Big News Orgs Fail To Label McCain Attack Ad False

Talking Points Memo:

I've just done a lap through the coverage by the big news orgs of the ad John McCain put out this weekend attacking Barack Obama for canceling his visit to a U.S. Army base in Germany.

CNN has a piece here, The New York Times has one here, The Washington Post has write-ups here and here, and the Associated Press has one here.

The stories did dutifully note the Obama camp's push-back against the ad. But not a single one of these reports told you that the ad is false.

Read the whole story: Talking Points Memo

Comments

[ThePeacemakers]

FROM THE MOVIE NETWORK, JENSEN is a honcho of the corporate media breaking it down to a renegade news host(edited):
Jensen: ...
You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels.
It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! ...
You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and ITT and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today...
We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that perfect world in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality -- one vast and ecumenical holding company...

[JRandomPoster]

Yet more proof that the MSN has intentionally lost the ability to discern between opinion and fact.

[peacefulworldcitizen]

Well, when you have been reporting your opinions as facts for so many years, it is hard to tell where the lines are anymore.

[TNT2008]

Well said!

[blaising]

Why would they? Management at MSNBC, CNN, etc. all want a piece of the FOX pie...and they know the easiest way to at get it: breaking news statement (5 or 6 words max.) followed by the fear/seed of doubt question.

[bygollymissmolly]

They are going after the low-information voters mostly over 60 years old? Why would they want that audience? How about becoming a real news network that reports the news and not Republicon talking points. Now that would set a network out there ahead of the pack. I'm betting if any one network decided to stop being a wholly owned subsidiary of the RNC, they would become the most popular network on TV.

[BrighterStar]

This article is off base in two regards. First, it asserts that the ad is false because the author has no evident of its validity. This makes the ad unverifiable not false. Second the author concedes that Obama admits that the troop visit was cancelled because staff was not allowed to attend. It is likely that these staff would have had the cameras that McCain was talking about making the ad accurate.

[Sixtwo]

You make an assumption that the staff who were not allowed to accompany would have cameras!!
The FACT of the matter is, the cited staff had already departed. So in effect, Obama's statement that the visit was canceled because staff were not allowed to attend is true in that the staff who had
not departed could not attend because it would have viiolated Pentagon pollicy. JOHN McCAIN'S AD DISTORTS THE FACTS, AND IT IS FALSE!

[abby4ever]

***McCain's ad makes a stark assertion about the reason the trip was canceled: "Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras."*­** (from the article)

***...Obam­a admits that the troop visit was cancelled because staff was not allowed to attend. It is likely that these staff would have had the cameras that McCain was talking about making the ad accurate.*­** (BrighterStar)

Your reasoning on this fallacious. The fact the staff would have brought cameras, taken together with O cancelling the visit, does not logically imply that O's reason for cancelling the visit was that no cameras were allowed. He could have had a reason that had nothing to do with cameras.

So what you state isn't enough to make the ad accurate, as you claim.

[NoahVail]

It was better in the old days when the right wingers were not afraid to call a spade a spade.

Do not think its not crystal clear what is going on here. It used to be people were afraid "they" would depress housing values. Since the Texas mob has already done that, its hard to see what is holding the electorate back from putting a black man in the White House, except for a massive misinformation campaign being run by the corporate-­controlled media. Do not underestimate the stakes here- we are battling for our democracy and the American way of life.

[brighterside]

Why does the media fail to report the false aspects of McSurge's ads? Why haven't they called him out on it even though they know they should? The reason is simple; they want to elect McSurge into the Oval Office.

The media doesn't care about us or what's good for the country or reporting the truth. They don't care what the public thinks about them. They answer to their bosses that pay them a hefty paycheck.

Therefore they are trying to elect McSurge into office. They did it in 2000. They will also did it in 2004. They are going to try and do it also in 2008.

