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. Will Beck denounce conservatives who've cited Mao, Lenin, Viet Cong? On his Fox News program, Glenn Beck aired a clip of White House communications director Anita Dunn calling Mao Zedong and Mother Teresa two of her "favorite political philosophers" and used those comments to falsely link Dunn to the murder of tens of millions of Chinese under Mao's reign. But numerous conservatives have approvingly cited the tactics of Mao, Vladimir Lenin, and the Viet Cong, stated that they had used those tactics in their political work, or have otherwise highlighted their philosophies -- leading Media Matters for America to question whether or not Beck will denounce them next. Read More Beck-led Fox News "czar" witch hunt moves to ridiculous smear of Anita Dunn In attacking Anita Dunn, claiming that she "worships" her "hero" Mao Zedong, Glenn Beck has targeted yet another Obama administration official in his Fox News-assisted witch hunt of President Obama's so-called "czars." Beck and Fox News have previously attacked with falsehoods and spurious claims White House officials Kevin Jennings, Cass Sunstein, Harold Koh, and Van Jones. Read More Latest conservative attack on Obama Nobel: Prize is "unconstitutional" Following the Nobel Committee's announcement that it would award the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama, conservative media figures have launched numerous attacks on Obama and the award, asserting, for instance, that Obama won the prize "for trashing America," in Sean Hannity's words, or that the prize is an "affirmative action Nobel," as Pat Buchanan and RedState's Erick Erickson asserted. In the latest attempt to discredit Obama's Nobel Prize, conservatives have claimed that his acceptance of the award violates the emolument clause of the Constitution, despite the fact that previous sitting officials have accepted foreign awards in the past. Read More NY Times article ignores anti-gay bigotry and smears at heart of attacks on Jennings An October 15 New York Times article by David Kirkpatrick about "Fifty-three House Republicans [who] have signed a letter to the Obama administration asking for the ouster of Kevin Jennings, an official charged with promoting school safety" ignored that a key claim in the letter -- that Jennings has a "history of ignoring the sexual abuse of a child" -- is false. Moreover, the article included no mention that the conservative attacks on Jennings are largely based on anti-gay smears and falsehoods. Read More O'Reilly ignores Limbaugh's history of racially charged remarks in claiming McNabb comments are "only thing we can find" Discussing the controversy that erupted around Rush Limbaugh's failed bid to become part owner of the St. Louis Rams, Fox host Bill O'Reilly claimed "[f]air-minded Americans know that playing the race card is easy and hateful. The only thing we can find about Rush Limbaugh is that he thinks quarterback Donovan McNabb is overrated by some people who want black quarterbacks to succeed." But contrary to O'Reilly's claim that the "only" racially charged or insensitive remark that Limbaugh has made is about McNabb, Media Matters for America has documented numerous such remarks, including his comments that "[w]e are being told that we have to hope [Obama] succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles ... because his father was black" and that "Obama's entire economic program is reparations." Read More The Friday Rush: The fantasy football conspiracy One of the overarching themes of Rush Limbaugh's daily radio program is individual responsibility. As the man himself put it last year: "You're much better equipped, you're much better able to make the most of your life than anybody else is, including your wife, your husband, your kids. You do it. This is not a sin. It's called greatness. It's the root [sic] to greatness. It's called individual responsibility." Another overarching theme of The Rush Limbaugh Show is conspiracy, specifically the decades-long liberal conspiracy to undermine the nation through various means, which include but are by no means limited to: welfare programs, climate change, energy-efficient light bulbs, bank bailouts, and ACORN. Read More Hannity fabricates Obama adviser's remarks on Sharia law to paint her as radical During the October 15 edition of his Fox News program, Sean Hannity distorted remarks by Dalia Mogahed, a member of the President's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, by claiming that Mogahed shared "thoughts about spreading Sharia law" on a British television channel and falsely suggesting that Mogahed said that "[t]here's a lot of Americans who think Muslim countries should be governed by Sharia law." In fact, Mogahed said that she was "sure there are people out there" who believe that "the United States and Britain and other countries should be open to, the concept of, you know, integrating Sharia into laws in Muslim-majority societies"; during the exchange, she did not discuss what "a lot of Americans ... think" about Sharia law. Read More The media's Glenn Beck problem It's no coincidence that when members of the media talk about the media these days, they tend to talk about two things: the supposed importance of right-wing media like Fox News, and claims that the rest of the media lean to the left. The two concepts are fundamentally intertwined and mutually reinforcing -- and deeply flawed. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.