Brent Bozell

On Saturday's Fox News Watch, FNC contributor and conservative talk radio host Monica Crowley cited a letter released last Monday by NewsBusters publisher and  Media Research Center president Brent Bozell which called on the media to give more attention to President Obama's attempt to force religious institutions to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees, even if these institutions object on religious grounds. (Video below)

Crowley cited numbers on how little attention had been given by the broadcast networks and CNN as of Monday, and credited the MRC with affecting a greater focus on the issue from the media:

"This time, they went too far," MRC President and NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell said of the Obama administration's rule to force Catholic institutions to violate their conscience on contraception, and he scolded the media for refusing to cover the controversy at first.

"The national news media has no understanding of what goes on in the Catholic church. This is massive inside the Catholic church, and think about how long it took -- it took CBS 10 days to do a story on this and they only devoted seconds to it," Bozell argued on the February 9 edition of FNC's Hannity, during his regular "Media Mash" segment. "It took NBC and ABC 17 days to arrive at this story. This is the biggest story dealing with an assault on religious freedom in the history of the Republic."

[MP3 audio here; video and additional transcript below the fold]

Editor's Note: Earlier today, CNN suspended contributor Roland Martin for some tweets he made regarding the David Beckham underwear ad that ran during the Super Bowl. Martin was the target of a pressure campaign from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). What follows after the page break is NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell's statement.

Editor's Note: What follows is a letter that NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center president Brent Bozell sent to the presidents of the news divisions of ABC, CBS, and NBC as well as to CNN president Jim Walton. It has also been carbon copied to 10 leaders representing various Catholic and Protestant faith organizations.

The broadcast and cable television networks need to report the current, unprecedented assault against freedom of religion in this country, as well as the millions of Americans who would be left out in the cold by the Obama administration if it does not rescind HHS’s recently issued insurance mandate requiring contraceptive coverage.  As our statistics and analysis below outline, they are not, and it’s a glaring double standard.

Komen hasn't bent to political pressure from Planned Parenthood and its left-wing political allies - they've snapped like a toothpick. And according to our statistical analysis, pro-abortion ABC, CBS and NBC News have undoubtedly played a strategic role in this pressure.

Since Komen's first announcement only two days ago, these network morning and evening newscasts collectively have cited it more than 13 times. And not surprisingly, these reports overwhelmingly slammed Komen and sympathized with the abortion giant.

Politico correspondent Jonathan Martin's Tuesday morning comment about the "cracker counties" of Florida has gone unaddressed and unrebuked by the liberal media, so Sean Hannity and NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell led off last night's "Media Mash" segment with it.

MSNBC's "Chuck Todd agrees with Jonathan Martin," but he works at the same network which is constantly trying to find hidden racist messages in Republican speeches, particularly those of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the Media Research Center president observed. [see the full segment video below embedded below the page break]

"There was nothing newsworthy" about Marianne Gingrich's latest claims about the dissolution of her marriage to Newt Gingrich, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Fox News host Sean Hannity on his January 20 program.

"We looked at the September 2010 Esquire story on the marriage" and found "there's nothing, let me underscore, nothing in the story last night that wasn't in that interview," Bozell noted during the "Media Mash" segment [MP3 audio here; videofollows page break]

ABC News's Marianne Gingrich interview has "that awful, awful taint of Rathergate to it," timed as it was "to do the most amount of damage it possibly could to Newt Gingrich's career," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell complained in an interview with Washington, D.C. news-talk station WMAL's Morning Majority program.

While Marianne Gingrich may be "entirely honest" in her claim, she is "lashing out at her ex-husband" and her story is an unconfirmable account. "I think it was a mess of a story, I think it hurts the media," the Media Research Center (MRC) founder added. [interview embedded below page break]

At the very least the timing of ABC News's interview with Gingrich ex-wife Marianne Gingrich is suspect. At the very worst, it is completely inappropriate if it failed to be newsworthy and respectful, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told CNBC's Larry Kudlow on his January 19 Kudlow Report.

"In some respects, aren't they obliged to get it out as fast as they can," Kudlow countered, adding that maybe by putting it out the night of the debate, "it actually lessens the impact and significance of the interview." [see video embedded below page break; see related Bozell statement here]

While the news media has a professional "obligation to get it right," liberal network news anchor last week set out to "purposefully" take Mitt Romney's "fire people" comment out of context, Fox News host Sean Hannity complained on his January 13 program.

