Memo: All Eyes on Hannity

To: Interested Parties

From: J. Jioni Palmer, Media Matters for America

Re: All Eyes on Hannity

Date: Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Last week, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin sat down with ABC News' Charles Gibson for her first interview since being nominated as Sen. John McCain's running mate. Tonight, she'll face conservative commentator Sean Hannity (sans his progressive co-host Alan Colmes) on Fox News' Hannity & Colmes.

Will the Hannity interview pick up where Gibson left off, with not only tough questions, but robust follow-ups when confronted with answers that appear to be evasive, ambiguous or inaccurate? The absence of Colmes as a counterweight to Hannity raises the question: Will the interview live up to the Fox News slogan "fair and balanced"?

The interview with Hannity-and any others that might follow-provide journalists with opportunities to correct many of the inaccuracies that dominated much of the early coverage of Palin and not allow themselves to be uses as conduits for conservative misinformation.

While some leading news outlets have chided the McCain-Palin campaign for repeating significant inaccuracies ("Campaign of lies disgraces McCain," St. Petersburg Times, 9/14/08), too often reporters covering the campaign repeatedly allow inaccurate claims to go unchallenged. Balanced reporting means continuing to press candidates when they appear to be making inaccurate statements-no matter how many times they are repeated.

More from Media Matters for America:

• Media outlets scrutinizing Palin's "Bridge to Nowhere" statement haven't noted her claim that "I told the Congress 'Thanks, but no thanks' " is a lie

While media outlets reporting Gov. Sarah Palin's claim that "I told the Congress 'Thanks, but no thanks' on that 'Bridge to Nowhere' " have noted that Palin had previously supported the bridge, or that Palin did not refuse the funds previously allocated for the bridge or reimburse the federal government, they did not report that Palin's claim is false, because Congress abdicated responsibility for determining how the money would be spent a year before Palin was elected governor.

Full text here.

• NPR's Williams ignores falsehood in Palin's claim about "Bridge to Nowhere"

On NPR, Renee Montagne asked Juan Williams of Gov. Sarah Palin's claims about the "bridge to nowhere": "Is it surprising that she keeps saying that, or repeating that she told Congress, 'No thanks,' on that bridge?" Rather than note that Palin's assertion is false, Williams responded in part by saying: "Well, what they're [the McCain campaign] emphasizing is that she, you know, did eventually turn down the idea without disclosing that early on she was, as you said, campaigning for it back in 2006. ... So, it's a matter of, you know, omission in their view."

Full text here.

• Fox News' Cameron's claim that Palin didn't ask for earmarks is contradicted by Palin herself

On Studio B, Fox News' Carl Cameron said, "Fifty-eight days before the elections, and the Obama campaign is accusing the McCainiacs of lying about this 'bridge to nowhere' issue." He went on to claim of Gov. Sarah Palin, "Now, she didn't ask for the bridge, nor did she ask for the money. ... [W]hen people say, 'Sarah Palin asked for earmark money or pork,' it's just inaccurate." In fact, in an op-ed in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, Palin wrote that in 2008, her administration "requested 31 earmarks, down from 54 in 2007" and that "the federal budget, in its various manifestations, is incredibly important to us, and congressional earmarks are one aspect of this relationship."

Full text here.

• NY Times cited McCain campaign ad attacking Obama without noting distortions Times itself has noted

In a September 14 article, New York Times reporter Kate Zernike cited an ad put out by Sen. John McCain's campaign as evidence that "[t]he McCain campaign is also on the offensive in trying to stoke anger about perceived sexism," but did not note that the Times' own analysis of the ad the previous day found that it "resort[ed] to a dubious disregard for the facts."

Full text here.

• After NBC political director discredited it, MSNBC uncritically ran McCain campaign ad attacking Obama

On the September 12 edition of MSNBC Live, anchor Alex Witt aired a new ad by Sen. John McCain's campaign that suggests that Sen. Barack Obama's campaign is being "disrespectful" to Gov. Sarah Palin. Neither Witt nor her guest, NBC News deputy political director Mark Murray, gave any indication that the ad contains several distortions or that, in the previous hour of the program, NBC News political director Chuck Todd said, "The ad that McCain's hitting Obama on takes some words out of context."

Full text here.

• MSNBC's Brewer aired McCain attack ad without noting its falsehoods

MSNBC Live anchor Contessa Brewer aired a clip of a McCain campaign ad without noting that the clip falsely suggests that Sen. Barack Obama was behind "attacks on Governor [Sarah] Palin" that have been called "completely false" and "misleading" by FactCheck.org. In fact, while the September 8 FactCheck.org article cited by the ad that many "dubious Internet postings and mass e-mail messages" about Palin are "completely false, or misleading," it made no reference to Obama, Sen. Joe Biden, or the Obama campaign. Further, Brewer did not note that the Obama campaign has reportedly denied the ad's second claim, that "Obama airdropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators, and opposition researchers into Alaska to dig dirt on Governor Palin."

Full text here.

• Fox's Garrett uncritically quoted from McCain ad mischaracterizing Obama's position on sex education

During the September 9 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, congressional correspondent Major Garrett uncritically quoted a portion of an ad by Sen. John McCain's campaign that mischaracterized Sen. Barack Obama's position on sex education. Garrett gave no explanation of Obama's position, provided no response from the Obama campaign, and gave no indication that he had sought such a response. Garrett said: "McCain's campaign, however, just put out a new ad that says, Obama's biggest accomplishment on education? Teaching comprehensive sex education to kindergartners. And it asks, 'Learning about sex before learning to read?' 'Barack Obama,' it says, 'wrong for education and wrong for your family.' " Garrett did not note that the bill Obama supported would have required school sexual education programs to give "age and developmentally appropriate" materials and instruction for students in kindergarten through 12th grade and included material warning children about sexual predators.

Full text here.

• Fox News' Cameron uncritically reported on McCain ad without noting DNC had denied allegations

During the September 10 edition of Fox News' Happening Now, chief political correspondent Carl Cameron reported that an ad from Sen. John McCain's campaign "will attack the Obama campaign for having sent what it will call a small army of lawyers into Alaska to smear [Gov.] Sarah Palin." But Cameron gave no indication that he had sought any comment from the Obama campaign nor did he note that the Democratic National Committee reportedly denied the assertion when it was made in a September 9 OpinionJournal.com column cited by the ad.

Full text here.