Union Leader, CNN uncritically reported McCain's criticism of negative ads

SUMMARY: A New Hampshire Union Leader article on the January 6 Republican presidential forum uncritically quoted Sen. John McCain saying of Mitt Romney's television advertisements: "Look, these are attack ads. ... I don't think they work." But the article did not note what moderator Chris Wallace had noted less than an hour before McCain's assertion -- that McCain had "actually launch[ed] his own attack ad." Similarly, on The Situation Room, Wolf Blitzer uncritically aired a video clip of McCain saying: "Governor Romney is running these attack ads. He tried the same thing in Iowa against Governor Huckabee and just got beat. People of New Hampshire are not going to be fooled by these negative campaigns and the ads that they're running."

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