But it's not only "purposeful distortion" but "purposeful character assassination" by the liberal media added NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell, who appeared via satellite for the popular recurring "Media Mash" feature. [MP3 audio available here; video embedded below page break]

"Using common sense," a skeptical news consumer can see right through the liberal media ripping Mitt Romney's "fire people" comment out of context, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Fox News's Neil Cavuto on the January 10 "Your World."

"What you conclude is, here we go again, what did he really say?" Bozell added, noting that Romney was talking about the need to open up "competition in the [health insurance] market." [video posted below page break; MP3 audio here]

When Democrats have primary presidential contests, we never hear about "extreme-left, in-your-face liberals," playing to the left-wing base of their party, yet when it comes to this year Republican primary contest, the media are quick to slather the extreme-right label on candidates like Rick Santorum, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted on the January 6 edition of Fox News Channel's Hannity.

"ABC believes that if you support the traditional family as Rick Santorum does, that makes you in-your-face. CNN believes that it makes you extreme," Bozell complained, arguing that President Obama has the "most radical pro-abortion record in the history of the presidency of the United States" but was never called on it as a liability when facing the American electorate [video embedded below the page break]

Appearing on Friday's Hannity on Fox News, during the weekly "Media Mash" segment, NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center president Brent Bozell detailed ABC's attempt to paint a rosy economic picture to help President Obama and the liberal media's across-the-board effort to slam Newt Gingrich as a "frightening" "political killer." [View video after the jump]

"You know, we have a saying in the military: You don't receive flak unless you're over the target," retired Army colonel Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) told NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell in an interview earlier this week.

"I think that too often on the Republican side of the House" that conservatives have been gun-shy about "taking the flak" from the liberal media for their conservatism. "When you start to water down your message, when you start to say I can maybe get the other side to really like me, then you get yourself in trouble" and the liberal media are "going to hate you anyway," West added. [see video of the interview embedded below the page break]

"There were 1,365 evening news stories" during the 2008 Democratic primary cycle and not one mentioned then-Senator Obama's connections to Bill Ayers. By contrast, the media have been doggedly determined to aggressively vet GOP primary candidates like Herman Cain, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich this cycle, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Fox News's Sean Hannity during a "Media Mash" segment last night.

Of course in Gingrich's case, the media have been particularly sloppy and unfair, Bozell observed, citing NBC's Lisa Myers who insisted Gingrich "shut down the government" when in fact it was a Clinton veto of spending bills that did that. What's more, the media have often raised a long-settled IRS investigation of Gingrich, without mentioning that the investigation cleared him of wrongdoing (video follows page break):

Following the recent threats from Nancy Pelosi and the heavy brush with which the media are painting Newt Gingrich as unethical, the Media Research Center is now calling on the networks to seize the moment and report the truth from nearly 13 years ago.

It has been 4,689 days since the IRS formally cleared Newt Gingrich of any violation of tax law.  It’s been 4,689 days since ABC, CBS, and NBC have had the opportunity to report it. What the heck.  Why not today?  Now is the time for these networks to report the truth for once.  The networks owe it to the American people to report the fact that in 1999 the IRS completely vindicated Gingrich.

Amidst all the media coverage of Rep. Barney Frank's (Mass.) retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives, the media largely praised the retiring Democrat while overlooking the scandals of his tenure in office and his crucial support to government policies that helped fuel the housing bubble, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told viewers of the December 1 edition of Fox News Channel's Hannity.

"Why isn't anyone in the media talking about the obvious? This is a man who single-handedly presided over the collapse" of the U.S. housing industry, Bozell reminded host Sean Hannity in the popular recurring "Media Mash" segment. "Barney Frank in  2003 fought George Bush when he tried to do something about it." [video of the full segment follows page break]

Media silence greeted video of an Occupy Wall Street protester vowing to burn New York City to the ground and toss Molotov cocktails into a Macy's department store, yet there was "non-stop media coverage" of the alleged, but never proven, use of the N-word at one Tea Party rally, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted last night on Fox News Channel's Hannity.

"Look at the violence you're starting to see, the rapes, the assaults... I'm starting to hold the national news media responsible for this as well" as well as New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, the Media Research Center founder added [video follows page break]:

Liberal MSNBC contributors like Toure have "gone beyond the pale" with their recent remarks about Herman Cain, NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center president Brent Bozell complained on the November 10 edition of "Hannity."

Bozell was reacting to a montage that included the liberal author anticipating a racist backlash by white conservatives who, according to Toure, will now fear Cain's "predatory black sexuality" following the allegations of Sharon Bialek, a "blonde, white woman."

