Media Matters - USA Today

Media Matters - USA Today http://mediamatters.org/tools/syndication/tag_rss/usa_today This link is for use by RSS-enabled software to retrieve Media Matters items matching the term: USA Today en-US Copyright 2008, Media Matters for America Reporting on McCain health-care plan, USA Today left out projection that progress on uninsured will decline after 2013 http://mediamatters.org/items/200810220022 USA Today reported that under Sen. John McCain's health-care plan, "[a]bout 4.6 million more people would gain coverage by 2013, the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center say," but it did not point out that the TPC also reported that after 2013, "the number of uninsured would creep upward." According to the TPC analysis, by 2018, the number of people covered would be only 2 million more than would have been covered that year without McCain's plan. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810220022 Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:42:42 EST USA Today cited "accusations of voter fraud and voter suppression" but omitted examples of voter suppression http://mediamatters.org/items/200810170017 USA Today reported, "Less than three weeks before the November election, the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns are trading accusations of voter fraud and voter suppression and gearing up for possible court battles over the outcome." The rest of USA Today's report focused on allegations that ACORN demonstrated "a pattern of submitting fraudulent voter registrations," providing no examples of allegations of voter suppression, even though there have been numerous reported instances in battleground states. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810170017 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:50:58 EST In reporting on Letterman appearance, media fail to note other aspects of Liddy's controversial past http://mediamatters.org/items/200810170012 In reporting on Sen. John McCain's October 16 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, several media outlets noted McCain's response to a question about his association with Watergate break-in figure G. Gordon Liddy that Liddy "paid his debt, he went to prison." However, none of these outlets noted other controversial actions by Liddy, which McCain did not mention, let alone denounce, on Letterman's show, including multiple instances of reportedly advising his radio show audience on the best way to shoot Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents -- statements that were reportedly made long after Liddy left prison. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810170012 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:33:30 EST USA Today reported on ad attacking Obama over troop-funding vote but left out key facts about McCain's voting record http://mediamatters.org/items/200810020017 USA Today reported that a Vets for Freedom ad "says [Sen. Barack] Obama missed nearly half the Senate's votes but showed up 'to vote against emergency funding for our troops' " and went on to assert: "Obama and [Sen. John] McCain each have voted for bills that include troop funding. Obama said he opposed one such bill in May 2007 because it did not set a timetable for removing U.S. troops from Iraq." However, USA Today did not report that McCain himself voted against legislation to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. http://mediamatters.org/items/200810020017 Thu, 2 Oct 2008 17:32:38 EST Media outlets reported McCain's criticism of Obama's "political speech" in Germany, didn't note McCain's own recent speech in Canada http://mediamatters.org/items/200807250008 Numerous media outlets quoted or aired all or part of a statement Sen. John McCain made criticizing Sen. Barack Obama for giving a "political speech" in Berlin while "a candidate for the office of the presidency," but none noted that McCain himself gave a "political speech" in a foreign country last month, speaking to the Economic Club of Toronto in Ottawa, Canada, on a trip paid for by his presidential campaign. http://mediamatters.org/items/200807250008 Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:56:07 EST USA Today described McCain's immigration reversal simply as McCain "placing more of an emphasis on border security" http://mediamatters.org/items/200807100003 In an article about appearances by Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama at the LULAC conference, USA Today reported that McCain "began placing more of an emphasis on border security during the primaries." But McCain's current position "to secure the borders first" is not just a change of "emphasis"; it is at odds with his prior position that border security could not be disaggregated from other aspects of immigration reform without being rendered ineffective. http://mediamatters.org/items/200807100003 Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:49:17 EST USA Today uncritically quoted McCain campaign saying that decision not to opt out of public financing was about "keeping his word to the American people" http://mediamatters.org/items/200806200002 A USA Today article quoted Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for Sen. John McCain, who said, "Unlike Barack Obama, John McCain believes in keeping his word to the American people, and he will undergo public financing for the general election." But the article did not note that while the McCain campaign, through Bounds, now says McCain will not opt out of public financing because he is "keeping his word to the American people," McCain himself previously indicated that his decision over whether to take public financing if Obama opted out would depend not on "keeping his word" but on whether it would be financially prudent to do so. Indeed, McCain senior adviser Charlie Black reportedly said, "We could sit down in July or August and say, 'Hey, we're raising a lot of money