October, 01 2009, 03:13pm EDT
Enough Is Enough
Right-wing machine's targeting of Jennings is latest in smear campaign against administration officials
WASHINGTON
Today, Media Matters for
America denounced the latest development in the ongoing, highly coordinated,
Fox News-driven smear campaign against Obama administration officials and
nominees.
Media conservatives recently called for
the firing of Department of Education official Kevin Jennings.
Their demands, based
on made-up claims, follow what has become a clear pattern for the
conservative media: launching baseless attacks against administration officials as part of an ongoing
witch hunt designed for pure partisan gain.
"There is no line
the right-wing media won't cross in their relentless quest to destroy the Obama administration," said Eric
Burns, president of Media Matters. "This
isn't investigative journalism -- it's a partisan witch hunt. It is time
responsible journalists called it what it is. Enough is enough."
BACKGROUND
The smear campaign underway against Jennings
relies on the made-up charge that Jennings
"cover[ed] up statutory rape" that he was purportedly informed of 21 years ago. In fact, Jennings' attorney wrote in a 2004
letter that the student involved was 16 years old, which is the legal age of
consent in Massachusetts.
But conservative media figures, among them Sean
Hannity and the Washington Times,
have recklessly advanced the smear.
Such indefensible accusations follow a well established pattern. As Media Matters has repeatedly noted, members of the
conservative media, Glenn Beck key among them, are conducting a relentless and frequently defamatory witch hunt for "czars" in
the Obama administration.
Office of Safe and
Drug-Free Schools Director Kevin Jennings
- Hannity and Fox News
defended Hastert during Foley scandal
https://mediamatters.org/research/200910010001
- Despite evidence to
contrary, Fox News machine claims Jennings
"cover[ed] up statutory rape"
https://mediamatters.org/research/200909300050
- After FoxNews.com
truncated Jennings'
quote, Wash. Times,
Fox Nation accuse "safe school czar" of "encouraging"
statutory rape
https://mediamatters.org/research/200909280021
- More witch-hunting:
Fox News targets "safe schools czar" Kevin Jennings
https://mediamatters.org/research/200909240038
White House science
and technology adviser John Holdren
- Hannity falsely claims
science adviser Holdren "advocated compulsory abortion"
https://mediamatters.org/research/200909090028
- Hannity again
falsely claimed Holdren "has talked in favor of compulsory abortion
and sterilization"
https://mediamatters.org/clips/200909100008
- Fox's Pinkerton:
"mad scientist" Holdren "calling for mandatory euthanasia
and sterilization and population control"
https://mediamatters.org/clips/200909150002
State Department
legal adviser Harold Koh
- Hannity advances
dubious claim that Koh "advocates Sharia law in America"
https://mediamatters.org/research/200909100040
- Hannity again claims
Holdren "supports compulsory abortion," Koh "says the U.S.
should follow Sharia law in certain cases"
https://mediamatters.org/clips/200909100062
- After Hannity smears
Holdren, Koh, Sunstein, Stephanopoulos replies, "I will have to
investigate them"
https://mediamatters.org/clips/200909100025
Chief diversity
officer at the Federal Communications Commission Mark Lloyd
- Wash. Times
enlists in Beck's crusade against FCC diversity officer Mark Lloyd
https://mediamatters.org/research/200909230041
- Beck claims FCC
"diversity czar" Lloyd's statement that we need "more
people of color, gays" in "important positions" is
"un-American"
https://mediamatters.org/clips/200909220036
- Dobbs now
race-baiting Mark Lloyd, FCC's chief diversity officer
https://mediamatters.org/clips/200909210034
Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Cass Sunstein
- Witch hunt
continues: Fox goes after Sunstein with false smears
https://mediamatters.org/research/200909100053
- Napolitano on
Sunstein: "His potential damage is limitless"
https://mediamatters.org/clips/200909090048
- Fox News' Rosen:
"Rats could attack us in the sewers and court systems if all of Cass
Sunstein's writings became law"
Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.
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