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Saturday, October 17, 2009

Media Matters Daily Summary




 
Media Matters for America
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.
Fox News -- home of outrageous smears, falsehoods -- promotes "tea parties" protesting "journalistic malpractice"
Fox News has promoted what it has referred to as October 17 "tea part[y]" protests by "Operation: Can You Hear Us Now," an organization that plans "to show the MSM [mainstream media] that we as the American Public are absolutely fed up with their journalistic malpractice." However, Fox News has committed acts of "journalistic malpractice" including outrageous smears against Obama administration officials, passing off Republican press releases as its own research, deceptively editing videos and quotes, and invoking the Nazis to smear President Obama. Read More
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Politics, Political News - POLITICO.com

Politics, Political News - POLITICO.com

Teachers' unions uneasy with Obama

Christian charity sued for wrongful dismissal




 
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Calif. indoctrinating, lying to school children
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill authorizing curriculum that teaches children embryonic stem-cell research heals -- when in fact it doesn't.

Accountants sue charity for wrongful dismissal
Two accountants are suing Feed The Children for wrongful dismissal after they notified the charity's board that the organization owed $1.1 million in taxes and that an official had tried to cover it up.

Chicago mayor squelches 'bubble zone' opponents
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley apparently supports a new "bubble zone" law directed at dictating how closely pro-life counselors can be in relation to abortion clinics and their clients.

Hitting early, swine flu claims 11 more children in U.S.
A top federal health official is calling the latest numbers on the spread of H1N1 flu "very sobering."

Abortion rights groups fight Catholic hospital
Abortion advocates are fighting a proposal to build a new Catholic hospital near Washington, DC.

More of today's news
Obama Address
Gop Address
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Ground offensive begins in Pakistan al-Qaida haven
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers launched a ground offensive against al Qaida and the Taliban's main stronghold along the

Obama administration shifting policy on Sudan
WASHINGTON In a new effort to engage the government of Sudan, U.S. officials say the White House will shift its policy toward Khartoum, but they warn that the

Arizona sheriff says Obama administration doesn't like him catching illegals
PHOENIX An Arizona sheriff known for cracking down on people who are in the country illegally launched a crime and immigration sweep in northwestern metro Phoenix on

Obama praises Senate committee's health care vote
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama pushed back against critics of his health care plan on Saturday with a stern warning that absent reform, costs will continue to rise

Hitting early, swine flu claims 11 more kids in US
Medical Writer WASHINGTON As the swine flu outbreak strikes the U.S. early and hard, health officials note a worrisome number of child deaths and warn that

Gibbs Ups the Ante in White House War Against FOX News
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about the comments Anita Dunn made about FOX News during his daily briefing yesterday. Courtesy of Hot Air. Gibbs had this to say about criticism of the White House and its attitude

“Is Darwinism Finally Dead?â€
by Dr. Charles Jackson “Often a cold shudder has run through me, and I have asked myself whether I may have not devoted myself to a fantasy.†(Charles Darwin, in “Life and Letters of Charles Darwin,†1887, vol 2, p229)

Obama: That's a Socialist Mop?
Check out this video of President Obama talking about the opponents and non Democratsof his administration. He believes in a "strong, two party system where ideas are tested and assumptions are challenged. . ." and says that he and Nancy

The Planned Destruction of Marriage
by Jerry Richardson If you have had any previous doubts as to whether Barack Obama is on a mission to destroy marriage in America, the following should settle theissue for you“You will see a time in which we

House Republicans Call for Dismissal of Safe Schools Czar
Fifty three House Republicans are urging President Obama to fire Kevin Jennings, the "safe schools czar" because as a schoolteacher years ago he didn't report that a young student told him he was involved with an older man. See FOX

Amp Up Before You Score?
PepsiCo Inc. decided that since energy drinks are supposed to be edgy and cool and drunk by young guys, they would release an iPhone application for their Amp Energy drink that appeals to those young men. See FOX News.

Limbaugh's NFL Ownership Attempt Likened to A Plantation Owner
Pulitzer Prize winner Karen Hunter appeared on MSNBC yesterday to discuss Limbaugh's NFL bid and her opposition to it. Hunter said "I can just see the visions of plantation grandeur dancing in his head as we speak," Hunter said. "Yeah,

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THE SLIPPERY ROAD TO FASCISM
Jan Markell explores parallels between the present state of the Union and the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi takeover of Germany and Europe.