and maybe we should forgo it.' ... We don't have enough data." http://mediamatters.org/items/200806200002 Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:50:07 EST USA Today uncritically reported McCain's reference to Obama as National Journal's "most liberal senator" http://mediamatters.org/items/200806060003 USA Today uncritically reported that Sen. John McCain "noted" that Sen. Barack Obama "was once named the most liberal senator by National Journal magazine." But USA Today did not report that McCain himself "did not vote frequently enough" to receive a rating. Further, USA Today did not report that the National Journal ranking was based on 99 votes selected by the magazine's staff, a subjective methodology that Obama himself has criticized. http://mediamatters.org/items/200806060003 Fri, 6 Jun 2008 16:23:30 EST Print media noted Cindy McCain's limited financial release, but not how McCains benefit from tax cuts http://mediamatters.org/items/200805270007 In contrast with The New York Times' 2004 analysis of the benefit Teresa Heinz Kerry gained from the Bush tax cuts, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, and The New York Times did not note, following the May 23 release of a summary of her 2006 tax returns, that Cindy McCain also benefited significantly from the tax cuts -- which Sen. John McCain has pledged to make permanent. http://mediamatters.org/items/200805270007 Tue, 27 May 2008 20:01:12 EST Suggested questions for print media, when they finally decide to cover McCain's energy policy/Middle East conflict comments http://mediamatters.org/items/200805060004 The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal have yet to report on Sen. John McCain's statement that "I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East, that will -- that will then prevent us -- that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East" [emphasis added]. Media Matters offers questions for these news outlets to ask McCain should they decide to cover the story. http://mediamatters.org/items/200805060004 Tue, 6 May 2008 14:30:29 EST Media report McCain's recent efforts to tout his military record, but not that he told Kerry not to do so in '04 http://mediamatters.org/items/200803310009 Several media outlets reported on Sen. John McCain's recent efforts to highlight his Vietnam War experience as part of his presidential campaign without noting that, in 2004, he reportedly told Sen. John Kerry that Kerry should not use his Vietnam war record during his campaign, or that McCain falsely asserted in 2004 that he "didn't talk about" his own service during his 2000 presidential campaign "because," he said, "I didn't need to." http://mediamatters.org/items/200803310009 Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:42:06 EST Media continue to ignore McCain endorsers' controversial comments http://mediamatters.org/items/200803250012 Media Matters has extensively documented the disparity in media coverage devoted to controversial comments made by supporters of Sen. Barack Obama and to those made by supporters of Sen. John McCain. Several major publications have reported only on the controversy over remarks by McCain supporter John Hagee targeting Catholics, but not his controversial statements about Hurricane Katrina, Islam, women, and homosexuality. Most of those same publications have yet to report on pastor Rod Parsley and his controversial remarks in the context of McCain's campaign. http://mediamatters.org/items/200803250012 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:20:03 EST News outlets contrast McCain and Bush on taxes without noting McCain wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent http://mediamatters.org/items/200803060010 Reports by ABC, USA Today, and CNN purported to contrast the positions of President Bush and John McCain on tax cuts by noting only McCain's initial opposition to Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. None of the outlets noted, however, that McCain has changed his position and now supports making the Bush tax cuts permanent, or that McCain has repeatedly claimed that he initially opposed the tax cuts because they were not paired with spending cuts, reasoning he did not mention in his 2001 floor statement explaining his vote. http://mediamatters.org/items/200803060010 Thu, 6 Mar 2008 18:15:39 EST USA Today allowed McCain to tout environmental record, chances for win in CA without noting LCV score, poll http://mediamatters.org/items/200803040007 USA Today reported that Sen. John McCain has said he "want[s] to compete in California," and that McCain "say[s] his outlook on such issues as the environment will be a help in the traditionally blue state." But the article did not note that McCain trails both Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama by more than 20 points in the most recent state poll or that McCain has a lifetime score of 24 percent from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV). USA Today published similar articles about the strategy of the Republican nominees in 1996 and 2000 -- elections in which the Democratic candidate defeated the Republican candidate in California by double digits. http://mediamatters.org/items/200803040007 Tue, 4 Mar 2008 16:26:41 EST USA Today's Page repeated McCain's false assertion that Obama "suggested bombing our ally, Pakistan" http://mediamatters.org/items/200802210003 In a USA Today article reporting on Sen. John McCain's "critique" of Sen. Barack Obama, Susan Page wrote that McCain was "ridiculing comments Obama has made" and quoted without challenge McCain's false assertion that Obama "once suggested bombing our ally, Pakistan." In fact, in an August 2007 speech, Obama stated: "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and [Pakistani] President [Pervez] Musharraf won't act, we will." http://mediamatters.org/items/200802210003 Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:49:59 EST