What the Mainstream Media Aren't Telling You About the Fort Hood Attack
Thursday, November 12, 2009
By Bret Baier
Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:
Fair and Balanced?
On Tuesday we reported how political correctness is shading media coverage of the shootings at Fort Hood. Now the Culture and Media Institute has some numbers to back that up. It found that the Muslim faith of accused shooter Major Nidal Hasan had been mentioned in just 29 percent of the evening news reports on the broadcast networks; 93 percent of the stories did not mention terror or terrorism, until President Obama hinted at a connection during Tuesday's memorial service.
Overall, the networks referenced a possible link to terrorism just seven times in 48 reports.
Stretching the Truth?
There is another report showing figures for jobs saved or created from the stimulus to be wildly exaggerated. Massachusetts received nearly $4 billion in stimulus funds and reported more than 12,000 jobs affected.
The Boston Globe reports one state college claimed 160 full-time jobs from $77,000 in stimulus money. A spokesman for the school says the actual number of new jobs was in fact almost nothing.
In other instances, federal money that recipients already took in annually was re-classified as stimulus money and existing jobs were attributed to recovery funds. The San Diego Union Tribune editorial board writes: "This is a scandal and should be treated as such... it appears to reflect a decision to distort government data collection to support explicitly political agendas."
In the Loop
Florida Republican Governor Charlie Crist might have some explaining to do. E-mails obtained by a Florida newspaper show the governor's aides knew about President Obama's visit to Florida last month, though Crist previously told reporters twice that he was unaware of the trip.
The newspaper reports the White House provided an itinerary and invitation prior to the trip, but that Crist's executive assistant said the governor would be unable to attend.
Crist is in a tough bid for the U.S. Senate and has been trying to distance himself from the president.
— Fox News Channel's Lanna Britt contributed to this report.
