MRC/NB News

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.

Editor's Note: What follows is a statement released this morning by NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center (MRC) president Brent Bozell.

Come on, Tell The Truth, Tom! What really irks you is not that you're part of a presidential ad; it's that you're part of a Republican candidate's ad. You used NBC and your anchor chair as a platform to promote Democratic agendas and delight in Republican setbacks for more than 20 years. And you stood behind that reporting as a fair exercise in journalistic ethics, even when it was far from the truth.

If Tom Brokaw really cared about this kind of bias, he would do something about his own network and especially its sister network MSNBC given their outrageous pro-Obama nightly commentary disguised as news.

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]

First the Washington Post, now CBS's evening newscast.

During a segment of the CBS Evening News for January 10, East Coast viewers could see a man in the background holding up an MRC "Don't Believe the Liberal Media!" poster as anchor Scott Pelley introduced CBS News political director John Dickerson, who was live at Ron Paul's post-election rally site. [video embedded below the page break]

Talk about irony. The front page of today's Washington Post featured a large photo of a Rick Santorum rally in New Hampshire, with two of MRC's "Don't Believe the Liberal Media!" signs front and center. That's nice, but perhaps the Washington Post should read its own front page more often.

Just days ago, a Post columnist personally and  viciously attacked Senator Rick Santorum's family over how they dealt with the death of their newborn son. Even though some at the Washington Post recognize their paper's dislike of  Santorum and his social-conservatism, this hasn't stopped the paper from printing outrageous and offensive content on its pages.

There it is in living color on the front page of today's Washington Post. In a photo accompanying stories on pre-primary campaigning in the Granite State are two "Don't Believe the Liberal Media!" posters outside Mary Ann's Diner in Derry, New Hampshire.

The Media Research Center (MRC)* posters advertise StoptheBias.org, a website for the MRC's 2012 Tell the Truth! campaign. See the photo below the page break.

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]

It's always interesting to see how the several thousand readers who voted in the MRC's "public ballot" differed from the 48 media experts who selected our Best Notable Quotables of 2011 (a panel which included talk radio hosts Mark Levin and Neal Boortz, Human Events editor-in-chief Tom Winter and Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby). This year, there were six categories where our readers and the judges disagreed -- although sometimes the margins were extremely close.

Let's start with the biggest disagreement, in the "Media Millionaires for Higher Taxes Award." By a healthy margin (68 to 53), our judges chose an April 17 quote from CBS's Bob Schieffer, as he was questioning Rep. Paul Ryan on Face the Nation: "Why do these rich people need another tax cut? I mean, they’re already rich....Why cut their taxes some more?"

Last week, MRC announced the results of our "public ballot" for the worst media quotes in 2011, sort of the "People's Choice Awards" version of our Best Notable Quotables of 2011. This morning, the official results -- chosen by a distinguished panel of 48 radio talk show hosts, magazine editors, columnists, editorial writers, and expert media observers -- are in, and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has won the dubious honor of "Quote of the Year."

On the morning of September 11, 2011, during the ceremonies marking the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Krugman wrote on his NYTimes.com blog that conservative opportunists had "poisoned" the date: "The memory of 9/11 has been irrevocably poisoned; it has become an occasion for shame. And in its heart, the nation knows it.”

Every year a panel of leading conservative media observers and experts picks the most-biased media quotes for the Media Research Center’s annual awards for the year’s “worst reporting.” And these judges have done so.

But earlier this week, we let our fans and all concerned about liberal media bias to also participate via a separately-compiled Web ballot. More than 3,000 MediaResearch.org and NewsBusters.org visitors took part. Now you can see which quotes were judged the “worst” of the year in this online ballot.

Every year a panel of leading expert conservative media observers pick the most-biased media quotes for the Media Research Center’s annual awards for the year’s “worst reporting.” And these judges have done so again this year to decide the 2011 award “winners,” with the choices to be announced on Monday, December 19.

In the meantime, you can have some fun making your own choices now in this unofficial “public ballot” tabulation.

"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]

"The media loves the idea of being able to push someone out of the race by saying they're dead," not because they want to show off they are political prognosticating geniuses but simply because they want to push them out of the race, NewsBusters senior editor Tim Graham noted on today's Your World program on Fox News.

"I think you can really hear this with Cain" as we're now into "day three" of the media pushing Cain to drop out of the 2012 race, Graham told anchor Neil Cavuto.

The Washington Post should either fire Aaron Blake or "acknowledge that it doesn't have a semblance of objectivity left to it," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Fox News Channel's Neil Cavuto on his Your World program this afternoon.

The Media Research Center (MRC) founder was reacting to this November 28 tweet by the Post political blogger (video of segment follows page break):

Four years ago, the ABC, CBS and NBC morning shows celebrated the “rock star” Democrats running to replace George W. Bush, and no candidate set journalists’ pulses racing faster than Barack Obama. Now, after three years of high unemployment, trillion dollar deficits and an onerous new health care law, how are those newscasts covering Obama’s re-election campaign and the candidates vying to replace him?

