NEWS2U Worldwide News: November 2006: “Where is Nancy Pelosi?
A ‘How To’ Guide for Advancing
Conservative Misinformation
Summary:
How a Bogus Claim from a GOP Organization Ended Up on MSNBC
Media Matters
Nov. 3, 2006
Washington, DC
The Republican noise machine is at it again. In a last-ditch effort to distract voters, Republicans are playing pickup game of ‘Where is Nancy Pelosi?’ It began with a widely distributed email, obtained by Media Matters for America (see below), claiming that House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) is almost entirely absent from the campaign trail. The email landed on the Internet gossip site Drudge Report, and the story reached a peak today when MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell asked NBC correspondent Mike Viqueira where Pelosi has ‘been in the last week.’
In fact as the blog ThinkProgress.org noted, on November 1, ‘Pelosi appeared at a sold-out rally at the Warfield Theater with former President Clinton. Portions of the rally were broadcast on television.’ On the same day CNN aired a feature interview with Pelosi.
Jamison Foser, Managing Director of Media Matters for America, called the media out for participating in the GOP’s election-year stunt.
‘This is a textbook example of a journalist mindlessly repeating false Republican spin designed to muddy the waters and distract the public. The media have a responsibility to check the facts instead of simply parroting GOP operatives,’ Foser said. ‘Better yet, they should focus on substantive issues that matter to real people instead of these increasingly absurd efforts to change the subject.’
The Freedom Project sent out the email, titled ‘Where is Nancy Pelosi?’ on October 31, claiming that Pelos”
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