September 15, 2005 -- Open Thread

Media Matters roundup:

• Faux News spinmeister O'Reilly at it again, mischaracterizing a Hartford Courant editorial as "opposing mandatory minimum prison sentences for child sex offenders". The paper hasn't mentioned a stand on that matter since December of 1998 stating: "[m]uch longer sentences for sexual predators" could be "one answer" to the problem of convicted sex offenders who have served their time but are not ready to return to society." Let's see, using the same logic I can say George Bush supports abortion (he did you know, back in the day when he was 'just' an alcoholic)...

• Media largely ignored CNN's legal victory over government restrictions on Katrina coverage: In response to restrictions placed on the media covering the Hurricane Katrina disaster by New Orleans emergency operations chief Terry J. Ebbert and Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, CNN successfully filed suit against the U.S. government to protect the right of the press to photograph the deceased victims of the hurricane. But aside from CNN, most major media outlets have given scant coverage to, or ignored entirely, CNN's legal victory or the subsequent reported violations of the federal court order by government personnel on the ground. I think that's a very big deal...

• Oh, and why doesn't Limbaugh's spinning lies he picked up from Faux News' pimp Brit Hume (gag) surprise me? Limbaugh falsely claimed that New Orleans mayor "has moved to Texas": On September 13, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh falsely claimed that New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin has "totally left town" and "has moved to Texas ... where his kids are enrolled in school." While the New Orleans Times-Picayune did report on September 10 that "Nagin has purchased a home for his family in Dallas and enrolled his young daughter in school there," the paper added that Nagin "said he will remain in the Crescent City [New Orleans] while his family lives for the next six months in Dallas, making occasional visits to his family when possible."

• Is nothing sacred? NPR host failed to mention that TNR's "liberal" Rosen endorsed Roberts for chief justice: In a September 13 discussion of ongoing hearings on the nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. to be chief justice, National Public Radio's (NPR) All Things Considered hosted two commentators who endorsed Roberts. Moreover, senior host Robert Siegel failed to disclose that the guests -- Douglas W. Kmiec, Pepperdine University law professor and former head of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, and George Washington University professor and The New Republic legal affairs editor Jeffrey Rosen -- both agreed on this central question of whether Roberts should be confirmed. All things considered; woo-hoo.