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. On Hannity, O'Keefe repeats false suggestion that Landrieu took $300 million bribe Appearing on Fox News' Hannity following his arrest for charges relating to an alleged plot involving Sen. Mary Landrieu's phones, James O'Keefe repeatedly falsely suggested that Landrieu had received a $300 million bribe in return for a vote on health care reform legislation. In fact, Landrieu did not receive $300 million; rather, the Senate version of the health care bill included a provision that could give $300 million to Louisiana Medicaid to deal with the fallout from Hurricane Katrina. Read More Quick Fact: Wall Street Journal editorial ignores effective tax rate to claim U.S. corporate tax rate "is among the highest in the world" In a February 1 editorial, the Wall Street Journal claimed that the U.S. corporate tax rate is 35%, which "is among the highest in the world," ignoring the effective corporate tax rate, which is lower in the United States than it is in several other countries. Read More Beck spins anecdotal OFA claim into school "indoctrination" yarn Glenn Beck ran with the right-wing claim that President Obama -- through an Organizing for America internship program -- was attempting to use the public schools to "indoctrinate" students. Beck's claims were based on a series of distortions and false assertions. Read More Beck's bosses in denial about his inflammatory and racially charged rhetoric Fox News president Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, have both been confronted by journalists about Glenn Beck's inflammatory and often racially charged attacks on progressives and President Obama. Ailes and Murdoch have defended, rewritten, or falsely denied the existence of Beck's claims in an attempt to downplay his reckless rhetoric. Read More QUICK FACT: Beck falsely claims Obama's 2011 budget includes revenue from cap and trade legislation On the February 2 edition of Fox and Friends, Glenn Beck claimed that President Obama's proposed budget contains "magic money coming from things like cap-and-trade, which we don't have." In fact, the 2011 proposed budget does not include estimates of cap-and-trade revenue. Read More Today's "conservative journalism" -- what would Bill Buckley say? Between the embarrassing New Orleans caper where self-described "journalist" James O'Keefe was arrested after helping infiltrate the office of Sen. Mary Landrieu, Jackass-style, to the unhinged State of the Union response from elite members of the right-wing punditocracy (i.e. Obama's an "arrogant," "fake" "jerk"), a disturbing portrait emerged last week that helped confirm the sad state of "conservative journalism" in America today. Read More Washington Times attacks IPCC glacier report to say climate change is "dead" In an editorial riddled with climate change falsehoods, The Washington Times seized on criticism of certain citations the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) used relating to evidence of ice loss in certain mountain ranges to claim that man-made climate change is "dead" and "needs to be buried." But scientific studies do show that glaciers are melting all over the world, and scientists have said recent accusations against the IPCC do not undermine the overwhelming evidence of climate change. Read More Reuters misreads Obama budget plan to claim it institutes "backdoor taxes" on middle class A February 1 Reuters article - subsequently withdrawn by the wire service -- claimed that the Obama administration's budget plan includes "backdoor tax increases that will result in a bigger tax bill for middle-class families," citing increases to marginal federal income tax rates that would go into effect if the Bush tax cuts were allowed to expire, and an increase in middle class families that would be subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) without the renewal of a patch to limit its impact. In fact, Obama's 2011 budget calls for the Bush tax cuts to be extended for individuals making $200,000 or less and couples making $250,000 and for the AMT patch to be extended at its 2009 parameters through 2020. Read More Perino -- who claimed no terrorist attacks happened under Bush -- accuses Dems of "act[ing] as if 9-11 never happened" During the February 1 edition of Fox Business Network's Cavuto, Fox News contributor Dana Perino, while discussing budget deficits and revenue, complained that Democrats "act as if 9-11 never happened." In November 2009, Perino herself claimed, "We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term." Read More Media figures argue that $250,000 in income is "not wealthy" Several media figures have asserted that annual income of more than $250,000 is -- in the words of Rush Limbaugh -- "not wealthy" in order to attack President Obama's 2011 budget proposal to allow the Bush tax cuts on families earning more than $250,000 per year to expire as scheduled. According to 2006 Census data, households that earn more than $250,000 per year make up approximately two percent of all U.S. households. Read More Glenn Beck's ever-shifting explanations (and occasional denial) of his "slaughtered" remark In November, Glenn Beck said on his Fox News show: "We will thrive -- as long as these people are not in control. They are taking you to a place to be slaughtered." Since Arianna Huffington highlighted the comment on ABC's This Week, Beck has offered shifting explanations about who or what the comment was referring to, at one point even denying he made the comment at all. Read More Wash. Times' Gaffney falsely claims Americans "overwhelmingly oppose" gays serving in military In a Washington Times column, Frank Gaffney falsely asserted that Americans "overwhelmingly ... oppose conferring on homosexuals, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender individuals and hermaphrodites a nonexistent 'right' to serve openly in the military." In fact, numerous polls show "overwhelmingly" high support for allowing gays to serve openly in the military. Read More You can help support our work; become a volunteer media monitor, or donate to Media Matters for America.