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The Real War on Fox
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The White House may be in a cold war with Fox News. But Media Matters is on the front lines. Benjamin Sarlin on the latest ways David Brock’s group has hit the right’s house network—and aided the White House counterattacks.
The White House's war on Fox News may be a new chapter in the administration’s relationship with the media. But bashing the conservative press has been an Olympic sport among liberals for years. And no one has done it better than Media Matters.
Founded in 2004 by right winger-turned-liberal crusader David Brock, the site and its staff of about 70 employees have relentlessly hounded Fox and other news outlets by deploying research teams to quickly fact-check their hosts' claims and publicize their gaffes. Now with the White House turning the debate over Fox’s objectivity and accuracy into a major news story, Media Matters is putting its thousands of articles, transcripts, and clips of the network's contributors to use in support of Team Obama’s effort.
“We're the first line of defense for the progressive movement,” Brock says.
As a 501c(3), Media Matters is prohibited from coordinating activities with the White House. But Brock takes credit for setting the stage for the White House's Fox wars indirectly and providing the ammunition for the network's critics to aggressively rebut conservative counterattacks.
“Obviously when the White House makes a case like this, it gets a lot more attention,” Brock told The Daily Beast. “But the factual groundwork had been laid by us and the rhetorical case as well.”
• Lloyd Grove: Shep Smith, Fox News’ Man of Reason In an effort to undermine Fox's claims that its editorial and news reporting are separate, Brock’s site has launched a video series of Fox clips Media Matters sees as anti-Obama—using the tagline, “Fox is not news. It's a 24/7 political operation.” That’s a problem he thinks has grown much more pronounced since the 2008 election. But perhaps most importantly, his group has played a major role in defending administration officials from Fox attacks—sometimes more effectively than the White House itself has.
Earlier this month, White House Communications Director Anita Dunn, who has spearheaded the anti-Fox effort, came under fire from Glenn Beck for a recent speech in which she referred to Mao Zedong and Mother Theresa as her two “favorite political philosophers.” Anticipating the story could have legs, Media Matters staffers raced into action, frantically scouring the Internet for examples of conservatives citing Mao themselves, and published their first quotes within a half hour of the show ending. By the time Beck tried to extend the attack later that week to another Obama official who had cited Mao, “manufacturing czar” Ron Bloom, the list of similar Republican quotes included John McCain, Newt Gingrich, and Ralph Reed. Beck's story bounced around the right-wing press for several days but failed to migrate to the mainstream media.
Brock believes that effort helped contain the story’s spread. “Speed was of the essence here,” he said. “We're the first line of defense for the progressive movement.”
Earlier this month, Media Matters rallied around another one of Fox News' top White House targets, education official Kevin Jennings. Sean Hannity called for him to be fired for reportedly failing to report a statutory rape case to the authorities when a 15-year old gay student asked for Jennings' advice on a relationship with an older man. But Media Matters quickly confirmed with the student in question himself that he was 16 at the time, the legal age of consent in the state, and that he denied any sexual contact with the person in question. The group then posted a Facebook exchange between the student and a Fox News reporter in which the network inquired about his age. Fox issued a correction and without a criminal angle the story failed to gain traction outside of the conservative press. The Atlantic's Chris Good reported that Media Matters' reporting was the key to deflating the attack—especially given the White House's reluctance to rebut the Fox accounts directly.
“What you saw in the Kevin Jennings case is that it can be done,” said Brock. “It is not impossible to defend against these right-wing attacks. You just have to do the work.”
Brock knows a thing or two about right-wing attacks. He leveled a few of his own, when he was a conservative cub reporter for the American Spectator. Brock’s reporting on Paula Jones and “Troopergate” helped trigger an investigative tide that eventually led to impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. But in subsequent reporting on Hillary Clinton, Brock had a crisis of conscience; after being lambasted by the right for failing to dig up sufficient dirt on her, he came to believe that much of what had been alleged against the Clintons was baseless—and became a liberal convert.
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Benjamin Sarlin is a reporter for The Daily Beast. He previously covered New York City politics for The New York Sun and has worked for talkingpointsmemo.com.
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I applaud Media Matters for their conscientious work.
Right-wing tv and hate radio spew out an enormous amount of lies and it's good to see someone doing something about it.
i agree, except for the hillary bit. in that situation i'm on carlson's side
Carlson is a twit. Tucker, that is.
Crazies versus crazies. Yawn.
On a more important FOX note, I wish they would bring back Terminator: TSCC because that was a good show.
Sarlin seems to think there's something wrong with fact checking cable news.
Huh?
I think a more telling article would be to compare and contrast MMFA with it's right-wing counter part, Newsbusters.
I did notice in the above article that O'Reilly responded to MMFAs fact checking with name calling. IMHO, that's a sure indicator that they (MMFA) hit the nail on the head.
