Right-Wing Meltdown
Right Embarks on Smear Campaign Against Media Matters; Baseless Attacks Make the Case for Group's Mission
Washington, DC - In recent days, Media Matters for America has become the target of an unprecedented stream of attacks from right-wing media and political figures intent on silencing the media watchdog's criticism. This recent barrage of false, baseless, and sometimes comical attacks, complete with flowcharts, from the likes of Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Tom DeLay, Neal Boortz, Matt Drudge, and Michael Savage, just to name a few, ironically underscores the need for an organization like Media Matters to monitor, analyze, and correct conservative misinformation in the media.
"The right appears to be in full-blown meltdown over the work we do at Media Matters for America," said Eric Burns, a senior spokesman for Media Matters. "Given the bizarre anger that Media Matters inspires from the far right, it's clear we're making an impact."
Bill O'Reilly on the Attack
On April 23, O'Reilly devoted an entire segment on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor to what he sees as a devious conspiracy of progressive donors and nonprofit groups. Referring to Media Matters as "the vile propaganda outfit, which specializes in distorting comments made by politicians, pundits, and media people," O'Reilly -- while failing to identify a single instance when Media Matters has distorted his words or those of others -- purported to depict billionaire philanthropist George Soros as funding Media Matters, which "feeds its propaganda to some mainstream media people." As Media Matters has previously indicated, Soros has never given money to Media Matters, either directly or through another organization.
O'Reilly's comments are just the latest in what has become a veritable who's who of right-wing media figures attacking Media Matters.
"O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Drudge, and now even Tom DeLay are attempting to discredit Media Matters with conspiracy theories and name-calling," Burns continued. "It is worth noting that nowhere in these often contradictory and provably false attacks do our friends on the right actually question the accuracy of the research we release to the public every day."
"Their attacks against an organization that openly and transparently promotes accountability in the media is far more reflective of their agenda than anything involving Media Matters," Burns said. "They're clearly afraid of having their deceptions corrected and afraid of being held accountable. If they had their way, Media Matters would just disappear. That isn't going to happen."
Other Recent Attacks from the Right
- On the same day as O'Reilly's attack, TOM DeLAY wrote in The Politico, "George Soros, upset with the slight inroads conservatives have made recently, has funded an organization called Media Matters for America, led by liberal muckraker David Brock. Brock's job is to serve as a constant rapid responder to any media report that fails to follow Soros' Shadow Party agenda. Brock is there to crack the whip any time a 'one of us' liberal reporter steps out of line and to make sure reporters are instructed on how to take down any conservative leader or idea that starts gaining traction with the American people."
- "I'll tell you who's out there doing all this monitoring, and then reporting things out of context, and that's our old buddies at Media Matters for America," said RUSH LIMBAUGH on April 16. "I'm not going to let the Democrat Party or the left or some lackey watchdog group or a couple of race hustlers dictate my speech." Limbaugh added, "This is Stalinist, folks. This is an attack on certain kinds of information that is protected by a template which says, 'All conservative information is misinformation.' "
- On April 13, Internet gossip MATT DRUDGE linked to a Wall Street Journal article that attributed Don Imus' firing from CBS Radio and MSNBC to Media Matters' first having highlighted his comments. Drudge claimed that Media Matters is funded by Soros, claiming in his post "Soros Operation Takes Credit for Imus Take-Down..." After Media Matters indicated that Soros had never given money to the organization, the link vanished from Drudge's website.
- On the April 18 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, NEAL BOORTZ said, "When the history of this event [the Virginia Tech shootings] is written ... we will have 25 students standing meekly waiting for this guy to execute them" and then aired an instrumental version of the Pat Benatar song, "Hit Me With Your Best Shot." When his comments appeared in The New York Times, Boortz said on April 20, "[S]omebody out there feeds this, because I know damn well [Times reporter] Jacques Steinberg wasn't listening to The Neal Boortz Show. ... So my guess is Media Morons, I mean Media Matters. My guess is it was them. Because they specialize in disinformation."
