Right-Wing Media's Two-Note Tune: All of Society's Ills Are the Fault of Acorn or Immigrants

Media Matters for America. Posted April 7, 2009.

In coverage of major news stories, conservative media figures have repeatedly fallen back on two of their favorite bogeymen -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and undocumented immigrants -- frequently blaming national crises on one or both groups or accusing them of receiving undeserved benefits from the government. At best, these scapegoats are tenuously connected to the issues those figures are discussing; at worst, they are entirely unrelated. In some instances, the media linked their scapegoats to major news stories using misleading claims, and in others, they advanced outright falsehoods. Whatever the case may be, conservatives in the media consistently weave ACORN and undocumented immigrants into their coverage or commentary, instead of addressing the substantive policy issues or developing a cogent critique. Other media outlets follow the conservatives' lead, uncritically reporting their smears of ACORN and undocumented immigrants or reporting those smears as fact.

Media Matters for America has documented numerous instances in which conservative media outlets and figures have used ACORN and undocumented immigrants as scapegoats in reporting on major news stories recently, as well as other media outlets echoing their claims.

2008 financial crisis

Conservative media figures repeatedly invoked the specter of ACORN when discussing the causes of the financial crisis. For example, several in the media have claimed, suggested, or uncritically reported that ACORN contributed to the housing crisis by "bullying" banks into irresponsible lending to minorities. In many instances, media figures asserted that the group used the threat of the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to intimidate banks into making risky loans. But as Media Matters documented, the media-promoted myth that the financial crisis was caused by banks lending irresponsibly to comply with the CRA has been widely discredited. According to housing experts, a large number of subprime loans were not made under the CRA, which applies only to depository institutions.

Media outlets and figures promoting the idea that ACORN contributed to the housing crisis include:

• Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, during the April 3 edition of his nationally syndicated show
• The Wall Street Journal, in a September 27, 2008, editorial
• Conservative journalist Stanley Kurtz, in a September 29, 2008, New York Post op-ed and an October 7, 2008, National Review Online article
• Then-chief White House correspondent Bret Baier, during an October 5, 2008, Fox News special, Saving Our Economy
• The Washington Times' John McCaslin, in his October 14, 2008, "Inside the Beltway" column
• Investor's Business Daily, in a January 27 editorial

In discussing the debate over the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (which created the Troubled Asset Relief Program), numerous media figures falsely claimed, suggested, or uncritically repeated Republicans' claims that Democrats were trying to steer money to ACORN through that legislation. In fact, neither the draft proposal nor the final version of the bill contained any language mentioning ACORN. Those making the false claim were misrepresenting a provision -- later removed -- that would have directed 20 percent of any profits realized on troubled assets purchased under the plan into two previously established funds: the Housing Trust Fund and the Capital Magnet Fund, which, under the law authorizing them, distribute funds through state block grants and through competitive application processes, respectively.

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