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. Media ignore Obama's accomplishments to claim he has "little to show for '09" In the weeks approaching President Obama's first State of the Union address, some in the media have claimed that Obama has lacked accomplishments in his first year as president and thus, in the words of Washington Times editor emeritus Wesley Pruden, Obama has "little to show for '09." In fact, Obama's first year in office has been marked by a series of significant achievements, including creating jobs as a result of the economic stimulus, eliminating wasteful spending, increasing government transparency, and expanding federal health insurance programs to cover millions more children. Read More Carlson says Obama's business tax cut talk is "surprising" and "Republin-esque" [sic]--but he's already done it Discussing President Obama's forthcoming State of the Union address, Fox & Friends co-host Gretchen Carlson said it's "surprising" and "Republin-esque" [sic] that Obama is reportedly planning to talk about tax cuts for small businesses. But the stimulus bill that Obama signed last year included tax cuts and incentives for small businesses, as did his proposed fiscal year 2010 budget, and he recently proposed another round of tax incentives for businesses to hire employees. Read More Blaming Obama for current "fiscal reality," WSJ falsely suggests health care bill will increase deficit Ignoring Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates showing health care reform will reduce deficits, a Wall Street Journal editorial asserted that President Obama should "[d]rop the health-care bill" if Democrats "really are serious" about fiscal responsibility. The editorial further attributed all of the fiscal year 2009 spending to Obama, but the increases in spending and the deficit also reflect the impact of policies enacted under former President Bush. Read More WSJ falsely claims Romer's research showed "superiority" of tax cuts over spending for stimulus A Wall Street Journal editorial claimed that "current White House chief economist Christina Romer has done economic research showing the superiority of tax cutting over spending as fiscal stimulus," presumably referring to a March 2007 paper by Christina and David Romer, who found that "tax changes have very large effects on output." However, contrary to the Journal's claim, the Romers' paper did not compare the impact of tax changes on output to the impact of spending. Read More Quick Fact: Fox & Friends promotes GOP attack over job losses since stimulus, ignoring estimates that it saved jobs The hosts of Fox & Friends and Fox Business' Dave Ramsey aired a graphic sourced to House Republicans that highlighted "Job Losses Since The 'Stimulus'" to support the claim that the stimulus "didn't work." But economic analysts have estimated that employment has increased by as many as 2 million jobs relative to where the economy would be without the stimulus. Read More Fox & Friends shocked over Democrats' "secret" plan to pass health care -- but they've been reporting it for a week On Fox & Friends, hosts Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson, and Brian Kilmeade seized on Dick Morris' claim that Democrats have a "secret" plan to pass health care, in which the House would pass the Senate bill as it is, and the Senate would pass an amended bill through reconciliation. But the fact that Democrats are considering this approach is not "secret"; Fox & Friends itself has reported it for a week, and it has been widely reported in other media. Read More Myths and falsehoods about the deficit In recent months, media figures have advanced a litany of false and dubious claims regarding deficits and public debt. In addition to promoting the false narrative that portrays Republicans as responsible budget stewards and Democrats as fiscally reckless, these claims advance the argument that the administration should cut spending and focus on balancing the budget in the short term, a position rejected by numerous economists who advocate for continued stimulus spending. Read More REPORT: After obsessive coverage of O'Keefe's video, Fox largely ignored his arrest Fox News' January 26 evening programming largely ignored conservative activist James O'Keefe's arrest for his alleged role in a plot to attempt to tamper with the telephone system at Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-LA) New Orleans office, dedicating 4 minutes and 34 seconds to the story, with Fox News' three top-rated programs for 2009 not mentioning O'Keefe's arrest. By contrast, Fox News devoted more than one hour on the evening of September 10, 2009, to discussing video footage of O'Keefe and conservative activist Hannah Giles, who was posing as a prostitute while asking for assistance from employees at an ACORN office. Read More Fox & Friends priorities: Half-court basket over O'Keefe arrest Although it repeatedly promoted the undercover ACORN videos made by conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe, on January 27, Fox & Friends devoted just one brief segment to his recent arrest. By contrast, Fox & Friends repeatedly discussed a blindfolded half-court basketball shot, including a live interview with the coach