Matthews echoed Kurtz's baseless claim that Limbaugh's ratings have recently "doubled"

Media Matters - Matthews echoed Kurtz's baseless claim that Limbaugh's ratings have recently "doubled"

Chris Matthews asserted that Rush Limbaugh's ratings have "doubled," echoing a claim by The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz, who wrote in an article that Limbaugh's numbers "have nearly doubled since his feud with the White House burst into the media limelight." But the Post later reported that "there's no actual survey data to support such a figure." Moreover, Limbaugh himself has reportedly stated that the "latest numbers" he has seen for his show were for January, "well before this kerfuffle began."

Covering for Limbaugh, Wallace ignores radio host's repeated statements that he hopes Obama "fails"

Media Matters - Covering for Limbaugh, Wallace ignores radio host's repeated statements that he hopes Obama "fails"

On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace purported to correct Gov. Tim Kaine's statement that Rush Limbaugh "has been saying that he wants the president to fail" by asserting that "Limbaugh says -- and I think if you read what he says, he wasn't saying, 'I want the president to fail' -- he was saying, 'I want his policies, his agenda to fail,' and that he disagreed with them and thought they were bad for America." In fact, Limbaugh has repeatedly said he wants President Obama to fail while also specifying that he wants Obama's policies to fail.

Wallace allowed McCain to falsely claim CBO says spending will "cause us to have a negative ... GDP growth"

Media Matters - Wallace allowed McCain to falsely claim CBO says spending will "cause us to have a negative ... GDP growth"

Chris Wallace allowed Sen. John McCain to falsely claim that, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), "[a]ll of this spending, all of this debt, all of the policies" will, "in the long term, cause us to have a negative ... GDP growth." In fact, CBO has predicted a slight reduction in long-term GDP growth when compared to current projections -- though not enough to result in negative GDP growth -- due to the "crowding-out" effect of the increase in government debt resulting from the economic recovery act.

Memo to Roberts: Obama was criticizing NY Times with call back

Media Matters - Memo to Roberts: Obama was criticizing NY Times with call back

On ABC's This Week, NPR's Cokie Roberts falsely claimed that following his interview with The New York Times, President Obama "call[ed] the reporter back to say, you know, I -- basically, I am not a socialist." In fact, in the follow-up call, Obama criticized the Times' question, stating, "It was hard for me to believe you were entirely serious about that socialist question." Obama later said: "I think that it's important just to note when you start hearing folks throw these words around that we've actually been operating in a way that is entirely consistent with free-market principles and that some of the same folks who are throwing the word socialist around can't say the same."

Like O'Reilly, Hannity misrepresented Obama remark to falsely claim he made a "campaign promise" to allow "no earmarks"

Media Matters - Like O'Reilly, Hannity misrepresented Obama remark to falsely claim he made a "campaign promise" to allow "no earmarks"

On his Fox News program, Sean Hannity falsely claimed that President Obama made a "campaign promise" to allow "no earmarks." Hannity then aired a clip of Obama stating his desire to "ban all earmarks" from the economic recovery package, falsely suggesting that Obama was referring to banning all earmarks in general.