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 Nation gets an "F" for Obama rating falsehood The Fox Nation featured a headline that falsely claimed: "One Group Gives Obama's 100 Days a C+." In fact, the article to which the headline linked discussed a poll of "new media experts" who graded the WhiteHouse.gov website, not President Obama's first 100 days in office. Read More CNN's Bash didn't note economists' argument that spending is necessary in recession In a CNN.com article, Dana Bash reported that Republicans "trying to return to their small government roots" are "opposing Obama's economic prescriptions." But Bash did not mention that several economists say increased government spending -- as opposed to a return to "small government roots" -- is the necessary "economic prescription[]" during a recession. Read More Post reports GOP criticism of HHS vacancy, but not GOP's role The Washington Post allowed Bush HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt to criticize the Obama administration for not having an HHS secretary in place, but did not note Senate Republicans' role in delaying nominee Kathleen Sebelius' confirmation vote. Read More VandeHei uncritically repeats Gregg's reconciliation criticism The Politico's Jim VandeHei stated that Sen. Judd Gregg is "angry" because "Democrats were able to get this thing called reconciliation inserted into" the proposed 2010 budget, but did not note that Republicans, including Gregg, repeatedly supported using reconciliation to pass several Bush initiatives. Read More Baier ignored study's finding that media coverage of Obama's policies skewed negative Fox News' Bret Baier cited a conclusion from a media study that President Obama received more positive coverage through his first 50 days than President Bush or President Clinton but not the study's conclusion that Obama's "positive media image hasn't precluded heavy criticism of his policies." Read More The Hill reported Ryan and Gregg's reconciliation criticism, omitted their prior support The Hill quoted objections by Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Judd Gregg, both Republicans, to the Democrats' use of the reconciliation process to pass health care reform legislation, but failed to note that Republicans -- including both Ryan and Gregg -- repeatedly supported the Bush administration's use of reconciliation. Read More Fox's Cameron provides bad medicine in health care report Carl Cameron falsely suggested that President Obama has proposed a health care system similar to those of England and Canada -- models Obama has explicitly rejected -- and uncritically aired a misleading portion of a Conservatives for Patients' Rights ad. Read More Fox's Angle repeated false and misleading claims on harsh interrogations Jim Angle again falsely compared the harsh techniques used in the interrogations of CIA detainees to those used in U.S. military training. In fact, officials familiar with both dispute the comparison. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.