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. Conservative media backtrack, alter thoroughly debunked claim that Jennings failed to report "statutory rape" After falsely accusing Department of Education official Kevin Jennings of violating the law for failing to report the "statutory rape" or "child molestation" of a "15-year-old boy" in 1988, several conservative media figures have backtracked from that thoroughly debunked allegation, acknowledging that the student was, in fact, 16 years old and of legal age at the time. These media figures have since altered their attacks on Jennings to argue that the student's actual age is irrelevant, asserting instead -- in the words of The Washington Times -- that a 16-year-old student's involvement with an older man still should have "raised alarm," and advancing the baseless claim that -- as The American Spectator's Jeffrey Lord stated -- Jennings "thought" the student was 15 at the time of their conversation. Read More Fox Nation falsely attributes entire FY09 deficit to Obama The Fox Nation falsely attributed the entire fiscal year 2009 deficit to President Obama, using the headline "Obama Triples Budget Deficit to $1.4 Trillion" to link to an Associated Press article reporting on the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) most recent budget review estimate. In fact, only a small portion of the fiscal year 2009 deficit is due to Obama's policies; in January, before he took office or signed any legislation, CBO projected that, based on policies set under President Bush and economic conditions at the time, the deficit for fiscal year 2009 would reach $1.2 trillion. Read More Still rooting against America: Right-wing media use Nobel Prize announcement as excuse to attack Obama Numerous conservative media figures have seized on the Nobel Committee's decision to award President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize as an excuse to attack Obama or his policies. Media conservatives previously rooted against Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games, similarly using the bid as an excuse to attack Obama, and celebrated when the games were awarded to Rio de Janeiro. Read More Media figures call on Obama to turn down the Nobel Peace Prize Following the news that President Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, numerous media figures have called for him to "turn it down" or "give it back," often asserting that he has not accomplished enough to deserve the prize. On his radio show, Glenn Beck said Obama "has to turn it down. ... [I]t's the only way for him to make a win out of this"; Internet gossip Matt Drudge asked on his website, "Will he turn it down?"; and Michelle Malkin said, "[I]f Obama had an ounce of real humility, he'd refuse to accept the award." Read More Yet another falsehood-based smear of Jennings on Hannity: Jennings "indoctrinat[ing]" kids about homosexuality Continuing the smear campaign against Education Department official Kevin Jennings, Sean Hannity claimed that Jennings is in favor of "indoctrinat[ing]" schoolchildren about homosexuality, and radio talk show host Sandy Rios said of Jennings, "[W]e're talking about raping the innocence of our children." To support her claim, Rios falsely claimed that a passage in a book for which Jennings wrote the foreword describes a mother telling her 8-year-old daughter she was "attracted sexually" to the same girl her daughter liked. Read More NY Post uses false premise to dispute CBO score of Baucus health plan A New York Post editorial claimed that the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) determination that the current version of Sen. Max Baucus' health care plan would reduce federal deficits is deceptive because the bill begins creating tax revenues three years before it begins increasing spending, "[w]hich makes it pretty easy for revenue to top spending if you're looking at the balance sheets through just 2019, which is what the CBO does." In fact, in addition to finding that the legislation "would result in a net reduction in federal budget deficits of $81 billion over the 2010-2019 period," CBO also determined that "[i]n subsequent years, the collective effect of those provisions would probably be continued reductions in federal budget deficits." Read More Smears of "sick and immoral" "pervert" Jennings: the worst of the worst In recent weeks, the right-wing media have embarked on a witch hunt against Department of Education official Kevin Jennings, often advancing the repeatedly debunked falsehood that Jennings failed to report or even encouraged a 15-year-old student's relationship with an adult or the baseless smear that Jennings has "advocate[d]" for the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA). Media Matters for America has compiled some of the most egregious attacks on Jennings that conservative media figures have made based on these smears, including calling Jennings "sick and immoral," a "pervert," someone who "facilitated" statutory rape, and "a zealous advocate of NAMBLA." Read More No apology When it became clear that Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke fabricated the story for which she and the paper were honored, Washington Post executive editor Benjamin Bradlee apologized to the Pulitzer advisory board, and the prize was withdrawn. Read More The Friday Rush: Sizing up Rush's Rams Rush Limbaugh made a splash in the news this week when he released a statement confirming that he and business partner Dave Checketts had made a bid to buy the NFL's St. Louis Rams. While thinking about the ramifications of Rush co-owning an NFL franchise, we imagined how Limbaugh might throw his weight around in the owner's box, and came up with a few suggestions for Rush on how he might be able to cut some corners and gain a competitive advantage in the league. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.