To find out, the MRC’s Geoff Dickens and I (with a huge assist from Scott Whitlock, Kyle Drennen and Matthew Balan) examined all 723 campaign segments, including 101 interviews, which aired on the three broadcast network weekday morning programs from January 1 to October 31, 2011, using the same methodology we employed to study campaign coverage on those same programs for the same time period in 2007. Excerpts following the jump; read the full report here. (or download the printer-friendly PDF version)
 

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:

Sadly, Herman Cain’s predictions have come true. In May he stated that he was "ready for the same high-tech lynching that [Clarence Thomas] went through -- for the good of this country." That's what Politico is doing with its unsubstantiated and thoroughly hypocritical hit piece against him. Anyone in the press that gives this story oxygen is equally hypocritical.

In the eyes of the liberal media, Herman Cain is just another uppity black American who has had the audacity to leave the liberal plantation. So they must destroy him, just as they tried destroying Clarence Thomas.

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."

After capturing on camera an Occupy Wall Street protestor lashing out with an anti-Semitic tirade, NewsBusters's parent organization the Media Research Center (MRC) is sending certified overnight letters to the presidents of ABC News, CBS News, CNN and NBC News demanding that their networks report racism demonstrated at the protests.  

Given the networks were obsessed with alleged racist smears by Tea Party members – even though uncorroborated and without a "scintilla of video or audio evidence" – MRC President Brent Bozell says the MRC's new video should be more than enough to qualify as news.

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]

"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]

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.

A seat on the MRC Board of Directors opened in 1991 and the late Bill Rusher was quick to recommend to me his friend Ambassador Leon J. Weil – “Lee” to his friends. On the appointed day, we met in New York City at the City Athletic Club where, he proudly announced, at age 64 he’d just finished a grueling round of squash, that being just another sport for the man who, he proudly told me, at age 54 had been named by Ronald Reagan to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports – along with some other guy called Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Bragging? No, celebrating. He was enjoying life, and he was proud he could. This man with that crooked Clark-Gable mischievous smile and the Reaganesque winsome, innocent fascination with the world around him, this was a man you liked immediately. It took only a couple of minutes’ conversation to appreciate he was equally sharp as nails, and equally tough if need be. Lee agreed to join the MRC Board of Directors that day, and when the MRC spun off the Parents Television Council in 2001, he agreed to chair that newly-formed board as well. Lee led both groups until his passing on October 4 at age 84.

"It’s an outrage that federal money has been an enabler for NPR and PBS since 1967 in their efforts to undermine conservatives and Christians," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell complained in a statement released this morning that accompanies the release of a new Media Research Center (MRC) study detailing a comprehensive compilation of the 20 most memorable leftist excesses of National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System.

"In this current era of huge deficits, surely this is the most non-essential spending. The pattern of bias from PBS hosts and contributors is more than severe. Now is the time for Congress to finally put an end to it," the MRC founder argued.

Some of the 20 instances in the MRC’s report on NPR & PBS include:

In the weekly take-down of the liberal media on Fox News Channel's "Hannity" on Thursday, NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center President Brent Bozell condemned efforts to "demonize the Tea Party, to marginalize the Tea Party, to suggest that the Tea Party's extremist" simply because GOP debate audiences voiced support for the death penalty. [Audio available here]

Following a clip of CNN's Jack Cafferty asking viewers to tell him whether or not Republican primary voters were "bloodthirsty," Bozell pointed out, "...the vast majority of Americans support the death penalty for convicted murderers and terrorists. That's the reality....Only CNN finds something radically strange about somebody expressing this support."

View video after the jump

Update: Click here to make your voice heard!

NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center (MRC) President Brent Bozell has issued a letter  to the heads of NBC, CBS, and ABC television networks calling on them to end their bias against GOP presidential hopefuls in their reporting and interviewing.

The MRC recently released an analysis of 53 weekday morning show interviews with either potential or declared Republican candidates from January 1 through September 15, and compared the results with our study of the same programs’ treatment of the Democratic candidates during the same time period from four years ago. The analysis revealed, among other things, that by a 5-to-1 margin, ABC, CBS and NBC morning show hosts employed an adversarial liberal agenda when questioning this year’s Republican candidates.

This latest proof of blatant bias has prompted a letter from Bozell to each of the network heads which reads in part:

"We counted, in the Republican debate [hosted by MSNBC at the Reagan Library], we counted 26 ideological questions.... Out 26 questions, how many do you think came with a left-wing ideological bent?" NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell asked Fox News host Sean Hannity on his eponymous program last night.

"Twenty-five out of 26" Bozell informed a stumped Hannity, referring to a study released Tuesday by Media Research Center (MRC) deputy research director Geoff Dickens.

"Now, that's perfectly fine if you're going to play devil's advocate... but that's not what these questions are," MRC founder Bozell added, noting that the media don't hit Obama from the right on policy questions in interviews.

For the full "Media Mash" segment, watch the video in the embed below or click here for MP3 audio.

"To the degree" that the jump in the poverty rate in the United States is being reported, it "is being reported as a problem for Obama" and "not a problem caused by Obama," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell told Fox Business Network's David Asman on the September 13 edition of "Nightly Scoreboard."

"His policies have nothing to do with the effect," in the minds of liberal journalists, the Media Research Center founder argued.

You can watch the full segment below the page break (video credit: MRCTV.org video producer Bob Parks):