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. Ignoring GOP support, Ingraham attacks Obama over 9-11 day of service On Fox News, Laura Ingraham claimed "a controversy is brewing over President Obama's decision to remember 9-11 as a national day of service," because "[s]ome critics believe that marking 9-11 as a day for volunteerism demeans the memory of the thousands who were killed by Muslim extremists on that fateful September morning." In fact, 9-11 is a national day of service by statute -- which a majority of Republican senators voted for -- and former President Bush routinely called on Americans to volunteer in memory of the day. Read More Conservative media's culture of "death" poisons health care debate Radio host Laura Ingraham, guest-hosting Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, and conservative columnist Andrea Tantaros asserted that the Democrats are "playing the death card," using Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's death to promote health care reform in his name. Ingraham and Tantaros' comments are the latest in a long line of attempts by conservatives to attack Democrats and progressives by attaching the word "death" to progressive initiatives, most recently in the debate over health care reform. Read More At it again: McCaughey distorts Ezekiel Emanuel's writings to smear him as "Rationer-in-Chief" Serial health care misinformer Betsy McCaughey, who The New York Times reported has "largely quot[ed]" White House health care adviser Ezekiel Emanuel's "past writings out of context this summer," did so again -- and at length -- in an August 27 Wall Street Journal op-ed. Indeed, she distorted various passages of Emanuel's writings and interviews by cropping and misrepresenting his remarks -- some of which the Times had described in context only days earlier -- to smear him as "Obama's Health Rationer-in-Chief." Read More From its glass house, Fox News attacks ABC, NBC for refusing to run anti-health reform ad A FoxNews.com article reported that the "refusal by ABC and NBC to run a national ad critical of President Obama's health care reform plan is raising questions from the group behind the spot -- particularly in light of ABC's health care special aired in prime time last June and hosted at the White House." Fox News, however, previously refused to air ads critical of the Bush administration, to which it had "unprecedented access." Read More ABC quoted Hatch saying Kennedy "wouldn't want [health care bill] passed if it wasn't good" -- but Kennedy did think it was good On ABC's World News, senior congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl stated that "Republicans, even those close to Senator [Ted] Kennedy, are not buying" the argument that health care reform should be passed to honor Kennedy's memory, then aired a clip of Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) claiming Kennedy "wouldn't want it passed if it wasn't good." But ABC did not note that Kennedy voted by proxy to pass the Senate HELP committee's health care legislation -- a bill Hatch criticized -- and advocated for progressive policies included in the bill, such as universal health care coverage and a public plan. Read More Wash. Times falsely, hypocritically claims conservatives do not use Nazi rhetoric to attack health care reform The Washington Times falsely claimed in an editorial that in an "extreme" attempt "to portray opponents of government health care as irrational hatemongers," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi denounced "fictitious" crowds carrying swastikas at health care reform town hall meetings. In fact, swastikas have appeared at the meetings. Further, the Times suggested that Democrats, not conservatives, use references to Nazism to attack health care, when, in fact, numerous conservative outlets -- including the Times itself -- have used references to Nazism to attack health care reform. Read More Fox News "hops" aboard Tea Party Express with rampant promotions, live coverage On August 28, Fox News devoted live coverage and publicity to the kickoff of the Tea Party Express, a bus tour organized by the Republican PAC Our Country Deserves Better, whose mission is to oppose President Obama and the Democrats. Fox News' kickoff coverage follows numerous promotions of the tour on Fox News, Fox Business, The Fox Nation, and FoxNews.com. Read More Conservative media call review of interrogations a "war on the CIA" Following Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement that a federal prosecutor will be conducting "a preliminary review into whether federal laws were violated" during interrogations of detainees suspected of terrorism, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) asserted that the investigation would be a "declaration of war against the CIA, and against common sense." Several conservative media figures have similarly advanced the claim that by looking into interrogation abuses, the Obama administration or the Justice Department has "declared war" on the CIA. Read More The Friday Rush: "Rush Limbaugh showed great restraint"? Please ... By Greg Lewis Read More Media ignore GOP proposal that would cause many to lose insurance coverage for abortion Several media outlets have purported to fact-check claims about government funding for abortion but have ignored the fact that a proposed amendment by abortion opponents would have had the effect of forcing many who currently have abortion coverage to lose such coverage even if they receive no government subsidy. The amendment offered by Reps. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Joe Pitts (R-PA) would have barred anyone who receives insurance through the health care exchanges created by the House bill from buying insurance that covers abortion. Read More The media's health care filibuster All year, the media have told us that passage of health care reform requires not just the 51 Senate votes that would constitute a majority, but the 60 votes required to invoke cloture and shut off debate. It's such a common refrain, the media often employ the shorthand that health care reform needs the support of 60 senators to pass. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.