brzezinski praised Huckabee for being "charming," "authentic," and "honest," and stated that the way he's handling the issue is "brilliant." In fact, Huckabee has claimed that he "didn't say that we should quarantine" AIDS patients, and he has asserted that "[t]here was still so much confusion about HIV transmission" at the time he made the statements in question. But as several news outlets pointed out, by 1992, it was widely known that AIDS could not be transmitted via casual contact. Read more

CNN did not challenge Southern Baptist Convention's Land with website's listing of Mormonism as cult
Discussing Mitt Romney's "Faith in America" speech, CNN's Colleen McEdwards said to the Southern Baptist Convention's (SBC) Richard Land, "I mean, let's face it, some people go as far as saying Mormonism is a cult." At no point during the interview, however, did Land acknowledge or McEdwards point out that the SBC lists the Mormon church as a "Major Cults/Sect[] in North America" or that an SBC group uses Mormonism as an example in highlighting four of the six characteristics it uses to answer the question, "What is a Cult or Sect?"
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Stem Cell Research

Ignoring researcher's caveat, WSJ's Henninger claimed stem-cell controversy "[b]asically [...] is over"
On Fox News' The Journal Editorial Report, Wall Street Journal deputy editorial page editor Daniel Henninger discussed the announcement that American and Japanese research teams discovered, in the words of the senior American scientist, a "new way to trick skin cells into acting like embryos" by "reprogram[ming] skin cells into multipurpose stem cells without harming embryos." Henninger said: "Basically, the controversy is over. And I think, in retrospect, we should say something on behalf of, say, [President] George Bush, who vetoed that stem-cell bill." However, the senior American scientist wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that the new developments "[f]ar from vindicat[e]" the Bush administration's policy "of withholding federal funds from many of those working to develop potentially lifesaving embryonic stem cells." Read more

Iran

Fox News Watch announcer teased NIE discussion by referring to "Iran's nukes"
On Fox News Watch, an announcer teased a discussion about coverage of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iran by stating: "Iran's nukes. The president claims a new intelligence report proves Iran still dangerous." In fact, the NIE said: "We continue to assess with moderate-to-high confidence that Iran does not currently have a nuclear weapon." Read more

War in Iraq

Hannity falsely asserted that Murtha "has gone to the other side" with his recent troop surge comments
Referring to Rep. John Murtha's recent statements on President Bush's troop increase strategy in Iraq, Sean Hannity asserted that "Democrats are going to have an even harder time trying to win the White House on a blame-Bush and the Republicans platform now that their loudest critic has gone to the other side." However, Murtha's comments did not indicate that he "has gone to the other side." Rather, Murtha said: "I think the surge is working, I think -- but that's only one element. ... But the thing that has to happen, the Iraqis have to do this themselves." In a November 30 statement, Murtha also reiterated his support for withdrawing troops from Iraq.
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Propaganda/Noise Machine

"[K]ey bit of context" Sac. Bee public editor accused Media Matters of omitting was in original item -- in bold
The Sacramento Bee's public editor claimed that "there's a key bit of context missing" from a Media Matters item about a Bee article reporting on the controversial Republican-backed California ballot initiative that would award the state's electoral votes by congressional district. But the sentence that the public editor suggested was missing from the Media Matters item was in fact included -- in boldface for emphasis -- in the item. Read more

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