Media Matters: “We’re Not Political”
That’s what they say. But a look at the record shows otherwise.
NRO:
Last week, covering the Rush Limbaugh “phony soldiers” controversy, I described Media Matters, the liberal media watchdog group, as an “avowedly political institution.” Media Matters quickly took issue; a few hours after my article appeared on National Review Online, a posting on the group’s website declared, “Media Matters is not, as the National Review claims, ‘an avowedly political institution,’ but a nonpartisan, progressive nonprofit that is unaffiliated with any political party or candidate.”
Indeed, Media matters has to be nonpartisan, if not nonpolitical. It is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable institution, meaning it is tax exempt and that contributions made to Media Matters are fully tax deductible. In a feature of the tax code that benefits groups on both the left and right, a contribution to Media Matters is as tax deductible as a contribution to the Salvation Army or the Red Cross.
But how removed from politics is Media Matters? Whatever the organization says today, statements made by founder David Brock in 2004, shortly after Media Matters was formed, suggest that Brock’s intention in creating Media Matters was frankly political, with a specific electoral result in mind: to defeat Republicans and elect Democrats.
On June 15, 2004, Brock appeared at a Washington bookstore, Politics & Prose, to discuss his just-published book, The Republican Noise Machine: Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy. Media Matters was still in its early stages at that point, and Brock explained to the audience what he hoped to accomplish. It was an unquestionably political plan.
The conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, Brock told the small group, had “poison[ed]” the minds of swing voters, who are key to any election victory. The problem was not just people who listened to Limbaugh, Brock argued, but people who talked to people who listened to Limbaugh. “There is a viral effect of this noise machine that is difficult to quantify,” he said. “But the bottom line is that if you’ve got an office, and you’ve got ten people in an office, and just one of those people is listening to Rush Limbaugh and repeating false stories at the water cooler, you are corrupting and poisoning that entire office.”
Sooner or later, Brock said, that has an effect at the polls. “Although I think many liberals are in denial about the effect of all this,” he explained, “there are moderate, persuadable, independent and swing voters who are being systematically lied to every day.” The beneficiary was the Republican party.
Brock delivered a similar message several days earlier, on June 3, when he appeared at a panel discussion as part of the “Take Back America” conference sponsored by the liberal activist group Campaign for America’s Future. The topic was “Message and Media,” and Brock appeared with, among others, John Podesta, the former Clinton White House and founder of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress. Podesta had helped Brock start Media Matters, lending him office space and introducing him to key Democratic donors.
At the panel discussion, Brock spoke about his new organization in openly political terms. “They’re confusing voters,” Brock said of the right. “I know exactly how it works.” And again, the goal was change on election day. “There are moderate, persuadable swing voters in those audiences for the Fox News Channel,” he said. “What we hope to do is be able to educate people.”
Despite that political strategy, it is possible that Brock and Media Matters are operating entirely within the laws the govern such institutions. Those laws have been used, and exploited, for many years by groups on both sides of the political divide. But is Media Matters, as it claims, not political? Not by a long shot.
- Byron York
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“but a nonpartisan, progressive nonprofit that is unaffiliated with any political party or candidate.”
See that bolded word? That tells all.
October 8th, 2007 at 12:46 amRush is to nut-job liberals what a mirror is to a vampire. I’ve been listening to Rush on and off ever since he came on the air. I have the luxury of being retired since Jun ‘03 so I have even more time to listen since. I have heard him have self-described liberals on so that’s why I used the term nut-job liberals. To separate normal liberals from nut-job liberals. I don’t think there’s too many out there but, I have run into a few.
October 8th, 2007 at 1:57 amThe problem was not just people who listened to Limbaugh, Brock argued, but people who talked to people who listened to Limbaugh. “There is a viral effect of this noise machine that is difficult to quantify,” he said. “But the bottom line is that if you’ve got an office, and you’ve got ten people in an office, and just one of those people is listening to Rush Limbaugh and repeating false stories at the water cooler, you are corrupting and poisoning that entire office.”
Uh, so what you are saying mR. bROCK is what I believe and and want to discuss doesn’t matter. What you are saying is that information and ideas that you don’t agree with are not allowed to be said, out loud, discussed or god forbid agreed with. Because then we might all realize how many of us feel the same way, eh, mR. bRoCk? Sucks when your opinion can’t dominate like you’d like it too now isn’t it mr. brock.
October 8th, 2007 at 2:50 amRight…and toilet paper is used only for blowing my nose.
October 8th, 2007 at 5:10 amFair and balance, ha! Not bias or has any political party affiliation! ha, ha, he! And top of that it is a nonpartisan, if not nonpolitical. It is registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable institution! ha ha he ha ha ha he he ha ha aghhhh! Dam it I just swallow my gum!
October 8th, 2007 at 6:57 am” Those laws have been used, and exploited, for many years by groups on both sides of the political divide.”
Everybody is doing it is no excuse for breaking the law. You’re the one that got caught today.
At least that’s what the cop that gave me my last ticket told me.
” “There is a viral effect of this noise machine that is difficult to quantify,” he said. “But the bottom line is…. “What we hope to do is be able to educate people.”
You mean *re-educate* the proletariat don’t you Kommissar Brock?
October 8th, 2007 at 9:26 amWhat I REALLY wanna learn is how to get one of these tax-exempt 501C things. I promise to be charitable and non-profit. Really.
“Media Matters is not, as the National Review claims, ‘an avowedly political institution,’ but a nonpartisan, progressive nonprofit that is unaffiliated with any political party or candidate.”
I guess that’s why H. Clinton stated recently to the kook left, “I helped create Media Matters.”
October 8th, 2007 at 9:28 am“I guess that’s why H. Clinton stated recently to the kook left, “I helped create Media Matters.”” Well, she also played a major role in creating the 501(c)(3) tax exempt Million Mom March in 2000, apparently to help support the political campaigns of Al Gore and herself.
I’m the person who destroyed her Million Mom March in 2000 by exposing its alleged misuse of tax exempt money to help orchestrate a political campaign. I had some luck, in the form of a column by a pro-2nd Amendment columnist, that crumpled up the Million Mom March in May 2000, just as it was planning its Mother’s Day campaign rally for Al Gore.
http://www.stentorian.com/2ndamend/mmm/mmm.doc for VERY extensive details, as well as relevant parts of the MMM’s rather creative tax return for 2000.
The Million Mom March, and now Media Matters, should paint a very clear and convincing picture of Hillary Clinton’s ethics and character.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:43 pm