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. Nightly news shows ignore context of Sotomayor remarks, GOP's past embrace of "empathy" In covering the first day of Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, the three evening network news broadcasts either presented her "wise Latina" comment out of context, reported Republicans' criticisms of a judge employing "empathy" without noting numerous conservatives' previous support for such qualities in a judge, or both. Read More Saradise Lost: How Alaska bloggers dethroned Sarah Palin It turns out that blogger Phil Munger hears all his big, breaking Sarah Palin news in the kitchen of his house, which overlooks Neklason Lake and sits just 10 miles from the center of Wasilla, the Southcentral Alaska town where Palin once served as mayor. Read More Media ignore Sessions' double-standard on judges' reliance on personal experience In reports on the confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor, numerous media outlets quoted Sen. Jeff Sessions' assertion that he would not vote for a justice who would rely on personal experience to decide cases. But Sessions voted to confirm Samuel Alito, who highlighted the importance of his personal experience during his hearing. Read More Ignoring Alito vote, NY Times quotes Sessions saying empathy has "no place in the courtroom" In an article on Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings, The New York Times quoted Sen. Jeff Sessions' assertion that empathy "has no place in the courtroom," but did not note that he voted to confirm Samuel Alito, who discussed the importance of his personal experience during his confirmation hearings. Read More Updated myths and falsehoods surrounding the Sotomayor nomination The media have advanced numerous myths and falsehoods about Sonia Sotomayor. Beyond assessing the merits of attacks premised on these myths and falsehoods, the media should consistently note that conservatives were reportedly very clear about their intentions to oppose President Obama's nominee for political purposes, no matter who it was. Read More Hayes declares four Supreme Court justices "outside the mainstream" Stephen Hayes claimed that Sonia Sotomayor's decision in Ricci "is far outside the mainstream of American thought." However, four Supreme Court justices agreed with Sotomayor's court that -- in the words of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dissent -- "what this case does not present is race-based discrimination in violation of Title VII." Read More Media still ignoring economists to declare stimulus has failed Media figures have continued to advance the claim that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has failed. In fact, many economists believe that it is too early for the stimulus package to have fully taken effect. Read More What has Dick Cheney told Liz Cheney about his role in CIA controversy? Morning Joe didn't ask Liz Cheney repeatedly defended her father on Morning Joe, but at no point was she asked to explain what conversations she's had with Dick Cheney about CIA practices and policies during the Bush administration, or whether her father provided her with classified information. Read More Politico's Allen says $1 trillion deficit "awesome issue for Republicans," ignoring role they played in creating it Mike Allen claimed that the budget deficit reaching $1 trillion "is an awesome issue for Republicans." However, as numerous economists have noted, Bush administration policies are responsible for a large portion of the deficit. Read More Major newspapers disappear Sessions' alleged history of racial insensitivity On July 14, five major newspapers reported on Jeff Sessions' opening statement at the confirmation hearing of Judge Sonia Sotoamyor without noting that, in 1986, Sessions' nomination as a U.S. district court judge was rejected following allegations that Sessions had a history of making racially charged comments. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.