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. Gretchen Carlson's "crack research" is a clunker On Fox & Friends, co-host Gretchen Carlson claimed that through her "own crack research" on the cash for clunkers program, which included spending "a tremendous amount of time on this yesterday finding out information," she determined that in "Minnesota, so far only two of these deals have actually been approved by the government." However, several media outlets have reported that, according to a survey by the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association, out of 7,500 consumers who participated in the program, approximately 2 percent of transactions have been approved. Read More Out of touch: Conservative media argue insured don't need health care reform Conservative media figures have echoed House Minority Leader John Boehner's statement that "93% of the American people have access to high-quality, affordable health insurance" by arguing that because most Americans purportedly have access to health insurance, health care reform constitutes, in Fox News host Steve Doocy's words, "blowing up the system for 5 percent" who don't. These media figures have ignored that tens of millions of Americans are underinsured and that the reform bills contain several provisions intended to benefit those currently insured. Read More Contradicting Fox's own reporting, Garrett claims stimulus "has yet to stimulate" economy On Special Report, Major Garrett asserted that Robert Gibbs "said that [a forthcoming] jobless report will also probably tabulate another several hundred thousand jobs lost, meaning the stimulus law has yet to stimulate the U.S. economy." But Fox News itself recently reported that "Obama's stimulus package ... provided some support to second-quarter economic activity," and in the remarks Garrett cited, Gibbs said that "the recovery plan, we think, is having an impact cushioning the economic downturn." Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.