- On the April 13 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, MICHAEL SAVAGE said of Media Matters, "They're people who attack me. It's run by a homosexual activist who hates anybody in the media who does not kowtow to the homosexual agenda." Referring to Media Matters CEO and President David Brock, Savage added: "The man who runs it is, in my opinion, a straight-out maniac. He would belong much more happily in the ex-Soviet Union."
- San Francisco radio host and frequent cable news guest MELANIE MORGAN compared Media Matters to the Virginia Tech killer in an April 20 column: "Like that mentally unbalanced and angry gunman at Virginia Tech, they'll methodically march through the domiciles of the conservative movement, targeting the movement's leaders for career elimination."
More from Media Matters for America
Limbaugh claimed Media Matters "fell for" his "liberal" gunman "joke" "hook, line, and sinker"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200704230012
On the April 23 broadcast of his radio show, Limbaugh claimed, "I was making a joke," when he said on his April 19 broadcast that Virginia Tech gunman Cho Seung-Hui "had to be a liberal," and "it's a liberal that committed this act," before adding on April 23, "I do believe that it was liberalism that got a hold of this guy and made him hate things, professors and this sort of thing." Limbaugh also lashed out at Media Matters, claiming that he had made the comments about Cho "as a means of illustrating on this show how the words of conservative talk show hosts are twisted and taken out of context," before adding, "And sure enough, Media Matters fell for it hook, line, and sinker. They had it up all over the place."
Limbaugh falsely accused Media Matters of not providing context for his "Obama Osama" comment
http://mediamatters.org/items/200704230008
On April 20, Limbaugh asserted that Media Matters "takes everything that we say here out of context." The example Limbaugh provided was an incident on his July 11, 2005, broadcast in which he repeatedly referred to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) as "Obama Osama" and "Osama Obama." Limbaugh argued that he was just engaging in a "parody because Senator [Edward M.] Kennedy [D-MA] at the National Press Club was asked about Obama and said, "Well, we need to ask Osama about that." In fact, as Media Matters documented at the time, while Limbaugh mentioned Kennedy's gaffe during the broadcast, he also repeatedly referred to Obama as "Osama Obama" or "Obama Osama" in criticizing Obama and Democrats in general.
On Irish TV, O'Reilly called Media Matters "an assassination website" that takes him "out of context"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200704200011
On April 13, O'Reilly appeared on RTÉ One's The Late Late Show, a talk show based in Dublin, Ireland. During the interview, host Pat Kenny asked O'Reilly about his previous references to the poor as "irresponsible and lazy" and the Iraqi people as "prehistoric." When Kenny said that he found both remarks on Media Matters' website, O'Reilly responded by attacking Media Matters as "an assassination website" and a "far-left propaganda thing." O'Reilly further claimed that he didn't "remember saying" either of the statements pointed out by Kenny and added that Media Matters takes him "out of context." However, Media Matters provided documentation of O'Reilly referring to the poor as "irresponsible and lazy" and the Iraqi people as "prehistoric."
Schlussel responds to Media Matters, Olbermann: Vegans, transsexuals, and "fake Holocaust survivors," oh my
http://mediamatters.org/items/search/200704190003
In an April 18 weblog entry, right-wing pundit Debbie Schlussel responded to a Media Matters item that highlighted her "speculat[ion]" in an April 16 post (since removed) that Cho Seung-Hui might have been a "Paki" Muslim and part of "a coordinated terrorist attack." As Media Matters pointed out, "Paki" is a disparaging term for a person of Pakistani descent. Schlussel attacked Media Matters, writing: "Media Matters bragged to the Wall Street Journal that it was responsible for taking down Don Imus. I suppose now that Don Imus is gone, they've assigned the vegan lesbian transsexual 'interspecies erotica' devotee they had monitoring the Imus show to monitor my site." She also attacked "nutty, angry" MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, who awarded Schlussel third place in his April 17 "Worst Person in the World" segment for her "Paki" statement. In addition, Schlussel falsely claimed that billionaire philanthropist George Soros "is the funder of Media Matters."
