Media Matters for America summary, December 19, 2007
 
Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:03:08 -0500

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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/200712190008?src=other"><em>Wash. Post</em>'s Milbank distorted Clinton quote, while claiming "[i]t was very nearly a case of Too Much Information"</a></b><br />
Describing it as "nearly a case of Too Much
Information," Dana Milbank wrote that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton "divulged
some startling news: She was dispatching across Iowa 'people who have known me, who
can talk about what I do when the lights are off.' As luck would have it, Bill
Clinton was campaigning with his wife in the Hy-Vee, and he was asked what he
and the senator do in their, um, downtime." But Milbank left off the
rest of Clinton's sentence, which makes clear that she was not
insinuating what Milbank suggested.

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190008?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190010?src=other">Kaus touted <em>Enquirer</em> story about Edwards "love child," didn't note Young's claim that he is the father</a></b><br />
Slate.com's Mickey Kaus touted a <em>National Enquirer</em> article, the headline of which was posted on the Drudge Report website, stating that former John Edwards campaign worker Rielle Hunter is six months pregnant with Edwards' baby. But neither Drudge nor Kaus have noted that the story contained a statement from the lawyer for Edwards confidante Andrew Young stating that "Young is the father of Ms. Hunter's unborn child." Don Imus on his radio show said about the story: "[W]hat does that say about your judgment, to be -- be president of the United States if you're going around impregnating people?"
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190010?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190013?src=other">Citing "our  friend Drudge," Levin  reported "John Edwards love child scandal"</a></b><br />
On his radio show, Mark 
Levin said, "I see on the home page of our friend Drudge -- the Drudge Report 
-- 'Developing, <em>National Enquirer:</em> John Edwards love child 
scandal.' " After 
asserting that "[s]he definitely looks pregnant," Levin added, "Now, I don't 
know if this is true or not."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190013?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190011?src=other">Fox  News' Father  Morris,  MacCallum ascribed political motives to "Merry Christmas" in Obama  ad</a></b><br />
Discussing Sen. Barack Obama's newly released campaign commercial, in which one 
of Obama's daughters, rather than Obama himself, says, "Merry Christmas," Fox 
News contributor Father Jonathan Morris claimed, "I'm sure his advisers were 
saying, 'Better not say Merry Christmas.' " Morris continued: "[I]t's not just 
about this War on Christmas, that nobody's -- everyone's afraid to say it."

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190011?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190006?src=other">Jeff Gerth appears in trailer for anti-Clinton film by Republican activist Bossie and is listed among cast  <br /></a></b><br />
Jeff Gerth appears in the recently released trailer for <em>Hillary: The Movie</em>, a "full-length feature documentary" about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) that "is the first and last word in what the Clintons want America to forget," according to the film's website. In the trailer, Gerth asserts that Clinton is "a person who's struggling herself with figuring out who she is, or more importantly, how she wants to present herself to the American public."
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190006?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190012?src=other"><em>NY  Sun</em> mischaracterized  Russert question --  which contained a falsehood -- at  Dem debate</a></b><br />
A <em>New York Sun</em> article stated that at the October 30 Democratic 
presidential debate, Sen. Hillary 
Rodham Clinton was "questioned about language in the 2002 letter 
that discussed the possibility of withholding some records about the former 
first lady." In fact, in the debate 
question, Tim Russert falsely claimed that the letter 
"specifically ask[ed] that any communication between you and the president not 
be made available to the public until 2012" before asking Clinton, "Would you 
lift that ban?"
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190012?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/domestic_spying?src=other">Domestic spying</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190004?src=other">Discussing  proposed immunity, Angle omitted judge's finding that no "reasonable entity"  could think actions urged by Bush admin. were legal</a></b><br />
In describing the Senate debate over granting retroactive legal immunity to 
telecommunications companies that allegedly cooperated with the government's 
program of warrantless domestic eavesdropping, Fox News' Jim Angle stated that 
the debate "is over whether or not to give immunity to the telecom companies who 
were told by the administration that they were acting lawfully and asked their 
cooperation, and they gave it." But Angle did not mention that, in a case 
challenging the legality of AT&amp;T's alleged cooperation with the wiretapping 
program, a judge found that AT&amp;T "cannot seriously contend that a reasonable 
entity in its position could have believed" that it would be lawful for the 
company to cooperate with the government.

<br />
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190004?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>

<h1><a href="http://mediamatters.org/issues_topics/media_ethics?src=other">Media Ethics</a></h1>
<p><b><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190009?src=other">Beck  suggested watching news story about GE bulbs on GE-owned NBC makes viewers "feel  a little like Farrah Fawcett in a Lifetime movie"</a></b><br />
After asking viewers to imagine that CNN had hyped "the new <em>Harry Potter</em> movie," produced by Warner 
Bros., a subsidiary of CNN's parent, Time Warner, Glenn Beck stated that viewers 
"should be outraged" that NBC's <em>Nightly 
News</em> had run a segment on the long-run cost-effectiveness of LED 
lights without noting that NBC's parent, General Electric, manufactures LED 
light bulbs. But CNN.com posted a largely positive review by Time Warner-owned 
<em>Entertainment Weekly</em> of the 
<em>Harry Potter and the Goblet of 
Fire</em> DVD that gave the movie a grade of B+. The <em>Entertainment Weekly</em> <em>Goblet of Fire</em> review noted that the Harry 
Potter movies are made by Warner Bros., but not that CNN, <em>Entertainment Weekly</em> and Warner Bros. are 
all owned by Time Warner.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190009?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/200712190007?src=other"><em>Wash.  Post</em>'s  Eggen called Zubaydah a "senior Al-Qaeda suspect[]," ignored own report  questioning his significance</a></b><br />
A December 19 <em>Washington Post</em> 
article by Dan Eggen referred to captured Al Qaeda member Abu Zubaydah as a 
"senior al-Qaeda suspect[ ]." But in an article the previous day, Eggen and 
Walter Pincus reported on a "dispute between FBI and CIA officials over" Zubaydah's "significance as a terrorism suspect." Eggen did not mention in the 
December 19 article that Zubaydah's importance and credibility had been 
questioned by some FBI agents.
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/dailyemail/200712190007?src=other" class="read">Read more</a></p>




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