Politico Corrects DeLay's Falsehood
Disgraced Former House Majority Leader's Claim That Soros Funds Media Matters Corrected
Washington, DC -- In an April 25 Politico op-ed, Tom DeLay (R-TX), the disgraced former House majority leader, claimed that philanthropist and progressive financier George Soros funds Media Matters for America -- a claim The Politico corrected in today's print edition, stating, "A column in Tuesday's Politico, 'How Good Is the Media's Campaign Coverage?' by Tom DeLay, contained an error. George Soros has not funded the organization Media Matters for America."
"We commend Politico for correcting Tom DeLay's false claim and acknowledging that Media Matters is in fact not funded by philanthropist George Soros," said Eric Burns, a senior spokesman for Media Matters. "It is our hope that Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and others who continue to perpetuate these falsehoods will issue similar corrections and in the future work to advance their views based on the facts ... if they are capable of that."
As Media Matters noted on April 23, the same day that Fox News' Bill O'Reilly went on the attack against Media Matters -- purporting to diagram what he presented as a web of conspiracy involving progressive donors, nonprofits, and the media, with Media Matters at the center -- The Politico ran an op-ed in which DeLay alleged that "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." In fact, as Media Matters has repeatedly noted, Soros has never given money to Media Matters, either directly or through another organization. If he wanted to fund Media Matters, he or the Open Society Institute (OSI), a grant-making foundation he established in 1993 to conduct his philanthropy, could simply write a check directly to Media Matters, as he and OSI do with numerous entities.
"A Column in Tuesday's Politico, 'How Good Is the Media's Campaign Coverage?' by Tom DeLay, contained an error. George Soros has not funded the organization Media Matters for America." (The Politico, April 26, 2007)
More Attacks on Media Matters from the Right
http://mediamatters.org/items/200704250003
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