Savage called Media Matters "a gay smear sheet," CEO David Brock "a psychopath"
http://mediamatters.org/items/search/200704120012
On April 11, Savage referred to Media Matters as "a gay smear sheet" and called David Brock "a psychopath in my opinion, who hates me." Savage read from an April 14, 2006, Media Matters item, which noted that Savage called the woman who alleged she was raped by Duke University lacrosse team members a "Durham dirtbag" and a "dirty, verminous black stripper," and that he also said, "This is the radical, feminist, lesbian agenda being acted out on our campuses in a witch-hunt manner against these white boys, very much like the socialist communist agenda being acted out on the American stage by the extras called the illegal aliens." After reading his previous comments, Savage stated: "That's me. I am proud to tell you I agree with every word that I said a year ago." Savage claimed that Media Matters "ought to apologize to me" -- presumably because of the April 11 decision to drop the sexual assault charges in the Duke case.
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I have heard some say George Soros is a part of your funding source, you say he is not. IRS Form 990 can help sort this out but you say you have redacted the information so nobody can see who contributes to your not-for-profit organization. I think it is great to make people accountable but why not clean up the rap music business, which calls women names that nobody likes to hear. What is up? Why do you not want others to know where you get money?
"Why do you not want others to know where you get money?"
Does knowing Media Matters funding sources make their service any more or less accurate? TopAssistant seems to want to spread by innuendo the perception that Media Matters has something to hide. What happens if their donor list is released? Any bets that radical right wing extremists would pick up the list and exert tremendous pressure on those donors to stop funding Media Matters?
The bottom line is that Media Matters performs a service that used to be done by the mainstream media. The mainstream media has been co-opted by the power brokers. If TopAssistant has an issue regarding either the accuracy or contextual placement of Media Matters reporting then please share your findings with us. To play the troll and imply that there is something wrong with Media Matters for protecting their donor list is just more right wing subterfuge.
Does knowing Media Matters funding sources make their service any more or less accurate? TopAssistant seems to want to spread by innuendo the perception that Media Matters has something to hide. What happens if their donor list is released? Any bets that radical right wing extremists would pick up the list and exert tremendous pressure on those donors to stop funding Media Matters?
Is that the best you can come up with? The reason Media Matters is hiding their funding sources is to protect themselves from the pressure of right wing extremists? That is hilarious! What makes you think that the left wing extremist pinko elitists who fund Media Matters would ever bow to the pressure of anyone on the right? Are you trying to spread the perception that left wing extremist media watchers are a bunch of wimps who cannot defend their own ideas and would rather stay hidden behind the curtain of anonymity?
Media Matters is a private organization. When I make donations I want the organizations that I donate to protect my privacy. I don't want them sharing or selling my information. This is not a public entity that is funded with tax payer money. They are privately funded and the last time I checked this isn't Amerika and private companies can conduct business in whatever manner they feel is warranted. If you don't like their free service than find an alternative to verify the different media information you are bombarded with everyday. It is still a free society so exercise your freedom of choice. Media Matters probably doesn't offer the kinds of analysis that you find so believable at Faux Noise.
Media Matters performs a service that used to be done by the mainstream media. The mainstream media has been co-opted by the power brokers.
How can we be sure that media matters has also not suffered the same fate and been co-opted by these same power brokers? Too bad we don't know who is paying the bills, that would probably shed some light on the whole situation.
But you are probably correct in assuming that the donors want to protect their privacy. I'm sure Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wouldn't want anyone to know how much he has contributed.
You did read the article correct?
