Fox News, CBSNews.com, Financial Times all misidentified Lieberman as a Democrat

In reporting on Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's (CT) suggestion, during the June 10 edition of CBS' Face the Nation, that the United States should be "prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians," Fox News, CBSNews.com, and the Financial Times (in an article also posted on MSNBC.com) all misidentified Lieberman as a Democrat. As Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted, on January 12, Congressional Quarterly reported that "Lieberman has asked to be called an Independent Democrat," adding that, "if the compound modifier that the senator prefers was not going to take hold, then Lieberman's second choice is to be described as an Independent" rather than being described as a "Democrat."

Teasing a segment about Lieberman's comments on the June 11 edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom, co-hosts Bill Hemmer and Megan Kelly both called Lieberman a "prominent Democrat:"

KELLY: In any event, a lot going on this morning here in America's Newsroom, including a prominent Democrat saying the time to attack Iran is right now.

[...]

HEMMER: In a moment here, we're going to get back overseas, where Iran is not playing by the rules. What to do? A prominent Democrat's saying it's time to attack Iran now and make it pay a price.

However, in a Face the Nation clip that Fox News aired prior to the actual segment, Lieberman was correctly identified on-screen as an independent:

Similarly, CBSNews.com attributed the quote that appeared alongside a June 10 article on Lieberman's Iran comments to "Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn.," while the article itself described him as the "Independent former Democrat from Connecticut." An accompanying video clip of Lieberman's Face the Nation remarks featured a caption identifying him as "Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.":

Finally, a June 11 BST (British Summer Time) Financial Times article described Lieberman as "a Democrat who ran as an independent in the 2006 mid-term elections after losing his party's support for his pro-war views." A different version of the article posted on MSNBC.com described Lieberman as a "Democratic senator, who ran independently in the 2006 midterms after losing his party's support."

From the Financial Times:

Senator Joe Lieberman, an outspoken "hawk" in Congress, yesterday advocated that the US bomb Iran to stop its alleged support for Iraqi militia.

Mr Lieberman, a Democrat who ran as an independent in the 2006 mid-term elections after losing his party's support for his pro-war views, also came close to suggesting in a TV interview that the US should take military action to stop Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programme.

From MSNBC.com:

Joe Lieberman, an outspoken Congress hawk, on Sunday proposed that the US bomb Iran to stop alleged support for Iraqi militia.

The Democratic senator, who ran independently in the 2006 midterms after losing his party's support, came close to suggesting in a television interview thatthe [sic] US take military action to stop Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programme.

—B.J.L.