Media Matters

Election 2008

ABC's Gibson did not challenge earmark claim, much less inform viewers that McCain promoted a falsehood
In a September 3 interview, Charles Gibson did not challenge the claim by Sen. John McCain that after Sarah Palin obtained millions of dollars in earmarks as mayor of her home town, she "learned that earmarks are bad" when she became governor and said, "No more for my state." At no point did Gibson point out that as governor, Palin, by her own account, requested hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks for Alaska just this year. ABC News did not air that part of the interview on the September 3 broadcast of World News, much less note that McCain was promoting a false claim. Read more

Tipping the scales: Cable news channels dedicate more coverage to RNC's scheduled programming during peak hours than to DNC's
On September 2 and September 3, MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News each dedicated more on-air time -- significantly more in most cases -- to official Republican convention programming during the most-watched portions of their coverage than each channel dedicated to official convention programming during the same times on comparable nights of the Democratic National Convention. Read more

Media ignore "bridge to nowhere" falsehood in Palin speech, despite having previously flagged it

Media report Palin's claim that Obama has not "authored ... a single major law or reform" without noting laws he has passed
Numerous print media outlets uncritically reported Gov. Sarah Palin's claim that Sen. Barack Obama "is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform -- not even in the state senate," without noting that Obama has played key roles in the passage of reform legislation at both the federal and state levels, including a bill that McCain co-sponsored and thanked Obama for his work on. Read more

Without refuting it, AP, Bloomberg report Palin accusation that Obama "wants to raise" taxes

More Palin coverage