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. REPORT: Fox Newsers rally for GOP in more than 300 instances and in nearly every state In recent years, at least twenty Fox News personalities have endorsed, raised money, or campaigned for Republican candidates or causes, or against Democratic candidates or causes, in more than 300 instances and in at least 49 states. Republican parties and officials have routinely touted these personalities' affiliations with Fox News to sell and promote their events. Read More Will the right-wing media retract Morris' false accusations about President Clinton, Janet Reno, and Waco? On Fox & Friends, Dick Morris admitted he fabricated his "bombshell" claim that in 1997, then-Attorney General Janet Reno threatened President Clinton by saying that if he did not reappoint her as attorney general, she was "gonna tell the truth about Waco" -- a claim the right-wing media uncritically promoted. Following Morris' admission that his claim was actually his "conjecture based on the facts," will the same media outlets run a retraction noting that Morris has now admitted that Clinton "didn't actually say" what Morris claimed? Read More Witch hunt: Washington Times attempts to attack Liu with "foreign law" canard In another distortion-laden attack, The Washington Times falsely claimed that judicial nominee Goodwin Liu is "beholden to foreign law" and would look to foreign law for legal "authority" in reaching decisions. In fact, in the law review article the Times cited, Liu spoke favorably about Supreme Court decisions that looked to foreign law as guidance for its decisions, and as a circuit judge, Liu would be obligated to follow those decisions. Read More Right wing falsely accuses Obama admin. of "cooking the books" on stimulus job impact Right-wing media figures falsely accused the Obama administration of "cooking the books" on the stimulus package, arguing that the fact the administration has lowered its estimate of jobs that would exist without the stimulus package means that the administration dishonestly inflated its estimates of the numbers of jobs the stimulus created or saved. In fact, the estimate was revised after later economic data revealed that the recession was "far worse than" Obama's economic advisers "expected at the time," and private analysts and the Congressional Budget Office agree that the stimulus has raised employment by more than a million jobs. Read More Right-wing media criticize financial reform with regurgitated myth that affordable housing caused financial crisis Criticizing Democratic efforts to reform regulation of the financial industry, right-wing media figures have begun repeating the myth that affordable housing initiatives are to blame for the 2008 financial crisis, pointing to the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Economists -- including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke -- have strongly rejected this notion. Read More Conservative media baselessly accuse White House of plotting Goldman charges "to bolster support" for financial reform Media conservatives have levied the completely baseless allegation that the White House was "colluding" with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in filing a civil lawsuit accusing Goldman Sachs of fraud in order to create a "villain" to "bolster support for the crackdown on the banks from the White House." The media figures have offered no evidence to support the allegation, which the White House has strongly denied. Read More Quick Fact: O'Reilly advances myth that DADT repeal will "cause a lot of morale problems" On The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly advanced the falsehood that repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" would "cause a lot of morale problems" in the military. Studies of other countries show that allowing gay men and lesbians to serve openly does not affect morale. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.