In case you were getting tired of the endless birth-control flogfest, Fox News has come up with another bogeyman to weary your ears with. I refer to (shudder) the most villainous villain of LEFT WING MEDIA, Media Matters for America.
Bill O’Reilly gave plenty of air time on Monday to a Daily Caller “expose” of Media Matters, which he described as “one of the most vicious left-wing outfits.” (translation: it attacks O’Reilly a lot). He invited Fox News contributor and Daily Caller maven Tucker Carlson to share some MMFA horror stories with his audience.
Carlson started by saying that he used unnamed sources because it was so hard to get anyone to talk on the record, even people who were no longer with MMFA. “They’re still in the orbit of Media Matters. And frankly, I think virtually everyone we talked to was still a committed leftist.” He blamed their willingness to talk on their issues with the management of David Brock, who runs the organization.
He didn’t elaborate on Brock’s management deficiencies, though. Instead, Carlson told of a litany of “left-wing” media types who rely on information from MMFA, whether the info is true or false – people like the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson and Greg Sargent (author of the Plum Line blog) and anyone at MSNBC. “The line that we had from someone who worked at Media Matters for a long time was, and I’m quoting now, “We basically write [MSNBC’s] prime time. Anything we write, particularly anything that pertains to FOX News.” And: “there wasn’t one person virtually we interviewed from Media Matters who didn’t say…: if you’ve got something and you can’t place it, no one will take it, give Greg Sargent a buzz on his cell. He’ll take anything.”
Following that interview, it was time for Bernard Goldberg’s take on the issue. Goldberg noted that 10 years ago in his book “Bias,” he complained of “too many like-minded liberals in too many American newsrooms.” Now, he moaned, it’s even worse because of groups like Media Matters which is “masquerading as a media watchdog” but are really a “political assassination organization” and they have ties to the White House besides.
Look here, O’Reilly asked, is there a corresponding organization on the right? Yeah, Goldberg replied, there is the Media Research Center, which “does God’s work” exposing liberal media bias. (Just for your information, gentle reader, a few weeks ago Media Research Center announced a “$5 million campaign exposing media bias.”) But they’re not “character assassins” like MMFA, said Goldberg, who then wailed rhetorically, “Where can you go where you’re gonna get an organization that cares about media bias and corruption, not only when it’s from the right and not only when it’s from the left? That’s my concern.” (You really want to know, Mr. Goldberg? I’ll give you a hint: it’s not at Fox News.)
There are at least three posts about Media Matters on the Fox Nation right now some of which feature character assassination of Brock and there have been several segments on Hannity and elsewhere. Oh dear. This could go on for weeks.
As per the below link, BOR clearly knows that a conservative media watchdog group DOES indeed exist and he said so on his show last November.
BOR: “In the weekdays with Bernie segment tonight, the CONSERVATIVE MEDIA WATCHDOG GROUP NEWSBUSTERS has analyzed Herman Cain coverage…”
Hmm, looks like BOR was simply playing dumb last night when he claimed not to know of a corresponding organization on the right. You’ve been busted, BOR.
http://www.abouttruth.net/2011/11/08/oreilly-and-goldberg-agree-with-newsbusters-report-on-cnns-coverage-of-obamas-scandals-vs-cains/
In addition to the above, back in June 2011, BOR hosted MRC’s Dan Gainor to discuss Soros and their belief that he is influencing the so-called liberal media with funding. I have a real hard time believing that BOR didn’t know what function the MRC serves when he brought Gainor on as a guest.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/erin-r-brown/2011/06/07/mrc-s-dan-gainor-exposes-latest-soros-funded-media-o-reilly-factor
Man, I’d love it if MM would call out BOR on his big-ass fib….LOL!
And this crap about MM being âcharacter assassinsâ?! Puh-leeez. MM print their subjects’ own words in context and use sourced facts to show where the talking head got it wrong and/or where they have been inconsistent/hypocritical. That does NOT fall under the heading of character assassination. BOR (and Douchey, Bolling, etc.) are frequent targets of MM fact checking and they can’t stand it that MM points out their misinformation. Btw, if BOR wants to discuss character assassination type of behavior, perhaps he should look to some of his own words and how he’s used his platform to attack some of those he disagrees with – at least one of whom was assassinated in a very real sense of the word.
As far as this investigation into MM, some of the stuff that Carlson, Douchey and BOR are getting a chubby over could also be said about FOX “news” and some of its personnel. With regards to so-called liberal media using MM as a source, I’d be a rich person if I had a nickel for every time FOX “news” used items and talking points gleaned from sources at MRC, The Drudge Report, Townhall, Breitbart’s blogs, Michelle Malkin’s site, etc. FOX is really playing up what they are referring to as “ties” between MM/liberal media and the White House – are they really going to go there considering FOX “news” is basically nothing more than a propaganda outfit for the GOP, has former GOP White House staffers on their payroll and has had some of their own talking heads in conservative agenda meetings with the White House such as Hannity’s (and other conservative radio hosts) meeting with BushCo? For crying out loud, FOX’s own parent company gave a boatload of money to GOP politicians. It’s a pretty well-known saying that GOPers can’t get elected without getting the, ahem, approval of FOX’s Ailes. Goldberg says that MM is a left-wing group “masquerading as a media watchdog group”. Considering that FOX “news” is an arm of the GOP masquerading as a global news organization, I’d say that Goldberg’s quip is laughable.
Tucker Carlson and Douchey are going out of their way to make MM’s Brock seem like a paranoid scaredy cat who must be some kind of mental case because he thinks someone might want to harm him and has bodyguards. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Brock has received death threats (especially once FOX “news” started going after MM and encouraging their viewers to help bring MM down). Well, helloooo, BOR has bodyguards, Hannity has bodyguards, Ailes has bodyguards. Ailes even had bomb proofing done at his FOX “news” office because he fears that gay activists and Muslims are after him. So we can then also assume that these FOX “news” guys with their bodyguards are paranoid scaredy cats with mental issues too, right, Douchey and Carlson?
MM has done a very fine job in exposing the conservative misinformation/lies/hypocrisy of FOX “news” (and has done the same with some so-called liberal media outlets too but, of course, FOX prefers to ignore that). And for that, MM has become a thorn in FOX’s side. Let’s not forget that back in 2004, MM’s Brock challenged BOR to have him as a guest on “The Factor” so they could discuss matters — a challenge which BOR has been too cowardly to take up. See link below.
As far as the timing of Carlson’s investigation, it’s coming out right as MM is releasing a new book laying out how Ailes has turned a so-called news organization into a propaganda outfit for the conservative agenda. I hardly think the timing of this investigation is coincidence. It looks more like a pre-emptive strike by Carlson/FOX “news” to try and belittle MM’s credibility. No doubt hhis book will expose some truths that FOX “news” would prefer the folks not know.
http://mediamatters.org/research/200412160011