BLAH BLAH BLAH Politics as usual. Same as it ever was. No wonder the country's in a funk!
Did Media Matters have anything to say about CBS when Dan Rathers attempted to discredit President Bush (weeks before his re-election) with a forged document? Or NBC's Dateline when they rigged Ford vehicles with incendiary devices and showed how they burst into flames upon impact? Or the NY Times when they gave a full page ad to MoveOn.org (at a below market price) be-littling US Army General David Petreus, or Jason Blair for making up reports from other cities while writing from his apartment in Brooklyn. He invented quotes, wrote about scenery from published photographs and stole material from other news organizations.
I don't recall Fox having to fire anyone for fabricating a story or data nor do I recall Fox having to apologize for such journalistic fraud.
Do the words "Indonesian Madrassa" ring a bell?
Loudly rung. The claim that Barrack Hussein Obama attended a madrassa in the largest Muslim country in the world was started by "Insight" Magazine" and Fox then reported on it. Fox never fabricated anything and they cited "Insight Magazine" as the source.
Too lazy to fact check. CNN sent a reporter to find out the truth.
Just like Fox, MM can report on anything they feel like reporting. The fact that they choose not to report on something is irrelevant. Fox picks and chooses what THEY report, only they argued in a Florida court that they had the right to falsify the news (see link below)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&fo rum=385&topic_id=375393&mesg_id=375442
Please site a case where Media Matters has falsely reported something.
Fox apologizes for nothing.
ok:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tim-graham/2009/10/22/media-matters-wont-ap ologize-spreading-fake-limbaugh-slavery-quote
http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2009/10/kevin-jennings-nambla-media-matt ers-wrong-on-kevin-jenning-nambla/
http://foundry.heritage.org/2009/05/19/fact-check-media-matters-wrong-on -card-check/
http://blog.heritage.org/2009/04/09/hannity-right-media-matters-wrong-on -missle-defense-and-budget/
http://patterico.com/2007/01/06/media-matterss-eric-boehlert-gets-the-fa cts-wrong-again/
that was just 2 minutes of searching.
Look, Media Matters is a keft wing hack site and can mischarachterize all they want because this is America and dumbass liberals are free to believe their bullshit, right amanda. The problem is when lazy reporters in the MSM use their talking points without fact checking them which happens way to often.
Right wing, unprovable garbage!
MMFA didn't spread any fake Limbaugh quote. Neither were they guilty of being wrong about the false linkage of Kevin Jennings with NAMBLA. They weren't wrong on card check, or on the defense budget, and your link about Eric Boehlert goes nowhere. Your assertion that you easily found evidence of MMFA falsely reporting anything falls flat. In fact, MMFA debunked the misleading posting by the Heritage Foundation the very next day with facts. http://mediamattersaction.org/blog/200905200008
FoxNews and MSNBC are not similar in hardly any ways. We debunk the false equivalency argument on MMFA every day!
Baddchild, you poor child. You need to pick better sources. All you've done is prove that is you listen hard enough you'll hear someone saying anything you want to hear.
From your lineup of lameness, this has got to be the funniest one:
" Zombie: "In fact, I have been unable to find information about any NAMBLA conference which Harry Hay didn't attend."
-From ZombieTime, Memo to Kevin Jennings: Your reputation is on the line"
While your source's name being Zombie is rather amusing, it's not nearly as funny as the sentence's complete lack of meaningful content. You could stick your head into a brown paper sack and say the same sentence just as truthfully.
"Unlike Fox, we're not trying to have it both ways; we are a progressive organization and there's no fig leaf," he said. "We're here to defend progressive ideas and progressive leaders in a climate that's very hostile."
You caught this part, right? Be sure to read the entire article before deploying red herrings.
Ozone,
Reporting on Dan Rather, the Ford incident or any of the other stories you mention are not what MM was founded to do. They are a progressive watchdog for conservative misinformation and they are upfront about it.
Here is the first paragraph of the About Us on their website:
"Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media."
You don't recall Fox firing anybody because it's their job to fabricate news.
MM is left (no pun intended) with the job of calling them out on it.
The reason you hear about people being fired from CNN and MSNBC for fabricating news is because they aren't paid to do it. They are paid to report news, a lot of times leaning left. John Stewart has a entertaining show twisting the news, and calls it comedy. Fox has entertaining shows for the right that twists news, but tries to call it "fair and balanced" news reporting.
"Fox then reported on it. Fox never fabricated anything and they cited "Insight Magazine" as the source."
.......
"stole material from other news organizations."
seems to be contradicting..
John Stewart shows the funny side of politics and sometimes shows when politicians lie or spin the news He never fabricates anything.
Ozone69: If Fox News had to fire people for fabricating a story, they would go out of business (no Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, etc., etc.).