who made the shot. Read More Big Falsehoods: A guide to Andrew Breitbart's lies, smears, and distortions Andrew Breitbart's "Big" websites -- Big Hollywood, Big Government, and Big Journalism -- as well as his breitbart.tv website, have in recent months laid claim to many "exclusives," touting controversial and sensationalist storylines that have been picked up by other conservative media outlets, from Fox News on down. However, a closer examination reveals that many of Breitbart's "scoops" have been based on speculation, gross distortions, and outright falsehoods. Read More Right-wing media forward conspiracy theory that NASA, NOAA manipulate climate data Investor's Business Daily and American Thinker are forwarding claims made by meteorologist Joseph D'Aleo and computer programmer Michael Smith that the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have "cherry-picked" the locations of weather observation stations in order to bias their temperature records in favor of warmer temperatures and thus produce data that supports the existence of global climate change. But climate experts have stated that Smith and D'Aleo's claims are flawed and based on an inaccurate understanding of how global temperature data is calculated and compiled. Read More O'Keefe made numerous appearances on Fox News programs to promote ACORN videos and defend his tactics Following conservative activist James O'Keefe's arrest for allegedly participating in an attempt to interfere with the telephone system at the New Orleans offices of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Media Matters for America review found that O'Keefe previously appeared at least seven times on Fox News and other Fox networks to promote videos he recorded of ACORN workers. During these appearances, O'Keefe said he was "willing to serve prison time" for potentially violating Maryland's two-party recording law, and asserted that he was "doing creative investigative journalism." Read More O'Keefe and his cohorts' record of dishonesty On January 25, conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe -- best known for his secretly recorded, heavily edited videos of his interactions with ACORN employees while supposedly dressed as a pimp -- was arrested by the FBI for his role in an alleged plot to tamper with the telephone system in Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office. In response, Media Matters for America has reviewed the false statements, misrepresentations, and unethical tactics that O'Keefe, his partner Hannah Giles, his employer Andrew Breitbart, and the right-wing media have utilized in their attacks on ACORN. Read More Right-wing media respond to O'Keefe's arrest Media Matters for America has compiled a list of right-wing media figures' reactions to James O'Keefe's January 25 arrest by the FBI for his role in an alleged attempt to tamper with the phone systems at Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-LA) New Orleans office. Those comments run the gamut from Michelle Malkin's statement that the reported details are "damning" and her recommendations to young conservative aspiring journalists not to "get carried away" or "become what you are targeting" to Patrick Frey's statement, "I'm sticking out my neck and declaring that I think this will prove to be a big nothing." Read More After release of ACORN videos, media conservatives showered O'Keefe with praise In light of conservative activist James O'Keefe's arrest on charges related to attempts to interfere with the telephone system in Sen. Mary Landrieu's New Orleans office, Media Matters for America reviews praise conservatives heaped on O'Keefe for his heavily edited and secretly recorded ACORN videos. Read More Quick Fact: Cameron portrays GOP as "fiscally frugal," ignoring their role in creating current and future deficits Fox News chief political correspondent Carl Cameron claimed that "budget and deficit reduction" and "fiscally frugal principles and proposals" are "Republican issues." Cameron's claim is belied by Republican support for Bush policies that are far more responsible for current and projected deficits than proposals enacted since President Obama took office, as well as Republican opposition to health care reform legislation that would reduce long-term deficits. Read More Quick Fact: Fox, Wash Times bloggers in disbelief over Obama's "true" SOTU line that he "cut taxes" In response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union assertion that "we cut taxes," live bloggers for FoxNews.com and WashingtonTimes.com reacted with incredulity. However, Obama did cut taxes for most Americans: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included $288 billion in tax relief. Read More Media conservatives call Obama "arrogant" in assessing State of the Union address In comments before and during President Obama's first State of the Union address, several media conservatives have accused him of being arrogant. Fox Business Networks' John Stossel said that he wanted Obama to apologize for being arrogant during his speech and John Hood stated on National Review's The Corner blog that Obama's "cadence and rhythm" "come across as flippant and arrogant." 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