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. Hannity, Breitbart lead conservative media fundraising for activist videographers sued by ACORN On the heels of ACORN filing a lawsuit against conservative activists Hannah Giles, James O'Keefe, and Breitbart.com LLC, Sean Hannity, Andrew Breitbart, HotAir.com's Allahpundit, and NewsBusters have offered to -- in the words of Hannity -- "put out the word" to "help" Giles and O'Keefe raise money for their legal defense. Conservative media figures -- led by Glenn Beck -- helped Breitbart strategically release and aggressively promote the undercover videos that sparked ACORN's lawsuit. Read More Wash. Times presents Beck's opinions and attacks as news For the third time in the past two weeks, The Washington Times has allowed Glenn Beck to dictate its coverage by presenting his attacks on progressives as news. A September 25 article was premised entirely on Beck's opinion that ACORN's internal ethics investigation is "bogus" because its advisory board members are "the worst of the worst," without providing any actual evidence that would undermine the investigation's integrity. Read More Limbaugh, others run with GOP attack on Obama for Libyan funding -- ignoring Bush's requests for millions* for Libya Right-wing media including Rush Limbaugh, National Review Online's The Corner blog, the Gateway Pundit blog, and the Say Anything blog have attacked President Obama over funding that the State Department plans to give to Libyan organizations, including the Gaddafi Development Foundation, run by one of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi's children. However, the Bush administration also worked with the Gaddafi Development Foundation and requested millions of dollars in funding for Libya. Read More Fox military analyst undercuts Hannity's, Krauthammer's attacks on Obama over Afghanistan In recent days, Fox News' Sean Hannity and Charles Krauthammer have criticized President Obama for not immediately following the advice of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's reported request for additional combat troops in Afghanistan, with Hannity stating, "Just listen to what the generals on the ground want to be successful." But Fox News strategic analyst Lt. Col. Ralph Peters (Ret.) contradicted this criticism, arguing that a larger force "will not make a difference" and that "a smaller, compact, lethal force is the way to go." Read More Hannity, oblivious to "scientific nuances," takes NY Times out of context on global warming On his September 23 show, Sean Hannity claimed that a New York Times article reporting that "global temperatures have been relatively stable for a decade and may even drop in the next few years" is in conflict with President Obama's comments at the United Nations that "[i]f we continue down our current course, every member of this assembly will see irreversible changes within their borders." But Times reporter Andrew C. Revkin, in the article Hannity misconstrued, also reported that the recent temperatures have "been seized upon by skeptics" but that scientists say short-term climate variability "has no bearing on the long-term warming effects of greenhouse gases" and that "trying to communicate such scientific nuances to the public -- and to policy makers -- can be frustrating." Read More Drudge's suggestion that Obama "Caught by Surprise" by Iranian nuke facility contradicted by linked article The Drudge Report posted a headline that falsely claimed that President Obama was "Caught By Surprise" by Iran's acknowledgement that it is building a second nuclear facility. In fact, the Washington Post article to which Drudge linked quoted a senior White House official stating, "We've been aware of this facility for several years, building up a case so that we had very strong evidence." Read More The Friday Rush: Discussing Obama's foreign policy, Limbaugh's hyperbole is hyper Rush Limbaugh probably didn't need to listen to what President Obama said Wednesday morning when he addressed the opening of the United Nations General Assembly. It was clear to us that Rush had his checklist of right-wing Obama grievances waiting by his side, regardless what Obama would go on to say in his speech. You might be familiar by now with the usual conservative tantrum every time Obama gives a speech on the world stage. It goes something like this: Obama is apologizing for America, blaming America, and selling out Israel. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.