As if news that AIG was handing out bonuses to executives despite having been bailed out by the Federal government wasn't bad enough, reports on the controversy this week only made matters worse. You'd think President Bush had no blame for the situation if you read reports in publications like Politico, USA Today or the Los Angeles Times -- all of which omitted any mention of the Bush Treasury Department's work with the Federal Reserve in carrying out last year's bailouts and bought AIG stock notwithstanding the existence of these bonus contracts.

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Weekly Wrap-Up Video

• Weekly Wrap-Up for Friday, March 20, 2009 (Watch Video)

This Week's Top Stories

AIG Bonus Controversy Dominates Media

• As if news that AIG was handing out bonuses to executives despite having been bailed out by the Federal government wasn't bad enough, reports on the controversy this week only made matters worse. You'd think President Bush had no blame for the situation if you read reports in publications like Politico, USA Today or the Los Angeles Times -- all of which omitted any mention of the Bush Treasury Department's work with the Federal Reserve in carrying out last year's bailouts and bought AIG stock notwithstanding the existence of these bonus contracts. Worse yet, in reporting on emails obtained by Fox Business Network, Fox News' Jon Scott at no point noted that the emails implicate the Bush administration in approving a $40 billion bailout for AIG without requiring AIG to nullify its employee bonus contracts. Additionally, conservative leader Rush Limbaugh and a host of other right-wing media players ratcheted up the rhetoric standing up for AIG against what they described as “mob rule” while also falsely claiming that no Republican voted for the TARP bailout or the bonuses. Others in the press corps falsely asserted that President Obama's recovery bill required the bonuses "to stay in place."

Jim Cramer vs. Jon Stewart, Round 2?

• Think the dust-up between Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's The Daily Show, and CNBC's Jim Cramer ended with Cramer's appearance on Stewart's show? Guess again. After acknowledging that CNBC's reporting deserved criticism during his interview with Stewart last week, Cramer appeared on NBC's Today show this week saying of Stewart that “it was a naïve and misleading thing to attack the media” for their coverage of the economic recession. (Read More)

Death of Obama's Media “Honeymoon” Cliché Lives On

• This week, a Media Matters study found that since the day after President Obama's inauguration, broadcast and cable news figures have been declaring that Obama's “honeymoon” is “over” or questioning whether it is, in fact, over, rendering the cliché all but meaningless. Of course that hasn't stopped them from repeating it time and again. (Read More)

Action of the Week

Tell CNBC the Economy Isn't a Game: CNBC should publicly declare a drastic change of direction, committing to responsible journalism in an effort to hold Wall Street accountable. As a first step, it should bring new economic voices on the air with a focus on those who were right about this crisis in the first place. The stakes are too high for CNBC to continue acting as the unofficial mouthpiece of Wall Street. This is not a game. Together we can bring about the much-needed change we seek. That is why it is so important that you sign this petition today and then encourage your friends, family and co-workers to do the same.

This Week's Media Columns

Radio Active: The Week in Conservative Talk Radio

• Hannity falsely asserted Dems “voted for those bonuses,” while GOP “did not”

• Limbaugh defense of AIG bonuses follows attacks on “insane benefits” of UAW sending Big Three “down the tubes”

• Limbaugh: Obama “has a chip on his shoulder, and his wife does too, and they are some angry people”

• Limbaugh expands upon his Frank-McCarthy comparison and the “popular myth that McCarthy falsely accused people of things”

• Beck says it is “absolutely wrong” that AIG bonuses are “wildly unpopular”

• Limbaugh finds it “hilarious” that “three dingbats ... are about to die” looking for proof of global warming

• Hannity on proposal to tax AIG bonuses at very high rate: “In other words, we're going to just steal their money”

• Limbaugh claims the “big point” of “this AIG business” is to “poison” minds “to capitalism and to corporate America. This is exactly the kind of thing Barack Obama and his team love”

• Ranting about his “fervent anti-ethnic holiday position,” Dobbs asks if there is “an Asian ethnic holiday ... you know, St. Jin-Tao-Wow?”

• Savage claims “radical left,” including Obama, “dream[s]” of “Maoist revolution” with “death camps”

In Case You Missed It...

• Associated Press Liberal media watchdog begins anti-CNBC drive: Spearheaded by the new Progressive Change Campaign Committee and supported by the watchdog Media Matters and others, the group is asking CNBC to hire economic voices with a track record of being right on the current economic crisis, and do more to hold business leaders accountable. "You screwed up badly," the petition, posted online Monday, reads. “Don't apologize. Fix it.” (Read More)

• Media Matters president Burns on MSNBC's Countdown: On Thursday, March 19, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann hosted Media Matters president Eric Burns for a discussion on issues ranging from Bill O'Reilly's preoccupation his progressive critics to recent unfounded attacks on progressives by conservatives in the media. The appearance was part of Olbermann's “left-wing smear merchants week.” (Watch Video)

• What Honeymoon? Have you noticed how the press has been trumpeting the end of President Obama's “honeymoon” nearly every day since he took office? Talk about a prolonged annulment. We're not even sure they ever made it to the alter in the first place as this great new video illustrates. If the last two months are the media's idea of a honeymoon, all we have to say is good riddance. (Watch Video)

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