I think it is insane that a man like Rudy Guliani is claiming that by electing a Democrat would cause more terrorist attacks and is outrageous! Trust me, there will be more attacks no matter who is in office and that is because the right wingers and the republicans elected an evil, satan worshipping president who is a member of 2 satanic occults including skull and bones secret society and the Bohemian grove, so is his father and many other republicans and some even some high profile democrats serving in our government and even Gulliani himself is a memeber of this satanic cult Bohemian grove. The bible tells us that satan came to steal, kill and destroy. His power is limited in this world and he is forced to use humans to do his evil bidding. There are likely thousands of terrorists residing in our country right now due to our open borders and now our presdient wants to give them all amnesty and are they are probably planning their next attack. In the bible in Ephesians 5:11, the apposle Paul tells us "take no part in the fruits of darkness, rather reprove them" If the media were to expose all those who are in power in our government who are part of these satanic cults, there would be outrage and it would be the scandal of the millenium but no one seems to have the courage to do it, not a single journalist. Tim Russert from meet the press did confront our current president about his membership in the skull and bones secret society before the 2000 election and naturally, George refused to talk about it. I do commend Tim for his courage, he was doing what God commands us to do. Even conservative supreme court justice Clarence Thomas is also a member of the bohemian grove along with Newt Gingrich, Arnold Swartzenegar and many other well known polititians. They are making policy decisions right now which will for sure, lead to the demise of the United States as we know it. We will no longer be the super power, Europe is quickly becoming stronger and stronger, Geroge senior mentioned something about the need for a "New World Order" when he was president. We are in fact living in the end times and the wrath of God will be decending upon all english speaking nations soon. You see, we are the seed of Abraham who God promised would bless abundantly. So now, many people have taken these blessings for granted and have turned away from God. We see so much greed, crime and corruption in our own government, God has had enough. mark my words, by the end of our current presidents term, there will be chaos as this country has never seen and I believe the 3 and one half year tribulation mentioned in the book of revelation will begin around that time. Mark of the beast, anti-christ, whore of babylon, it's all coming to fruition and God will in no way clear the guilty, especially the ones in our goverment who have sold their souls to satan and are sqandering our tax dollars on pet projects and allowing lobbyists and special interest groups to write our laws. Woe be to the inhabitants of the earth. Read your bible, it's all in there, God bless you and God help us all. I realize that this is a difficult issue to confront, but someone has to do it and with the most important election in tis countrys' history coming up in 2008, I think it's time for peolpe in your organization to reveal the truth, even if it takes out a few Democrats, in the end, I think that our country will benefit I would appreciate a responce to this e-mail. You can reserach these satanic cults and the members on the internet. Thank you and God bless you
the one thing that turns my stomach is how our government can send our troops to hostile places around the world and then turn there backs on our men. unless you have ever been in a fire fight, you can never understand how fast life decisions need to be made. war is not perfect, these men all have hopes, dreams and families that they want to come home to in one piece. then to have our own government try to accuse them of murder. it is time for the american people to truly look at our government. we are at a crossroad in this country, the people that we elect have there own adgendas and it is not in our best intrest. we need to get away from the rep and dem titles and start looking at individuals. to many people vote for goverment officials based on parties not ideas. it is time we all change to a independent and hold the government accountable for mistakes. these officials bicker like children and we the people are caught in the middle. to the marines on trial semper fi god bless you, you did what you had to do. to our government officals that did not back you you will reap what you sow and i will do what i can do to make sure you time in office is short lived. we need true leaders, americans who care about us. not somone who will sell us out to foriegn nations and illegal immigrants for a vote down the road. cpl john c usmc 2mef, 3fssg
The drumbeat of attack against Media Matters is similar to what the Nazis did before they were in power. Arthur Koestler wrote in his autobiography that the liberal German publishing house he worked for tried to placate the Nazis by abandoning their anti-capital punishment and pro-gay and abortion rights campaigns, relegating them to the Socialist and Communist press which had nothing to lose. But even this wasn't enough. Eventually his employer fired Koestler and all the rest of their Jewish employees--again, BEFORE the Nazis were even in power!
Once you let them put you on the defensive you're lost. They'll just keep attacking, attacking, attacking, until you're afraid even to say, "Boo!" For these people "Liberal" is the new "Jew." Just remember what bomber pilots used to say: "When you start taking heavy flak, you're right on target--so Bombs Away!"
You do realize that the vitriol aimed at your organization is actually directed to David since he's been part of the group and is now an outlander.
Once a member of a cult, which is what today's GOP has become, leaves the group, the other members circle the wagons as it were, and direct their fire outwards towards the member who has become, in essence, an apostate.
By exposing the right-wing, Scaife-financed assault on Clinton over the Paula Jones nonsense, Brock pulled back the curtain for those who weren't in the throes of complete cognitive dissonance and who were able to accept that what was emanating from the GOP spin machine was directed from somewhere else and was being propagated at the same time through every media organ they controlled.
Congratulations, Media Matters!!
When the truth gets to close to home the fanatics take to the bunker and the attacks become more intense and even more absurd.