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. CNN's Castellanos falsely claimed Dems "gave" bonuses to AIG execs Advancing a false Republican accusation, CNN contributor Alex Castellanos falsely claimed that Democrats "gave" AIG executives bonuses. In fact, the economic recovery bill did not create the right for AIG -- or any company -- to pay bonuses. Rather, AIG reportedly disclosed that it had entered into agreements to pay these bonuses more than a year ago, and the special inspector for the TARP program has testified that the Bush administration Treasury Department knew about the AIG bonus contracts and did not insist on their abrogation as a condition of AIG's receiving bailout money. Read More Scarborough shills GE stock on GE-owned MSNBC Joe Scarborough promoted General Electric stock on MSNBC's Morning Joe without noting that GE is the parent company of NBC Universal, the owner of MSNBC. Read More Bush missing from USA Today/Gallup poll response options to question about AIG bonuses A USA Today/Gallup poll question about who was to blame for the AIG bonuses left out the Bush administration as a suggested response, despite the administration's decision to give AIG billions in aid without requiring that the company withhold the bonuses. Read More On Fox, Cavuto and Levin falsely claimed Obama administration wants to limit executive pay for all companies Neil Cavuto and Mark Levin falsely claimed the Obama administration "want[s] to control executive pay" for companies that haven't received bailouts. Earlier that day, Robert Gibbs said of such a proposal, "[T]here are not plans to do something broad like that." Read More Dobbs falsely claimed Pelosi said "immigration law enforcement is, quote-unquote, 'un-American" On his radio show, Lou Dobbs asked his guest for his "reaction" to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "saying last week that enforcement in the workplace, immigration law enforcement is, quote-unquote, 'un-American.' " In fact, Pelosi criticized as "un-American" immigration raids that separate undocumented parents from their documented children, not "immigration law enforcement." Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.