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 headline falsely claims "Obama Says U.S. Is a 'Muslim Country' " A Fox Nation headline stated, "Obama Says U.S. Is a 'Muslim Country.' " However, the blog post to which the headline linked noted that President Obama said, "[I]f you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we'd be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world." Read More Post still advancing falsehood that Obama doesn't want justice committed to rule of law The Washington Post again advanced the falsehood that President Obama said he would seek a Supreme Court nominee who demonstrates "empathy," rather than a commitment to follow the law. In fact, Obama said his nominee will demonstrate both. Read More Media ignore Sessions' double standard on confirmation timing Several print outlets quoted Sen. Jeff Sessions' call to delay Judge Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearing, citing her lengthy judicial record, but did not note that Sessions reportedly urged fast action on Justice Samuel Alito's confirmation process, saying, "You don't have to read everything he's written." Read More Quinnipiac misrepresents own poll to assert broad disagreement with Sotomayor A Quinnipiac University release misrepresented its own poll question to claim that a significant majority of Americans disagree with Judge Sonia Sotomayor's position in Ricci v. DeStefano. MSNBC's Willie Geist and Monica Novotny similarly misrepresented the poll's findings. Read More Sowell falsely claimed "[d]iversity was Judge Sotomayor's rationale" in Ricci case Thomas Sowell falsely claimed that "[d]iversity was Judge [Sonia] Sotomayor's rationale for going along with the denial of equal rights for white firefighters in Connecticut." In fact, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals opinion Sotomayor joined stated that precedent led it to rule as it did in Ricci v. DeStefano. Read More Media adopt gender, racial stereotypes in characterizing Sotomayor's temperament, intellect Numerous media figures have adopted language reflecting gender and racial stereotypes in reporting about Sonia Sotomayor's temperament and intellect, in many instances relying on anonymous characterizations in Jeffrey Rosen's New Republic piece on Sotomayor. Read More Fox hosts revive Fox-manufactured Obama "apology tour" During President Obama's trip overseas in April, Fox News hosts, contributors, analysts, and regular guests often took Obama's remarks out of context to support their claim that he was on an "apology tour." Fox News has trotted out the same smear for Obama's current trip abroad. Read More AP credulously reports that Sotomayor's comments "fueled suspicions" among conservatives The AP asserted that Sonia Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comment "fueled suspicions among conservatives" that she is "an activist who will bring her political views and personal agenda to interpreting the law." But the AP left out several facts undermining the sincerity of those "suspicions." Read More Fox's Carlson didn't ask Sessions why, if he found Sotomayor's speech so "troubl[ing]," he didn't ask her about it After Sen. Jeff Sessions said he was "very troubled" by Judge Sonia Sotomayor's 2001 speech at Berkeley, Gretchen Carlson did not ask him why he didn't ask Sotomayor about it when he met with her the day before. Read More Buchanan continues attacks on Sotomayor Pat Buchanan claimed that Sonia Sotomayor has a "long record" of "basically believing that it's OK to discriminate against white males as long as you're advancing people of color who have been held back in her judgment." But the New York Times article Buchanan cited as evidence does not support Buchanan's claim. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.