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. The Hill ignored GOP's use of reconciliation process in forwarding claim it "was never intended to ram through major legislation" The Hill reported that "GOP critics of the reconciliation process have said that it was never intended to ram through major legislation," but did not mention that Republicans used the budget reconciliation process to pass several major Bush initiatives. Read More Misstating BBC question to PM Brown, Fox News' Carlson continued media pattern of whitewashing Bush Gretchen Carlson falsely asserted that a BBC correspondent said in a question to British PM Gordon Brown that Brown "blamed" President Obama "for all of the [economic] problems over there." In fact, the BBC correspondent noted that Brown "has repeatedly blamed the United States of America for causing this crisis," and, indeed, Brown's criticism of U.S. policy in relation to the global financial crisis dates back to when President Bush was in office. Read More Hannity criticized Geithner plan to "seize companies," but not GOP proposal to do so Sean Hannity criticized the Obama administration for "want[ing] the power now, to be able to seize companies whether or not they've received federal bailouts." However, Hannity did not address the fact that House Republicans have also proposed a plan to give the government authority to take over companies. Read More The Hill advances baseless GOP claim that Dems are attempting to "steal" NY, MN elections The Hill advanced the baseless charge by the National Republican Congressional Committee that Democrats are attempting to "steal" the New York congressional and Minnesota Senate elections. Read More Cut and paste: "FOXfact[s]" about GOP budget nearly identical to GOP Rep. Ryan's op-ed While interviewing Rep. Paul Ryan, Fox News aired "FOXfact[s]" purporting to describe facts about the House Republican budget. However, all of the seven on-screen "FOXfact[s]" were nearly identical to portions of an op-ed Ryan published in that day's Wall Street Journal. Read More Norquist's claim that Fox Nation "takes no position on issues" undermined by Fox Nation -- and Norquist Grover Norquist wrote that The Fox Nation "takes no position on issues" -- a claim undermined by The Fox Nation itself, which recently labeled Barney Frank and Chris Dodd a "[d]angerous duo" for supporting "a sweeping overhaul of US financial regulatory structures," and by Norquist, who also wrote that "conservatives, libertarians, and other believers in limited government have found a new home -- at FOX Nation." Read More MSNBC, Fox use stories on strip clubs hiring as opportunities to air footage of scantily clad women In stories on strip clubs that are hiring, MSNBC and Fox News aired footage of scantily clad women, despite the hosts of the respective segments acknowledging that the Rhode Island strip club they were discussing was hiring to fill several different kinds of positions, not just erotic dancers. By contrast, CNN's report on the same strip club featured images of applicants filling out paperwork, as well as images of the outside of the strip club and other parts of Rhode Island. Read More Adopting GOP-promoted term, Fox News repeatedly refers to estate tax as "death tax" In a report about the estate tax on America's Newsroom, Alisyn Camerota and Molly Henneberg repeatedly referred to the tax as the "death tax," a term popularized by supporters of the repeal of the tax. Read More While interviewing WH official, Fox News again aired "FOXfact[s]" nearly identical to GOP rep.'s op-ed Fox News again aired "FOXfact[s]" about the House Republican budget that were nearly identical to portions of an op-ed Rep. Paul Ryan published in that day's Wall Street Journal. Read More Fox Business' Smith falsely claimed banks returning TARP money obtained funds under Obama While reporting on banks that had repaid TARP funds, Fox Business' Sandra Smith falsely claimed that "the government, the Obama administration, deemed these banks necessary to receive these funds." In fact, the banks Smith mentioned reportedly obtained the funds under the Bush administration in December 2008. Read More Post allowed "moderate" Specter to criticize reconciliation without noting his support for using it to pass Bush tax cuts The Washington Post reported Sen. Arlen Specter's criticism of Democrats' potential use of the reconciliation process to pass health-care reform without noting that he repeatedly voted in favor of using reconciliation as a method to pass President Bush's tax cut bills. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.