Media Matters Daily Summary

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. Wash. Post article on anti-Clinton film glosses over filmmaker's controversial past Writing about the Citizens United-produced film Hillary: The Movie, The Washington Post identified the group's president, David Bossie, only as "a former congressional aide whose battles with the Clinton administration are legendary." But that description is inadequate; the Post did not note that Bossie was reportedly fired as a congressional staffer in 1998 for his role in releasing misleadingly edited transcripts that gave the false impression former Clinton administration official Webster Hubbell had implicated then-first lady Hillary Clinton in wrongdoing. Read More CNN's King asked Cheney several leading questions, inviting him to hammer Obama Interviewing former Vice President Dick Cheney, CNN's John King asked Cheney several leading questions, most premised on conservative or Republican talking points, that provided Cheney ample opportunities to attack President Obama. For instance, King asked Cheney whether he "believe[s] the president of the United States has made Americans less safe" by reversing several Bush administration's national security policies and whether he agrees with "the conservative weekly Human Events" that Obama is "trying to brazenly deceive the American people." Read More Wash. Post opinion page asked congressional Republicans -- but not Dems -- "whether federal budget earmarks are defensible" No Democratic members of Congress were quoted in a Washington Post opinion article asking "members of Congress and others whether federal budget earmarks are defensible"; the three members of Congress whose responses were listed are all Republicans. This is consistent with a pattern in the media of portraying earmarks as a practice unique to Democrats. Read More Forbes on Fox's Asman falsely claimed Obama "once pledged to ban all earmarks" On Forbes on Fox, host David Asman falsely claimed that President Barack Obama "once pledged to ban all earmarks." In fact, Obama promised to reform the earmark process and cut wasteful spending, not eliminate earmarks altogether. Read More Tucker Carlson presented faulty timeline as purported evidence Stewart's criticism of Cramer "was a partisan attack" On Reliable Sources, Tucker Carlson asserted regarding Jon Stewart's recent criticism of CNBC's Jim Cramer: "This was a partisan attack. He went after -- he went after Cramer the moment Cramer criticized [President] Obama's budget. That was the mortal sin. That's what kicked off this entire feud." Carlson made a similar claim to the Politico. In fact, Stewart criticized Cramer at least as far back as March 17, 2008, for claiming that investment firm Bear Stearns was "not in trouble" less than a week before the company collapsed. Read More CNN's John King did not challenge Cheney's false claim that "chairmen" Frank, Dodd were "stone wall" to Fannie/Freddie reform On CNN's State of the Union, host John King did not challenge former Vice President Dick Cheney's false claim that the Bush administration tried "to impose reforms on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and we ran into a stone wall on Capitol Hill in the form of the chairmen and -- of the Banking Committee in the House and the Senate, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd." In fact, Frank and Dodd were not "chairmen" until 2007, after which time Congress passed oversight legislation of Fannie and Freddie. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.