OBAMA : View from an African-American Christian
A great dissertation from an African-American composer on Barack Obama and his reasons for not voting for him in the presidential election of 2008.

MYTHBUSTING OF HEALTHCARE REFORM
AUL takes on the healthcare reform issue with some light on the subject of taxpayer funding of abortions and PP's plans to undermine the battle against infanticide.

The Countdown Begins
By Sheri CobbEvery morning my preschooler and I go over the calendar.I am pleased to report that after many months of repetition he can successfully tell me the days of the weeks and months of the year. To

Memory and Music
By Mary FriedemanMost of us have heardâ€"and maybe even preached to our childrenâ€"that listening to classical music is beneficial to learning. And, anecdotally, we’re all aware that words set to a

Mr. Doubt Has Entered the Room
By Sheri CobbDuring a recent back and forth with one of my children it was blurted out, "Well your parenting method doesn't work." Now granted this came from the mouth of one who wanted his punishment lessened, yet

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CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News

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Sheriff: Charges are expected to be filed against Richard Heene, whose son was thought to be in runaway balloon Thursday

Sheriff: Charges will be filed in balloon saga - Yahoo! News

Sheriff: Charges will be filed in balloon saga - Yahoo! News

A Colorado sheriff said he was pursuing criminal charges in the case of a 6-year-old boy who vanished into the rafters of his garage while the world thought he was zooming through the sky in a flying saucer-like helium balloon.

Media Matters: Limbaugh's NFL dream slips through his "formerly nicotine-stained fingers"




 
Media Matters for America October 16, 2009
Media Matters: Limbaugh's NFL dream slips through his "formerly nicotine-stained fingers"
 
Six years after Rush Limbaugh was forced to resign in disgrace from his gig on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown for, as CNN reported at the time, "his statement that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed," the nation's top conservative radio host was dropped from a group seeking to purchase the NFL's St. Louis Rams.
 
A statement released by Dave Checketts -- a member of the group seeking to buy the Rams and the chairman of the NHL's St. Louis Blues -- said Limbaugh was dropped because his "involvement ... has become a complication ... endangering our bid."
"Complication" sure is a nice way of putting what transpired this week.
 
In the week since El Rushbo confirmed his intention to help buy the Rams: the executive director of the NFL players union came out against Limbaugh's bid, saying football "overcomes division and rejects discrimination"; Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said he "couldn't even think of" supporting Limbaugh's Rams bid due to his divisive rhetoric; NFL players reportedly said they "wouldn't play for" a Limbaugh-owned team due to his "flat-out racist" comments; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Limbaugh's "divisive comments are not what the N.F.L. is all about"; and a host of sports media figures blasted the very notion of the right-wing talker being an NFL owner based on his controversial statements.
As you might imagine, Limbaugh didn't take the controversy surrounding the bid or his ultimate exclusion from the group seeking to buy the Rams lying down.
 
Attempting to defend himself from mounting criticism, Limbaugh said -- with a straight face, no less -- "I'm colorblind. ... I treat everybody equally." Of course, such a statement ignores his "colorblind" history of racially charged comments. Who could forget these gems?
  • "We are being told that we have to hope [President Obama] succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles ... because his father was black." [1/21/09]
  • "I do believe" Obama is an "angry black guy." [7/27/09]
  • "Obama's entire economic program is reparations." [7/22/09]
  • Obama is "Halfrican-American." [7/24/07]
Or my personal favorite: the time Limbaugh invented a "racial component" to Iraq war vet Paul Hackett's decision to withdraw from a Democratic primary campaign for U.S. Senate in Ohio. Yep, after Hackett's departure from the race against then-Rep. Sherrod Brown, Rush said, "And don't forget, Sherrod Brown is black. There's a racial component here, too." In fact, Brown is white.
 
One needn't dig too far back -- Rush was happy to offer more racially charged statements this week. For starters, he whined that the NFL was an "outpost of racism and liberalism," apparently missing last month's report by the Center for Responsive Politics that showed that since 1989, NFL teams, owners, players and personnel gave overwhelmingly to the GOP.
 