[21stCenturyMan]

A lot of MSM actually believe the surge "worked". They ignore the fact that the surge took our LAST available troops, leaving the military with zero flexibility. No troops to reinforce our embattled soldiers in Afghanistan? Who cares so long as Iraq is safer? John McCain should run for president of Iraq

[lthuedk 1]

Living proof Old Media is freedom's biggest enemy and part of the vast right wing conspiracy that HRC recognized. It's time we all recognized their complicity and turned off their propaganda horn. Fox is bad enough, and well described, but the rest, excluding Olbermann and friends, Stewart, and Colbert, are militant corporatist robots.

How about a daily listing of sponsors and their contact numbers, links, and addresses?

Isn't it time to wrench our Republic from the clutches of the National Socialists?

http://www.light-to-dark.com/republican_winter.html

[JohnIII]

Obama's excuse was lame.
The Pentagon wouldn't let him do it his way, so he bailed.

That's not to say I don't think some of these ads from the right are ridiculous.
The one where they blame Obama for high gas prices fits in to that category.

[TheCritic]

If the Obama campaign put out a false attack ad the msm would stumble over themselves trying to point out its falsehoods. But when it comes from Mac, FREE PASS!

[OBXartist]

Shouldn't the headline on the Politics home page say, "Big News Orgs WON'T Call McCain Attack Ad False"?

Because that's really the issue here. They could call it false, they should call it false, but they don't, or won't.

[XFilesTheTruthIsOutThere]

I had to call MSNBC and NBC to complain that their networks are not calling McCain's lastest ad lies. Morning Joe was total vomit today and it seems the Today show just gave the ad a pass. Kellygrrrl is right about Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert being the voice of MSM. I wish Jack Cafferty would get his own show. I only watch Keith Olbermann to get an honest coverage of today's events. Dan Abram is ok sometimes but lately his show has fallen short. Too many republicans views on Abrams' show.

[dagnew]

"Morning Joe was total vomit today"

Totally so! Scuzzborough was more obnoxious than ever! M ik a (giggle giggle) tried to put him down, but he vomited all over her, too!

[swift goat pet for truth]

Corporate Media handles McSame as if he were their little baby.

They CANNOT be critical, because then they will not be invited to barbecues.

[nclayla]

The media accepts McCain's dollars to run ads that are false and does not point out that they are lies. Does this surprise anyone? Anyone still buying into McCain's assertion that the media is biased towards Obama?

[abby4ever]

H used the same tactic when she fell behind: she claimed the media was favoring O.

[nclayla]

Agreed. Hillary claimed media favoritism towards Obama, and was believed, despite the nonstop Rev. Wright clips. Now McCain is also claiming media favoritism towards Obama., Strange, isn't it, that the only person not claiming to have been treated unfairly by the press is the one they have been the toughest with - Obama.

[edwarvir]

That's the part I don't understand these people claim to want change. I want change
also. I want to change Wolf B for Jack C Campbell B for Donna B Anderson Cooper for Roland M. and over on Fox five news CANCEL THE CHANNEL ALTOGETHER
AND GIVE US DISNEY. ( BLESS KATIE C HEART, ) SHE SHOULD BE SUSPENDED FOR TRYING TO COVER UP FOR FORGETFUL JOHNNY AND GIVE DAN RATHER BACK
HIS JOB. CHARLES G OFF YOU GO AND GIVE THAT TIME SLOT TO JAMAL SIMMONS. IT's time for us to have some news that is FAIR AND BALANCED.,

[CKieffer]

CBS News should be completely dismantled. It is a joke of an organization.

[ThunderclapNewman]

Bill Paley's ghost is embarrassed at what they've done to a once-proud news organization.

[MaryanneAZ]

Poor Tim Russert is literally rolling in his grave at the complete breakdown of journalistic integrity on MSNBC and NBC since his death. It is easy to see that no one responsible is at the helm at those stations anymore. It's disgusting.

[gditty]

Actually, it's kind of smart by the McCain campaign..­.Make the most blatantly false or misleading accusation against Obama, it get's free airplay on the newcycle as a pundit talking point, repeat it over and over without rebuttal by pundits...­..watch the polls tighten.

BREAKING NEWS: Do Barack Obama hate all Americans?!! .....we'll be right back after these commerical messages.

[firewmn]

free air play.. exactly.. as the ad has been on a loop all day.. McMole gets a bump from it..