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. Would a real news organization help GOP PACs raise money? Fox News contributor Dick Morris -- who previously asked Fox News viewers to contribute to an ad campaign by the League of American Voters (LAV), which asserts it is "Leading the Fight to Stop Obama Care" -- stated on Hannity that his website has "raised now $2.5 million" to run the LAV ads against Democratic health care reform proposals. Although Fox News rejects criticism that it is viewed as a political organization, Morris and Fox host Mike Huckabee have previously used Fox News shows to raise money for Republican political action committees, and Fox News' promotion of the Tea Party Express also helped a Republican PAC with fundraising. Read More Beck, right-wing media bring Mao attack to "manufacturing czar" Bloom, ignoring conservatives who have cited Mao After attacking White House communications director Anita Dunn for stating that Mao Zedong was one of her "favorite political philosophers," Glenn Beck and right-wing bloggers have seized on "manufacturing czar" Ron Bloom's February 2008 statement that he agrees "with Mao that political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun." However, numerous conservatives, including Newt Gingrich and John McCain, 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, and yet have slipped under media conservatives' communist radar. Read More Morris' dubious poll numbers: claims Fox viewers are White House "base" in effort to defend his employer During the October 19 edition of Hannity, Fox News political analyst Dick Morris, in an effort to defend his network against criticism from the White House, claimed that Fox News' audience is the White House's "political base." However, polling indicates that Fox News viewers favored both John McCain and George W. Bush by nearly 10 to 1, and more than three times as many Republicans as Democrats consider Fox News to be their main source of news; polling also indicates that Fox News viewers are routinely more misinformed than consumers of other outlets on issues such as health care and Iraq. Read More Fox figures parrot Cliffs Notes conservatives' criticisms about length of Senate Finance health care bill Following the release of the 1,502-page Senate Finance Committee health reform bill, Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich and Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy parroted conservative bloggers' complaints that the bill is excessively long. Specifically, Gingrich repeated RedState managing editor Erick Erickson's claim that the bill is longer than "the last two Harry Potter books," while Doocy amplified HotAir blogger Allahpundit's criticism that "[a]t a steady clip of two minutes per page, working a full eight-hour day, you'd be through it in just under a week." Read More Black helicopters return: Beck, others use climate trade negotiations to fearmonger about world government, communism Glenn Beck and other media conservatives, including Rush Limbaugh and Michelle Malkin, seized on comments by British lord Christopher Monckton to fearmonger that if the United States agreed to a treaty dealing with climate change, it would be signing its sovereignty away to a "world government." Beck and others have previously fearmongered about the possibility of world government and the loss of U.S. sovereignty. Read More Is Glenn Beck accusing Fox Broadcasting Co. and Rupert Murdoch of engaging in Maoist activities? During his October 19 Fox News show, Glenn Beck ranted that, because of the overlap in the message of volunteerism from President Obama's "Corporation for National and Community Service and a call for more service and volunteerism" on network television from the Entertainment Industry Foundation, "[i]t's almost like we're living in Mao's China right now" and noted that NBC executive Mitch Metcalf is an "EIF board member," exclaiming, "[M]y God, it can't be." But Fox Broadcasting Co. -- which airs Fox News programming and, like Fox News, is owned by News Corp. -- is also participating in EIF's volunteer initiative, and has a vice president who sit on EIF's board of directors with Metcalf; further, News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch sits on EIF's "honorary board of governors." Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.