In what can only be described as an odd attempt to beat back criticism for his past remarks, Limbaugh turned to basketball, complaining that rappers "own parts of NBA teams" and "[t]hey're celebrated -- 'Cool, daddy, cool!' " He even said that acclaimed sportscaster "Bob Costas is a ... very unhappy little diva." Is it any wonder that the world of professional athletics resoundingly rejected El Rushbo, dashing his dream of team ownership?
 
Limbaugh's defensive line was quick to come to his aid. Right-wing pundit Ann Coulter said NFL players would pick Rush over "Nazi collaborator" George Soros because "a lot of them" are "real Christians" -- as opposed to fake ones? MSNBC's resident cranky uncle and in-house bigot Pat Buchanan played defense, as well, which unsurprisingly resulted in more bigotry.
 
The Wall Street Journal came to Rush's defense with an op-ed making a ... I'll just say it -- stupid false comparison between Limbaugh and Keith Olbermann's work on NBC's Football Night in America. The Journal claimed not to have "heard anyone on the right say Mr. Olbermann's nightly ad-hominem rants should disqualify him from hanging around the NFL." Perhaps the Journal could use a hearing test, because various right-wing media figures and bloggers have done just that.
 
So, no, El Rushbo won't be purchasing a pro football team any time soon. He could always try his "formerly nicotine-stained" hand (or "fingers," as he would say) at owning a fantasy football team.
 
Then again, he's got the 2010 Miss America pageant to look forward to, where he'll be serving as a judge.

Other major stories this week

Fox News vs. The White House
Be sure to check out the latest from Media Matters' Eric Boehlert, who offers up a compelling "memo to the media," which reads, in part:
Fox News has changed the rules. Now the press needs to change the way it covers Fox News.
Rupert Murdoch's cable cabal is now, first and foremost, a political entity. Fox News has transformed itself into the Opposition Party of the Obama White House, which, of course, is unprecedented for a media company in modern-day America. That partisan embrace means the news media have to expand beyond typing up Fox News-ratings-are-up and the White-House-is-angry stories, and it needs to start treating the cable channel for what it is: a partisan animal.
 
The press needs to drop its longstanding gentleman's agreement not to write about other news outlets as news players -- not to get bogged down in criticizing the competition -- because those newsroom rules no longer apply. Fox News has exited the journalism community this year. It's a purely political player, and journalists ought to start covering it that way.
 
I understand Fox News still wants to enjoy the benefits of being seen as a news operation. It still wants the trappings and the professional protections that go with it. But it no longer functions as a news outlet, so why does the rest of the press naively treat it that way?
 
Fox News is now at the forefront of a political movement.
[...]
Completely detached from traditional newsroom standards, Fox News has become a political institution, and the press needs to start treating it that way. The press needs to treat Fox News the same way it treats the Republican National Committee, even though, frankly, the RNC probably can't match the in-your-face partisanship that Fox News flaunts 24/7. Think about it: Murdoch's "news" channel now out-flanks the Republican Party when it comes to ceaseless partisan attacks on the White House.
 
Truth is, in recent years the RNC used to use Fox news to help amplify the partisan raids that national Republicans launched against Democrats. It was within the RNC that the partisan strategy was mapped out and initiated. (i.e. it was the RNC that first pushed the Al-Gore-invented-the-Internet smear). But it was on talk radio and Fox News where the partisan bombs got dropped. Today, that relationship has, for the most part, been inversed. Now it's within Fox News that the partisan witch hunts are plotted and launched, and it's the RNC that plays catch-up to Glenn Beck and company.
 