Dan Rather was right but the channel couldn't coroborate the infor.
PEW Rearch Poll
October 29, 2009
Fox News Viewed as Most Ideological Network
But how can that be, they say we are Fair and Balanced.
So America does not agree with FOX.
So FOX hates America.
There is no logic in Carlsons statement, "What sets Media Matters apart is it's doing the bidding of a political party and specific politicians. That's by definition dishonest."
Just because one has an agenda, liberal or conservative, it does not automatically follow that, "That's by definition dishonest."
Dishonesty would be if MM claimed to be "Fair and Balanced".
Yup...and is it not the definition of unintentional irony at best, and hypocrisy at worst, for utter GOP hack Carlson, working for the most blatantly ideological network in the history of this country, to call out media matters for what he, Beck, Hannity, Coulter and O'Reilly do every single day?
Fake News is by far America's biggest fraud
Their wacko audience needs lies it can applaud
so Hannity's insanity
and O'Reilly's inanity
are dished daily with Beck's psychotic discord.
On Halloween night you will find
Reminders that time you rewind
They've done it at Fox
Who set back their clocks
So far they're four decades behind.
News Short n' Sweet by JFD8
http://twitter.com/JFD8
David Brock's "Blinded by the Right," the story of his crisis of conscience and conversion from right-wing media hit-man to liberal media critic, is an insider's report about the right's vicious anti-Clinton propaganda campaign of the 1990s.
It's a great read.
It is what we were saying all the time about the right wing's agenda.
FOX leans to the biased right. MSNBC leans to the biased left.
Good for CNN's Campbell Brown challenging Valerie Jarrett
on bias that exists both on the right and left networks.
sophia5: The problem is not the bias of Fox News.
The problem is that Fox News tells lies.
None of the other cable networks consistently lie like Fox.
As others have said, the problem is not the bias. The problem is the lies, distortions and omissions of critically relevant data by FoxNews. It's their unfair attacks on Obama, and their unfair praise of Bush. It's their lack of critical investigative reporting of Bush, and their virtual refusal to publish a positive story about Obama. It's their promotion of the Tea Parties - for cripes sake, do you think that's an appropriate thing for a legitimate news organization to do? It's the bias that bleeds from their opinion shows into their 'straight' news shows, and it's the inflammatory "questions" they ask with their scrolling messages and chryons. It's the 'accidental' placement of "D" instead of "R" after Republicans who get themselves in trouble.
On top of all that is the fact that despite having some prime time hosts whose personal political preferences lean left, MSNBC doesn't let that affect the way they cover news stories. FoxNews does. MSNBC has several center politicians, and they have a former conservative Republican Congressman who has 3 hours in the morning. FoxNews has no such counter, and they have some real crazies like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.
It is not bias on MSNBC. They tell the truth, even tho; they are liberal. Faux News often spins the news to make Obama look weak or wrong. They are not credible.
What happens with Beck's ??? its he mentally stable??
The most insidious aspect of Fake News and the right-wing in America, is the fact that they don't really care about the welfare of the country. They're only interested in their agenda, regardless of it's effect on anyone else.
More tax cuts for the rich? You bet. Private healthcare insurance maintained at it's horrendous status quo, while it crushes or kills American citizens? You bet.
Denying women the right to choose when to become mothers? You bet.
Block science and stem cell research? You bet.
Go to war, senseless or not? You bet.
Fake News is cheerleading their gullibe audience right off the cliff as the Republican Party plays the marching music.
You tell 'em, periscope!
From CJ
Beck or Fox News fair and honest and on what planet would that be?
By legitimizing Fox News as a news organization, reporters and commentators are enabling the network to continue conducting a massive conservative political campaign under the guise of journalism. In the process, they are permitting Fox News to dominate the national discussion by spreading smears and lies -- smears and lies that become conventional wisdom. They are also defending an organization that has nothing but contempt for journalistic standards -- hence undermining their own profession and the public interest at the same time.
Criticizing Fox News has nothing to do with criticizing the press. Fox News is not a news organization. It is the de facto leader of the GOP, and it is long past time that it was treated as such by our nation's media.
The evidence supporting such a reality is overwhelming. To begin with, Fox News CEO Roger Ailes has described his station's confrontation with the Obama administration as "the Alamo." Fox News senior vice president Bill Shine said Fox was "the voice of opposition." In other words, the entire operation has an explicit political agenda, not just a few hosts. There is no separation between Fox News' "opinion" programming and its "news" programs. Bret Baier's Special Report, the closest show Fox News has to a straight newscast, portrays Obama in a negative light 77 percent of the time, according to a recent study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs.
