Progressive News Feeds

Evening news coverage throughout April touched upon several economic issues, including income inequality, deficit reduction, and entitlement cuts. A Media Matters analysis of this coverage reveals that many of these segments lacked proper context or necessary input from economists, while some networks ignored certain issues entirely.

Tags: charts, cnn, discrimination, economics, economy, elections, media matters, the nation

Republican congressmen are giving credibility to Alex Jones and his conservative fringe website Infowars.com, which popularized a conspiracy theory  that DHS is stockpiling ammunition for nefarious purposes. The conspiracy theory has now inspired legislation known as the AMMO Act of 2013, which seeks to limit the ammunition purchasing power of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), even though the underlying theory was based on flawed math and a mischaracterization of the facts

Tags: congress, desktop, economy, environment, government, house, progressive news, science, war

Media outlets are reporting that a new immigration report from the conservative Heritage Foundation found that passing the proposed Senate comprehensive immigration bill will cost $6.3 trillion. In fact, the Heritage report is not an analysis of the entire Senate’s ”Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act,” and does not take into account costs or savings of the proposal’s broader reforms. Media Report That Heritage Study Found Senate Immigration Proposal Will Cost Trillions  Fox News: “Comprehensive Immigration Overhaul Being Taken Up In The Senate This Week Could Cost Taxpayers $6.3 trillion.”  In an article on a Heritage immigration study headlined, “Study pegs cost of immigration bill’s mass legalization at $6.3 trillion,” Fox News claimed that the “comprehensive immigration overhaul being taken up in the Senate this week could cost taxpayers $6.3 trillion if 11 million illegal immigrants are granted legal status, according to a long-awaited estimate by the conservative Heritage Foundation.” [FoxNews.com,  5/6/13 ]  Wash.

Tags: budget deficit, conservative, economy, elections, environment, heritage, network, politico

According to Fox News Sunday ‘s Chris Wallace, the conservative Heritage Foundation is set to release a report that claims immigration reform will cost taxpayers billions of dollars. But Heritage’s analysis is reportedly based on a 2007 study that was widely discredited by experts for its faulty methodology and dubious conclusions. On KFTK’s Allman in the Morning , Wallace stated that he plans to host Heritage Foundation president and former Republican Sen

Tags: articles, congress, conservative, economy, feeds, foreign policy, progressive news, taxes

A  Wall Street Journal  article debunked the myth that federal disability benefits are to blame for the shrinking labor force, “exaggerated” claims that have previously been pushed by the paper itself. An April 29 Journal article headlined “Real Culprit Behind Smaller Workforce: Age” explained that the recent decrease in the labor force — the number of employed and unemployed Americans who are currently seeking work — “has more to do with retiring baby boomers than frustrated job seekers abandoning their searches.” The article noted that claims that Americans are voluntarily leaving the workforce to receive Disability Insurance instead of working, for example, “may be exaggerated,” and explained that retirees and students made up a far more significant portion of those leaving the labor force. The article included the following graph, showing disability was the least common reason for individuals leaving the workforce in March 2013: However, the Journal has previously pushed the myth that Disability Insurance accounted for much of the dropping labor force participation rate

Tags: breaking news, cnn, desktop, education, environment, feeds, health, video

The right wing media’s promotion of a widely-debunked Alex Jones conspiracy theory about the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) ammunition acquisitions prompted House Republicans to hold a hearing to investigate. The theory, which assigns some sinister motivation behind the recent ammo purchases, first gained traction on the websites of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones before finding its way to Fox News and Fox Business and finally to the halls of Congress.  On April 25, Republican Reps. Jim Jordan (OH) and Jason Chaffetz (UT)  held a joint hearing  ”to examine the procurement of ammunition by the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General.” The hearing followed right wing  media reports  speculating about the reasons for the acquisitions.

Tags: congress, conspiracy, economy, education, elections, environment, feeds, politics, sponsor, war

Media outlets including NPR and Fox News are targeting federal disability benefits programs through a campaign deceptively portraying these programs as wasteful and unsustainable. In reality, these programs have low fraud rates and help the rising number of Americans with severe disabilities survive when they are   unable to work. Is the recent increase in the number of people receiving disability benefits surprising?

Tags: budget, child, children, feeds, huffington-post, nature, planned parenthood, progressive news, sponsor, the nation

In retribution against a Missouri agency’s record-keeping of concealed carry gun permits, the state Senate voted Monday to eliminate all funding for the Department of Revenue’s drivers’ license bureau and slashed funding for several other agencies.

Tags: action, america, arizona, auto, director, facebook, gun violence prevention, guns, politics, progressive news, security, united nations

Lou Dobbs asked a series of questions about immigrants in America, claiming the answers didn’t exist. In fact, many of his questions are not only easily answered, but highlight the contributions of immigrants of all kinds.

Tags: articles, congress, dobbs, environment, feeds, media, politics, video, war

President Obama will today release a sweeping budget proposal that is aimed at reaching a grand bargain with House and Senate Republicans on the nation’s long-term debt and deficits. The budget, as expected from reports last week, largely mirrors the compromise offer Obama made to Republican leaders during fiscal cliff negotiations at the beginning of the year, as it seeks investments aimed at spurring economic growth and new revenues in exchange for cuts to both domestic discretionary spending and entitlement programs. The Obama budget replaces the automatic budget cuts — sequestration — that went into effect on March 1 with a total of $1.8 trillion in deficit reduction achieved through a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases, and it also includes many of the administration’s priorities, including stimulative investments, funding for a universal preschool program, and an increase in the minimum wage to $9.00 per hour

Tags: barack-obama, budget-cuts, credit, health, media, obama, white house