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. Fox News' Henneberg falsely claimed "[r]econciliation was last used in 2001" Molly Henneberg falsely claimed, "Reconciliation was last used in 2001 by Republicans to pass the first Bush tax cuts." In fact, Republicans used the budget reconciliation process to pass several Bush initiatives after 2001, and it was used as recently as 2007. Read More Question for Bill Shine: Is Fox News "the voice of opposition" or "not ideological"? According to The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, "Fox executives maintain that the channel's reporting is ... not ideological," and "Senior Vice President Bill Shine says that 'our reporters, people like Major Garrett, have been asking tougher questions' than their rivals." But Fox News has said that it is going further with the Obama administration than merely "asking tougher questions" than their rivals; Shine has recently characterized the network as "the voice of opposition on some issues." Read More Fox Business' Varney mischaracterizes Wagoner's departure On America's Newsroom, Stuart Varney asserted that Rick Wagoner's departure is "the first time in modern history that the government has fired the chief executive of a private corporation." In fact, the government did not "fire[]" Wagoner, but made his departure a condition of further government aid for the company. Read More USA Today uncritically reported GOP charge that stimulus advocates supported "provision that allowed the [AIG] bonuses to be paid" Reporting on a New York special congressional election, USA Today uncritically cited a claim by Republican candidate James Tedisco that Democratic candidate Scott Murphy, by supporting the stimulus bill, supported "a provision that allowed the [AIG] bonuses to be paid." In fact, the AIG bonuses would have been paid even without the stimulus bill, which restricts the bonuses AIG and other companies receiving aid can award in the future. Read More Hannity falsely claimed NI director plans to "release ... enemy combatants on American soil" Sean Hannity falsely claimed DNI Dennis Blair plans to "release ... enemy combatants on American soil." In fact, Blair has outlined a "process" to determine whether and how to release detainees who are not "too dangerous to let out" and have not "committed offenses that merit punishment." Read More Fox News invokes Canadian health care bogeyman in talking about Richardson's death In talking about Natasha Richardson's death, Betsy McCaughey and Martha MacCallum misrepresented a health-care provision in the recovery act and baselessly suggested the United States might be headed "down the same path" as Canada with regard to health care. Read More Media promote claims of global cooling despite overwhelming consensus to the contrary Despite the scientific consensus that human-caused global warming is real and is negatively affecting the planet, the media have repeatedly provided a platform for critics who argue that the Earth is in a period of "cooling" or that the issue of global warming does not need to be addressed. Read More Special Report allowed Fiorina to attack Obama without noting her role with McCain campaign Wendell Goler aired a clip of Carly Fiorina criticizing President Obama, but identified her only as a "[f]ormer Hewlett-Packard CEO." Goler did not note that she was a senior economic adviser for John McCain's presidential campaign. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.