But the story goes well beyond the conservative bias Fox News has historically reflected. Like all major political entities, Fox News is now coordinating grassroots (or, more accurately, astroturf) political activities, lobbying for or against legislation, and fundraising for conservative causes. The network called April's protests "Fox News Tea Parties." It encouraged people to attend town halls last summer and then broadcast only the statements of those who opposed Democratic health care proposals. The 9/12 rally in Washington was the work of Beck, who claimed that 1.7 million people showed up (it was actually closer to 70,000). A video soon emerged of one of the station's producers coaching marchers before a live "report" from the scene.
Fox news routinely implores its audience to call Congress and oppose progressive legislation. Fox's Dick Morris and Mike Huckabee have both used Fox News airtime to encourage donations to conservative political action committees.
Again, these are unambiguous campaign activities, not the work of a news organization. It is no wonder that Fox's new website, FoxNation.com, has repeatedly cheered legislative developments it favors as a "Fox Nation Victory!"
Fox News relishes its newfound activism. "The conservative media is winning now," Bill O'Reilly said on September 17. "They're damaging the president of the United States." But the damage Fox News causes isn't just political. Every day, it undermines serious journalism, misleads millions of Americans, and distorts our national discussion on crucial issues. Fox News represents an attack on democracy itself.
Much of the channel's "reporting" takes the form of obsessive and factually inaccurate efforts to smear progressive organizations and discredit Obama administration officials. To give you a sense of priorities: over a three-year period, shows hosted by Sean Hannity and Beck mentioned ACORN 1,502 times, saying it was a corruption scandal. By contrast, their programs mentioned Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater, Jack Abramoff, and Bob Ney 109 times combined.
Fox is currently conducting a witch hunt against administration members. After Van Jones resigned, Hannity told a crowd, "We got rid of one, and my job starting tomorrow night is to get rid of every other one."
Exposing improper conduct is one thing. Inventing it is another. Fox News breathlessly reported claims that an ACORN employee had murdered her husband without confirming the story. It wasn't true. Similarly, Hannity reported that Department of Education official Kevin Jennings had concealed the "statutory rape" of a high school student. It was soon revealed that the student was 16 at the time (the age of consent), and by his own account had not engaged in sexual activity with his fictitious assailant. Hannity never apologized.
Fake stories like these are what Fox News is built on. Health care reform will create death panels? False. Cass Sunstein believes in mandating that people become organ donors? False. John Holdren advocates for "compulsory abortion and sterilization," as Hannity put it? False. Fox reported them all as fact -- and the list goes on.
Never in American history has a media organization this powerful been so willing to misrepresent reality in order to achieve a political goal. The right-wing press ran a similar campaign targeting Bill Clinton in the 1990s, but for most of that time period, it lacked the national, real-time reach and impact Fox now possessed.
The impact of Fox News' long campaign of misinformation should concern any citizen. Fox has repeatedly misinformed its viewers on everything from the non-existent connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda to the contents of health care reform legislation. Such misinformation can have serious consequences, and Fox News should be called out for propagating it.
There is nothing wrong with the White House standing up to its most powerful, unprincipled, and self-declared political opponent, one that clearly started this fight. And beyond politics, there certainly isn't anything wrong with exposing an organization that unapologetically harms our democracy by poisoning our national discourse with falsehoods on an hourly basis.
The channel knows what it's up against. "If they repeat this long enough," said Fox News' Bernie Goldberg on Monday, "and often enough -- that Fox News is not a real news organization, it's an arm of the national Republican Party, it's not to be taken seriously -- if they say that long enough, it might become part of bloodstream of the American culture."
Fox News' own media analyst got the story right, while so many others in the media are still getting it wrong. For once, the channel was actually breaking news, even if it is merely the simple truth.
Nice stuff, mzkitti.
Good write up. Case in point, yesterday on the Fox News website I read a brand new story titled "So-called Death Panels Still in Health Care Bill".
the right has no problem discribing liberals as "socailists" and at the teabag party i saw many a sign depicting obama as hitler. its time we as inteligent americans start calling these insane politicians and their platform for rhetoric,fox news, what they truely are "FASCISTS"!!!!!
"a disgusting Web site that just attacks people with whom they disagree and takes things out of context all day long."
Yes, Fox, on the other hand, does it only until Family Guy comes on.
Fox is Wierd!
I also think they are playing conservatives for chumps.
How does a company scream conservatism on one channel, then show sex, drugs, and murder on another channel?
Have you ever watched The Shield, Family Guy, or Sons of Anarchy?
These shows have no conservative values what so ever! Some have very liberal views, and others don't portray morality of any sort, more of a glorification of violence, drugs, and sex than anything else.
But they are promoted by the same company. I think once conservatives realize they are being hosed for ratings and profit (isn't that one of Fox News' favorite talking points?) there will be all hell to pay.
I just hope some Fox News viewers out there will start WAKING UP!
Thank you.
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