In his first television appearance since the highly-anticipated meeting on Wednesday between Facebook and the nation’s top conservative leaders, Media Research Center President Brent Bozell told Fox Business Network’s Neil Cavuto Thursday afternoon that he “left encouraged” that the site wants to fix the “erosion of trust” set forth by allegations of censoring conservative news topics.
Additionally, Bozell slammed those on the right who went with a less than “open mind” and particularly the “silly” Breitbart News for skipping out and promoting a “defeatist and angry and thoroughly unproductive way of looking at the world” when seeking to solve problems.
Cavuto gave Bozell the floor at the onset and the MRC founder explained:
I think it went well I went there with an open mind as opposed to others who have been making a lot of comments about this and I think I left encouraged because I think they fully understand there is a problem. I explained from our standpoint between the Media Research Center and for America, my other organization we have some 19 million Facebook fans. You know, I think we're biggest out there and we’ve never had a problem, but there’s too much smoke to dismiss the lack of a there is a problem within Facebook[.]
He also mentioned that he came away feeling that Zuckerberg had “a serious determination...to fix this” because even though he trends to the left politically, the allegations and experiences some conservative have had with his site are “a direct threat to his business model” and “because I think this was his vision for Facebook”
Cavuto pressed for more details and Bozell pointed out that while “he has said is that they not found evidence of a systemic problem there” and could be compared to the IRS scandal in that “[t]here were rogue elements in the IRS and I think the problem has been within Facebook but not corporate Facebook.”
Reiterating that he’s was supportive of the fact that “we left encouraged that Facebook is serious about,” Bozell was asked by Cavuto about elements of the movement like Breitbart that not only rejected Zuckerberg's invitation but openly trashed him and his company. Immediately, Bozell unleashed on this “silly” attitude by Breitbart News:
I think the person who’s been writing about it is an embarrassment to Breitbart. I think that it really is the kind of defeatist and angry and thoroughly unproductive way of looking at the world to say that when there’s an opportunity to attempt to fix a problem that we as conservatives would rather not even try. I mean that's silly.
The transcript of Bozell’s appearance from FBN’s Cavuto: Coast to Coast on May 19 can be found below.
FBN’s Cavuto: Coast to Coast
May 19, 2016
1:52 p.m. EasternNEIL CAVUTO: Oh, to be a fly on the wall at conservative pow-wow with Mark Zuckerberg over at Facebook at their company headquarters in California. Well, we have one of the flies in that wall. In fact, he was one the 10 attendees. Brent Bozell, Media Research Center president. How’d it go, Brent?
BRENT BOZELL: I think it went well I went there with an open mind as opposed to others who have been making a lot of comments about this and I think I left encouraged because I think they fully understand there is a problem. I explained from our standpoint between the Media Research Center and For America, my other organization we have some 19 million Facebook fans. You know, I think we're biggest out there and we’ve never had a problem, but there’s too much smoke to dismiss the lack of a there is a problem within Facebook and I think there is a serious determination on the part of Mark Zuckerberg on down to fix this. For the two-fold reason, that one, it’s a direct threat to his business model if there is an erosion of trust, and secondly, because I think this was his vision for Facebook. Yes, he is left-winger, yes, they're all left-wingers but he wanted a marketplace. He wanted a neutral site and I think they’re committed to it.
NEIL CAVUTO: If memory serves me right he denied there was issue here. Did he finally after a little more searching saying yeah there is something like we said, we did screw up?
BOZELL: Well, actually no. He hasn't denied it. What he has said is that they have not found evidence of a systemic problem there. Now the key word is systemic. People, there are some people who suggest that Facebook has a policy against conservatives. Like saying the IRS had a policy against conservatives. It’s not true. There were rogue elements in the IRS and I think the problem has been within Facebook but not corporate Facebook.
CAVUTO: Did he say he would fire anybody? But did he say he would fire anybody if in fact they were keeping either conservative pieces or streaming information that was conservative from trending on the site?
BOZELL: I’ve got to honor the ground rules that it was off the record. But I can say there, I think, they are very serious. We'll see. At the end of the game, at the end of the day, Neil, we'll see when the report comes out. We'll see how they address this. We weren't expecting Rome to be conquered in a day. We were looking to see if Facebook was serious about this and I think we left encouraged that Facebook is serious about.
CAVUTO: You know, it caused a schism, though, within the conservative community. I think Breitbart folks who were invited skipped out it was sort of like a grand photo-op. What did you make of their protest?
BOZELL: Silly and I think the person who’s been writing about it is an embarrassment to Breitbart. I think that it really is the kind of defeatist and angry and thoroughly unproductive way of looking at the world to say that when there’s an opportunity to attempt to fix a problem that we as conservatives would rather not even try. I mean that's silly.
CAVUTO: Alright, Tucker Carlson was there. Did he steal anything while he was there? Did they put out food or anything? What happened?
BOZELL: As he walked out, last thing I saw he, he walked through the security. The beeper went off. I saw them throwing him up against the wall. I don't know what they found.
CAVUTO: I feared and suspected as much. Seriously Brent, very good having you. This meeting is good. Says a lot about Zuckerberg whether you agree or disagree with him, that he held it. He could have ignored it, but he didn’t. Alright, Brent Bozell. Facebook's stock by the way, in and out of the all-time highs this week, so if this issue was draining on them, they just have a funny way showing it. As Zuckerberg pointed out, he obviously wants to be friendly to conservative community including very folks investing in his stock.