And I'm sorry, but the Fox News defense that it's a just a few on-air pundits who (relentlessly) attack the White House and that the news team still plays it straight is, at this point, a joke. What kind of "news" team, in the span of five days, airs 22 clips of health reform forums featuring only people who oppose reform? What kind of "news" team tries to pass off a GOP press release as its own research -- typo and all? What kind of "news" team promotes a partisan political rally? (Or did I miss the 100-plus free ads that CNN aired in 2003 promoting an anti-war rally?)
[...]
It's clear that in 2009, Fox News is no longer in the business of journalism. Fox News isn't trying to inform people, it's trying to misinform them. That's not journalism. It's propaganda. But as long as the press continues to hold up the façade of journalism, Fox News will try to hide behind it.
Boehlert's takedown of Fox News can be read in its entirety here.
We're through Dobbs' foggy looking glass (or camera lens)
CNN's Lou Dobbs is none too pleased with his critics. At issue is a new television commercial from Media Matters and America's Voice that was to air during CNN's broadcast of its upcoming Latino in America special. In what appeared to be talking points prepared in the style of Mad Libs, Dobbs denounced the ad, claiming it was created by "George Soros attack groups" as "propaganda."
 
CNN, for its part, refused to run the ad -- skipping out on yet another opportunity to provide some accountability and distance itself from its ongoing Dobbs problem. In August, Media Matters bought a week of ad time on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News in Washington, D.C., New York, and Atlanta to air an ad calling on CNN to address Dobbs' repeated promotion of birther conspiracy theories. As The Huffington Post reported at the time, "[F]ive of the six cable providers contracted for the project have informed the group that they are declining to put the spot on CNN."
 
Dobbs was in rare form this week in going after his critics. He decried the "mad propaganda emanating ... from the extreme left, the Media Matters folks, all of them funded by George Soros" and complained to Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) that "left-wing ethnocentric interest groups" are "calling for my firing from CNN." You know what happens when you point a finger, right, Lou? That's right: Three are pointing back at you.
 
Firing or reining in Dobbs may be a moot point anyway. According to recent reports, Dobbs met with Fox News president Roger Ailes over dinner last month. Could Dobbs be taking his immigrant-smearing hysteria and loony quest for Obama's already-available birth certificate to Fox Business Network?
 
We do agree with this one, perhaps Freudian, comment Dobbs made this week: "It's getting so you can't trust cable networks anymore."
 
EXCLUSIVE: CNN's Castellanos on the take from insurance industry
This week, Media Matters exclusively obtained evidence that CNN contributor Alex Castellanos' political consulting firm, National Media, is the ad buyer for the new ad blitz by the insurance industry group America's Health Insurance Plan (AHIP) that attacks Democratic health care reform plans.
 
According to the detailed ad buy information obtained by Media Matters, Castellanos is responsible for placing, beginning October 11, more than $1 million of AHIP advertising in five states. A review of National Media's client list indicates that Castellanos' work for AHIP isn't his only conflict with regard to health care reform. National Media has done work for the Federation of American Hospitals, the pharmaceutical industry group PhRMA, and the HCA Sunrise Hospital. Castellanos last appeared on CNN September 30; during a debate with Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) on The Situation Room, Castellanos defended Republican health care proposals.
 
After noting CNN's responsibility to properly identify Castellanos' industry ties and ensure that his obvious conflict of interest does not tarnish the network's future coverage of the health care debate, Washington Post Co.'s Greg Sargent reported that CNN admitted that Castellanos worked for the health insurance industry and promised full disclosure in the future.
 
This week's media columns
 
This week's media columns from the Media Matters senior fellows: in a message to the media, Eric Boehlert says Fox News is now the opposition party, Jamison Foser discusses the media's Glenn Beck problem, and Karl Frisch wonders if Dr. Fox-enstein -- errr ... Roger Ailes is building another monster.
 
Simon Maloy notes Rush Limbaugh's fantasy football conspiracy in The Friday Rush, a review of Limbaugh's radio shows over the past week.
 
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This weekly wrap-up was compiled and edited by Karl Frisch, a senior fellow at Media Matters for America. Frisch also contributes to County Fair, a media blog featuring links to progressive media criticism from around the Web, as well as original commentary. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube or sign up to receive his columns by email.
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Media Matters Daily Summary




