Editor's Note: The following is a statement released by Media Research Center president Brent Bozell earlier this afternoon regarding the latest revelations in the IRS Tea Party targeting scandal, a development which have been utterly ignored by the Big Three broadcast networks. The full press release is published below the page break and available at MRC.org.
What will it take for ABC, CBS, and NBC to cover the IRS targeting scandal, which is no doubt bigger than Watergate? Time after time after time, we’ve seen major developments in this story go completely unreported, or, at best, given a few token seconds. The liberal media are downright allergic to the truth about the IRS scandal.
This administration has lied countless times to the media’s face, and they just continue to sit there and take it. They’re so lovesick with everything Obama that they can’t bring themselves to do their jobs and report the news. It’d be pitiful if it weren’t so dangerous for the country.
The full press release:
RESTON, Va. – Yesterday, Judicial Watch released a new batch of IRS documents that showed “extensive pressure on the IRS by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) to shut down conservative leaning organizations.” According to an analysis from the Media Research Center, ABC, CBS, and NBC responded with exactly ZERO seconds of network news coverage. The released documents also revealed the IRS’s handling of the Tea Party applications was directed out of the agency’s DC headquarters, contrary to initial claims that blamed low-level officials in Cincinnati.
In the year since the scandal broke, numerous major developments have gone completely unreported by the Big Three. Examples include:
- On August 2, FoxNews.com reported that House Oversight chairman Darrell Issa had accused acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel of blocking the committee’s investigation. Network coverage: Zero.
- On September 4, CNN’s Drew Griffin reported that documents showed Lerner’s original story blaming low-level employees was a lie.Network coverage: Zero.
- On September 11, 2013 the Wall Street Journal exhibited how Lerner’s own e-mails implied a liberal political agenda at work. Network coverage: Zero.
- On September 18, 2013, a front-page analysis published by USA Today confirmed the targeting of conservatives. ZERO seconds of coverage.
- At the end of March 2014, the New York Times noted that the House committee was still being frustrated by non-cooperation from the IRS. Network coverage: Zero.
- And, an April 7, 2014 staff report by the House Oversight and Government Reform committee thoroughly demolished what remained of the notion that both sides had been targeted. Network coverage: Zero.
- Finally on May 7, 2014, The House of Representatives voted to hold disgraced IRS bureaucrat Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress. Total network coverage? 15 seconds on Good Morning America. Zero on CBS and NBC.
Media Research Center President Brent Bozell reacts:
"What will it take for ABC, CBS, and NBC to cover the IRS targeting scandal, which is no doubt bigger than Watergate? Time after time after time, we’ve seen major developments in this story go completely unreported, or, at best, given a few token seconds. The liberal media are downright allergic to the truth about the IRS scandal.
"This administration has lied countless times to the media’s face, and they just continue to sit there and take it. They’re so lovesick with everything Obama that they can’t bring themselves to do their jobs and report the news. It’d be pitiful if it weren’t so dangerous for the country."
