Media Matters Posted Inaccurate “Transcript” To Falsely Claim That Chris Matthews “Praised” Conservative Ad
Here is a textbook example of how Media Matters misleads their readers. A July 11, 2006, post falsely claims that MSNBC host Chris Matthews "praised" a television ad from conservative Republican Vernon Robinson.
First of all, Matthews did not praise the ad. Watch the Matthews clip yourself (it’s at the MMatters link). Matthews stated that the ad was "a little ethnic" and agreed with guest Roger Simon that "it was over the top." Matthews also agreed with another guest, liberal Time columnist Mike Allen, that Robinson’s "voters are not a highest-common-denominator crowd." That’s "praising" an ad? No way.
But here’s the deception from MMatters: Guest Roger Simon stated, "[Robinson’s ad] was a dead-on attack." Matthews clearly replied, "Yeah," but Matthews’ agreement with Simon does not appear in the "transcript" that MMatters displays! Watch the video yourself! Look at MMatters’ "transcript"! MMatters has clearly misled their readers.
Matthews "praised" the ad?? Not at all. He agreed with his guests that it was "a dead-on attack" and aimed at voters who "are not a highest-common-denominator crowd" (!)
Media Matters has clearly published another false claim.