 
Media Matters for America
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.
Will Beck denounce conservatives who've cited Mao, Lenin, Viet Cong?
On his Fox News program, Glenn Beck aired a clip of White House communications director Anita Dunn calling Mao Zedong and Mother Teresa two of her "favorite political philosophers" and used those comments to falsely link Dunn to the murder of tens of millions of Chinese under Mao's reign. But numerous conservatives have approvingly cited the tactics of Mao, Vladimir Lenin, and the Viet Cong, stated that they had used those tactics in their political work, or have otherwise highlighted their philosophies -- leading Media Matters for America to question whether or not Beck will denounce them next. Read More
Beck-led Fox News "czar" witch hunt moves to ridiculous smear of Anita Dunn
In attacking Anita Dunn, claiming that she "worships" her "hero" Mao Zedong, Glenn Beck has targeted yet another Obama administration official in his Fox News-assisted witch hunt of President Obama's so-called "czars." Beck and Fox News have previously attacked with falsehoods and spurious claims White House officials Kevin Jennings, Cass Sunstein, Harold Koh, and Van Jones. Read More
Latest conservative attack on Obama Nobel: Prize is "unconstitutional"
Following the Nobel Committee's announcement that it would award the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama, conservative media figures have launched numerous attacks on Obama and the award, asserting, for instance, that Obama won the prize "for trashing America," in Sean Hannity's words, or that the prize is an "affirmative action Nobel," as Pat Buchanan and RedState's Erick Erickson asserted. In the latest attempt to discredit Obama's Nobel Prize, conservatives have claimed that his acceptance of the award violates the emolument clause of the Constitution, despite the fact that previous sitting officials have accepted foreign awards in the past. Read More
NY Times article ignores anti-gay bigotry and smears at heart of attacks on Jennings
An October 15 New York Times article by David Kirkpatrick about "Fifty-three House Republicans [who] have signed a letter to the Obama administration asking for the ouster of Kevin Jennings, an official charged with promoting school safety" ignored that a key claim in the letter -- that Jennings has a "history of ignoring the sexual abuse of a child" -- is false. Moreover, the article included no mention that the conservative attacks on Jennings are largely based on anti-gay smears and falsehoods. Read More
O'Reilly ignores Limbaugh's history of racially charged remarks in claiming McNabb comments are "only thing we can find"
Discussing the controversy that erupted around Rush Limbaugh's failed bid to become part owner of the St. Louis Rams, Fox host Bill O'Reilly claimed "[f]air-minded Americans know that playing the race card is easy and hateful. The only thing we can find about Rush Limbaugh is that he thinks quarterback Donovan McNabb is overrated by some people who want black quarterbacks to succeed." But contrary to O'Reilly's claim that the "only" racially charged or insensitive remark that Limbaugh has made is about McNabb, Media Matters for America has documented numerous such remarks, including his comments that "[w]e are being told that we have to hope [Obama] succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles ... because his father was black" and that "Obama's entire economic program is reparations." Read More
The Friday Rush: The fantasy football conspiracy
One of the overarching themes of Rush Limbaugh's daily radio program is individual responsibility. As the man himself put it last year: "You're much better equipped, you're much better able to make the most of your life than anybody else is, including your wife, your husband, your kids. You do it. This is not a sin. It's called greatness. It's the root [sic] to greatness. It's called individual responsibility." Another overarching theme of The Rush Limbaugh Show is conspiracy, specifically the decades-long liberal conspiracy to undermine the nation through various means, which include but are by no means limited to: welfare programs, climate change, energy-efficient light bulbs, bank bailouts, and ACORN. Read More
Hannity fabricates Obama adviser's remarks on Sharia law to paint her as radical
During the October 15 edition of his Fox News program, Sean Hannity distorted remarks by Dalia Mogahed, a member of the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, by claiming that Mogahed shared "thoughts about spreading Sharia law" on a British television channel and falsely suggesting that Mogahed said that "[t]here's a lot of Americans who think Muslim countries should be governed by Sharia law." In fact, Mogahed said that she was "sure there are people out there" who believe that "the United States and Britain and other countries should be open to, the concept of, you know, integrating Sharia into laws in Muslim-majority societies"; during the exchange, she did not discuss what "a lot of Americans ... think" about Sharia law. Read More
The media's Glenn Beck problem
It's no coincidence that when members of the media talk about the media these days, they tend to talk about two things: the supposed importance of right-wing media like Fox News, and claims that the rest of the media lean to the left. The two concepts are fundamentally intertwined and mutually reinforcing -- and deeply flawed. Read More
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