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. Quick Fact: Ignoring that rationing already exists, Bream advanced GOP attacks on health care On the December 2 edition of Fox News' Special Report, correspondent Shannon Bream advanced the Republican argument that recommendations like the mammogram screening guidelines recently released by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force "will enable insurance companies to ration care and deny reimbursement for various procedures," suggesting that insurance companies don't already ration care. Indeed, many insurance companies already keep patients from getting the medical treatments they need and the recommendations are not legally binding. Read More Hannity falsely suggested "mainstream media" did not cover "General Betray Us" ad On the December 2 edition of his Fox News show, Sean Hannity asked: "[W]hy wasn't there more media coverage -- in the mainstream media" of MoveOn.org's "General Betray Us" ad? In fact, the media provided extensive coverage of the MoveOn ad, while largely ignoring Rush Limbaugh's "phony soldiers" controversy. Read More Gingrich pushes debunked claim on private sector experience of Obama Cabinet During the December 2 edition of Hannity, Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich claimed that the stimulus has "failed" and cited "a study at the American Enterprise Institute" indicating that "only 8 percent of the senior appointees have a private sector background." In fact, there is a broad consensus among economic experts that the stimulus has boosted the economy, and after analyzing the "study" Gingrich cited, PolitiFact.com concluded that the claim that less than 10 percent of Obama's Cabinet appointees have private sector experience is "False." Read More Fox & Friends crops Jon Stewart quote to suggest "Climategate" emails made him a global warming denier While discussing the purported "Climategate" emails stolen from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, Steve Doocy claimed that Jon Stewart "really took a shot at Al Gore," then aired a clip of Stewart stating, "Poor Al Gore. Global warming completely debunked via the very Internet you invented." But Doocy -- in a possible violation of a recent Fox News memo on "Quality Control" -- did not air Stewart's subsequent statement in which he said the emails don't "disprove global warming," but do offer ammunition to global warming deniers. Read More Hemmer falsely claims CRU emails show scientists hiding "evidence of a decline in global temperatures" During the December 3 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, Bill Hemmer falsely claimed that "recently leaked emails reveal that scientists use, quote, 'tricks' to hide evidence of a decline in global temperatures over the past, say, few decades." In fact, the email in question discussing hiding the decline refers to efforts to account for unreliable tree ring data, but instrumental temperature data do not show a "decline in global temperatures," as Hemmer claimed; moreover, the email Hemmer cited was written 10 years ago, immediately after the warmest year on record. Read More Kilmeade, Wash. Times make false claims about people "not invited" to White House jobs summit On Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade falsely claimed that the White House did not invite "corporate executives" to its December 3 Forum on Jobs and Economic Growth; in fact, numerous corporate executives are reportedly scheduled to attend the summit. Moreover, The Washington Times falsely claimed that "critics" of President Obama's policies were "not invited to [the] White House 'jobs summit.' " Read More Fox & Friends coverage of CRU emails disregards facts, context Fox & Friends hosts Brian Kilmeade, Steve Doocy, and Gretchen Carlson have repeatedly advanced the right wing's distortion of emails reportedly stolen from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia (CRU) by hyping a litany of falsehoods that climate skeptics have propagated about the emails without any regard for facts or context. In fact, despite the hosts' claims, the content of the emails do not "prove" the scientists doctored or destroyed data, nor do they undermine the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activities are causing global climate change. Read More Fox ignores evidence supporting Obama's claim that reinforcements "did not arrive" under Bush A FoxNews.com article headlined, "Rumsfeld cries foul on Obama claim troop requests for Afghanistan were denied," uncritically reported that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "said in his statement the White House should make public any such requests if they exist to back up the allegation" and repeated his comments that "[t]he president's assertion does a disservice to the truth and, in particular, to the thousands of men and women in uniform who have fought, served and sacrificed in Afghanistan." FoxNews.com ignored the fact that a request for additional troops from Gen. David McKiernen, then commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, went unfulfilled during the Bush administration and was granted by President Obama in March. Read More The conservative media's increasingly lame attacks For all the hype about energized Republicans and independents abandoning the Democrats and town-hall outrage over President Obama's agenda and tea-party protests, if you look closely, it seems the conservative media are getting a little timid. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.