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. Even after acknowledging it's false, CNN and Fox News continue to push smear of Jennings CNN's Lou Dobbs and Fox News' Brian Wilson and Sean Hannity ignored their own networks' past reporting and continued to forward the discredited smear that, while working as a teacher in 1988, Department of Education official Kevin Jennings failed to report an underage student's involvement with an older man. Dobbs claimed that "Jennings admit[ed] to failing to report a sexual matter involving a minor," and Wilson claimed that Jennings admitted that "he failed to alert authorities when a 15-year-old boy told him he was involved in a sexual relationship with an older man," even though both FoxNews.com and CNN have acknowledged that the student was of legal age -- 16 years old -- at the time. Read More Hannity "not convinced" of timeline conclusively debunking his smears of Jennings After repeatedly making the false allegation that Department of Education official Kevin Jennings failed to report to authorities the "statutory rape" of a former student when -- 21 years ago -- the student told him he was involved with an "older man," Fox News host Sean Hannity admitted that "the kid has since come out, and he said, 'No, no, I was 16 at the time,' " but added, "I'm not convinced of the timeline." In fact, both the "timeline" established by Jennings' books and the available evidence conclusively demonstrate that the student turned 16 -- the legal age of consent in Massachusetts -- before Jennings began teaching at his school and well before the time of his conversation with Jennings. Read More Fox & Friends falsely juxtaposes Pelosi's remarks about Shinseki and McChrystal to accuse her of hypocrisy Fox & Friends hosts Steve Doocy and Gretchen Carlson charged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with hypocrisy based on a false comparison of remarks Pelosi made in 2005 criticizing the Bush administration's reaction to Gen. Eric Shinseki's recommendation for a troop increase in Iraq, and recent remarks Pelosi made criticizing Gen. Stanley McChrystal for making strategy recommendations about Afghanistan during a London press conference. In fact, it is not inconsistent for Pelosi to take issue with McChrystal but not Shinseki: Pelosi specifically criticized McChrystal for using a "press conference" to reject calls to narrow the focus of the war in Afghanistan, which is different than Shinseki's decision to reveal his position on troop deployments in response to a direct question explicitly asking for "a range" during sworn testimony in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Re ad More In latest anti-gay attack on Jennings, Wash. Times and Breitbart distort his comments In their latest efforts to smear Department of Education official Kevin Jennings, Andrew Breitbart and The Washington Times have grossly distorted comments Jennings made to a GLSEN audience in 2000 to claim he "spoke about the promotion of homosexuality in the public school curriculum" and "criticize[d] schools for promoting heterosexuality," advancing the conservative Family Research Council's attack that Jennings was "promoting a pro-homosexual agenda in America's schools." In fact, in the audio files posted by the Times and Breitbart, Jennings promoted a curriculum that demands "respect [for] every human being regardless of sexual orientation, regardless of gender identity, regardless of race or religion or any of the arbitrary distinctions we make among people," and said that efforts to promote a specific sexual orientation through schools were ineffective. Read Mor e Fox News attacks ACORN over grant to give smoke detectors to low-income families Fox News' Bill Hemmer criticized the Department of Homeland Security for awarding a since-rescinded fire prevention grant to ACORN, ignoring that the Bush administration awarded similar grants to ACORN in 2007. Moreover, other Fox personalities and The Washington Times claimed that Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) "made this public," even though the grant was reported on long before Vitter mentioned them. Read More Sports media gang-tackle Limbaugh's bid to buy St. Louis Rams On October 6, Rush Limbaugh released a statement confirming that he and St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts "have made a bid to buy the [NFL's St. Louis] Rams and are continuing the process." In response, numerous sports journalists and figures -- including contributors to ESPN, where Limbaugh was briefly employed -- have criticized the idea of Limbaugh as an owner, often noting Limbaugh's history of racially incendiary remarks. Read More Beck, Limbaugh fomenting fear about H1N1 vaccine In recent days, both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have suggested that the H1N1 flu vaccine may be unsafe and questioned the Obama administration's recommendation that Americans get vaccinated, with Limbaugh asserting that "[y]ou'll be healthier" if you don't believe what the government says and Beck suggesting that the vaccine may be "deadly." However, health experts have repeatedly stated that the vaccine is a safe and necessary tool to combat the virus, and that, in CDC chief Thomas Frieden's words, "This flu vaccine is made as flu vaccine is made each year, by the same companies, in the same production facilities, with the same procedures, with the same safety safeguards" and "[t]hat enables us to have a high degree of confidence in the safety of the vaccine." Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.