Media Matters

Election 2008

MSNBC’s Hall said McCain was "cleared by a Senate committee" in Keating Five scandal, but not that the committee said he exercised "poor judgment"
MSNBC's Tamron Hall asserted that Sen. John McCain "was accused of corruption, although he was later cleared by a Senate committee" following a Senate investigation into allegations that McCain -- along with four Democratic senators, together called the Keating Five -- had exerted improper influence when they met with federal bank regulators on behalf of financier Charles H. Keating Jr., a major McCain donor and fundraiser. But Hall did not note that the Senate Select Committee on Ethics concluded that McCain's conduct "reflected poor judgment." Read more

Foser: Ignoring Keating

NY Times' Harwood quotes Palin's "palling around with terrorists" claim, but not Times' own reporting otherwise
The New York Times' John Harwood wrote that Gov. Sarah Palin "assert[ed] that" Sen. Barack Obama's "relationship with Bill Ayers, the onetime Weather Underground figure, constitutes 'palling around with terrorists.' " But Harwood did not mention that two days earlier, in an article that Palin herself referenced, the Times itself reported that "the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers." Read more

Why is the NY Times continuing to ignore McCain's "own Bill Ayers"?

Economy

Media figures falsely accuse Democrats of attempting to direct millions of dollars to ACORN
Media figures have recently accused Democrats of attempting to direct millions of dollars in government money to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) in the financial bailout bill. The accusation is false. Neither the draft proposal nor the version of the bill that was voted down in the House contained any language mentioning ACORN. Those making the false claim were misrepresenting a provision -- since removed -- that would have directed 20 percent of any profits realized on troubled assets purchased under the plan into the Housing Trust Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund. Read more