In recent coverage of the scandal involving Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), several media outlets have offered headlines that baselessly suggest President-elect Barack Obama has been implicated in the scandal. As Media Matters for America noted, prosecutor and U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald stated during a December 9 press conference that the criminal complaint against Blagojevich “makes no allegations about the president-elect whatsoever -- his conduct,” and Fitzgerald cautioned the press to “not cast aspersions on people for being named or being discussed or if you learn they're being interviewed.”

Among such headlines are the following:

Obama damage control (Politico, December 12)

Analysis: Scandal threatens to dog Obama (Associated Press, December 10)

Scandal Is an Early Test for Obama Team (The New York Times, December 10)

Scandal tests Obama, observers say (United Press International, December 12)

Obama gets a crisis 'test run' (Los Angeles Times, December 12)

Scandal casts cloud over Obama presidency (The Washington Times, December 10)

Big risks for Obama in Blago scandal (Politico, December 10)

GOP ties Obama to arrested Ill. governor (The Hill, December 9)

RNC hopefuls use Blagojevich to hit Obama (The Hill, December 10)

As Media Matters has documented, the complaint against Blagojevich does not include a single allegation of misconduct by Obama, and at least one mention of “president-elect” in the complaint affirmatively undermines any suggestion of wrongdoing on Obama's part.