"It's the worst kind of racism, Sean," Bozell added. "What they're trying to say is, 'Hey, look at you Republicans, this is a black boy. He's going after your white women. Look at this, aren't you offended, aren't you offended?!'" [see video below page break]

"With Herman Cain, let's remember here, Sean, we have nobody on the record, we have no specific allegation of anything that's happened," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted on last night's Hannity, contrasting the "avalanche" of Cain coverage with the minimal coverage the networks gave to Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, and Juanita Broaddrick's allegations of sexual harassment and, in the latter case, rape. [video of "Media Mash" follows the page break; MP3 audio available here]

NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center debated liberal CNN contributor Roland Martin on the November 1 John King USA regarding the media's coverage of anonymous 15-year-old sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain.

"What's the accusation?!" Bozell demanded, noting the media's frenzy over what amounts to incredibly vague, anonymously-sourced accusations from 15 years ago.

"What's he being accused of?" Bozell asked. "None of us know, and we're talking about this for 36 hours?! That's a lynching." Watch the full segment in the video embed below the page break:

The reason Oakland, California, "one of the most left-wing cities in America" has attempted to disband the Occupy movement there is all the crime and violence fostered by the radicals running the squatter camps. Yet the media put the police on the defensive rather than report on the illegal activities of Occupy Oakland protesters, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell observed during the "Media Mash" segment of the October 27 edition of "Hannity."

Fox News host Sean Hannity agreed and added that the media persistently tried to paint Tea Party demonstrators as extreme while reporting "hardly a peep" about the rampant anti-Semitism and political extremism as the Occupy protests. [watch the full segment's video below the page break]

Within hours of NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center (MRC) president Brent Bozell sending certified overnight letters to demand ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC cover the video evidence of racial bigotry at Occupy Wall Street protests, three prominent Jewish leaders joined the call for the TV networks to cover the anti-Jewish hatred.

"The Left has a long history of anti-Semitism going back to Karl Marx," Don Feder of Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation noted. "In that context the anti-Semitism of some OWS protestors and organizations isn’t surprising. What also isn’t surprising but is disturbing, is the mainstream media’s refusal to report this."

While the liberal media are increasingly counseling Obama to co-opt the class-warfare message of Occupy Wall Street (OWS), the fact of the matter is the president's policies are left-wing enough already.

"Obama's administration has been pushing an agenda that has been constantly against corporations, constantly against capitalism, constantly supporting against the rich and supporting redistribution of wealth," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted during the "Media Mash" segment on the October 20 Hannity.

The fact is that the OWS movement is far-left, but the media "know how much the American people turn against that, which is why they're doing everything to shield the American people from what's going on in these protests." [video of "Media Mash" follows the page break]

Editor's Note: The following is a quote from a letter NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center (MRC) founder Brent Bozell sent to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) earlier today, spurred in part by the recent revelation that NPR host Lisa Simeone served as a spokesperson for the Occupy DC protest.

NPR is out of control, using taxpayer money to lend support to a sometimes violent and lawless mob set on crippling the financial backbone of our country.

"When the Tea Party came up, immediately the reports from [NBC Nightly News anchor] Brian Williams on down" were that "they were dangerous, that they were fanatics, that they were racist," but now that the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is on the scene the media are hailing the movement as a liberal answer to the Tea Party with a message that's "resonating," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Wall Street Journal's James Freeman yesterday.

In truth the OWS movement is just a "bunch of spoiled punks" who "don't even know what they're for," Bozell quipped in the October 18 Opinion Journal Live interview [video embedded below page break]

The media despised the Tea Party in its infancy, but now that they're trying to boost the "Occupy Wall Street" (OWS) movement, they're describing the latter as a liberal version of the former, without actually reporting on the hard-left Marxist underpinnings of the protests.

NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell and Fox News's Sean Hannity discussed the media's coverage of OWS plus the media's bias against rising GOP candidate Herman Cain during an October 13 "Media Mash" segment on FNC's "Hannity." You can watch the full segment in an embedded video below the page break.

Editor's Note: What follows is a statement NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell released this afternoon reacting to the findings of a Media Research Center study on the media's Solyndra coverage.

ABC, CBS and NBC are aiding and abetting in the cover-up of an outrageous scandal linked directly to Obama and his failed economic policies. Even the uber liberal New York Times could not ignore this outrage, spotlighting it on their front page this weekend. Yet these networks are intentionally minimizing coverage to avoid reporting the failure and scandal that resulted under Obama’s watch for the same stimulus package they hailed in 2009.

What further compounds the hypocrisy of ignoring this scandal is the excessive, glowing coverage these same networks are giving the Occupy Wall Street protests. While they gather to oppose "corporate greed," the media quietly dismiss the most outrageous scandal in years – and financed by their taxpaying dollars.