Media Research Center

Media Research Center
Media Research Center
Media Research Center logo.png
Founder(s) L. Brent Bozell III
Type media analysis
Founded October 1, 1987
Location Alexandria, Virginia, United States
Key people Tim Graham, Rich Noyes, Brent Baker
Focus Reporting allegations of liberal media bias
Method editorials, online newsletters, reports, activism
Motto "The Leader in Documenting, Exposing, and Neutralizing Liberal Media Bias"
Website mrc.org
Journalism
News · Writing style
Ethics · Objectivity
Values · Attribution
Defamation
Editorial independence
Journalism school
Areas
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Entertainment
Environment
Fashion · Medicine
Politics · Science
Sports · Technology
Trade · Traffic
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Genres
Advocacy · Analytic · Broadcast
Citizen · Civic
Collaborative · Community
Database · Gonzo
Investigative · Literary
Muckraking · Narrative
"New Journalism"
Non-profit journalism
Online · Opinion
Peace · Photojournalism
Scientific · Visual · Watchdog
Social impact
Fourth Estate
Freedom of the press
Infotainment · Media bias
Public relations
Press service
Yellow journalism
News media
Newspapers · Magazines
TV and radio
Internet
News agencies
Alternative media
Roles
Journalists (reporters)
Editor · Columnist
Copy editor
Meteorologist
News presenter
Photographer
Pundit/Political commentator
Category: Journalism
v · d · e

The Media Research Center (MRC) is a content analysis organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, founded in 1987 by conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III. Its stated mission is to "prove — through sound scientific research — that liberal bias in the media does exist and undermines traditional American values" and to "neutralize [that bias's] impact on the American political scene".[1]

Contents

Foundation and funding

L. Brent Bozell III founded the Media Research Center in 1987.

Bozell and a group of other young conservatives founded the MRC on October 1, 1987, with only themselves, a black-and-white television set, and rented computer at their headquarters. Their initial budget was at US$339,000.[1] Prior to founding the MRC, Bozell was the chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee; he resigned from that position a month before establishing MRC.[2]

The MRC has received financial support from several foundations, including the Bradley, Scaife, Olin, Castle Rock, Carthage and JM foundations.[citation needed] Bob Ward has said that it also receives funding from ExxonMobil.[3]

Projects

Reports on the media

From 1996 to 2009, the MRC published a daily online newsletter called CyberAlert written by editor Brent Baker. Each issue profiles what he perceives to be biased or inaccurate reports about politics in the American news media.[4] Prior to CyberAlert, MRC published such reports in a monthly newsletter titled MediaWatch,[5] from 1988 to 1999.[6] Media analysis articles are now under the banner BiasAlert.[7] Media analysis director Tim Graham and research director Rich Noyes regularly write Media Reality Check, another MRC publication documenting alleged liberal bias.[8] Notable Quotables is its "collection of the most biased quotes from journalists".[1] In Notable Quotables, editors give honors such as the "Linda Ellerbee Awards for Distinguished Reporting" based on the former CNN commentator, who Bozell considered "a liberal blowhard who has nothing to say".[9] Other features on its website include the weekly syndicated news and entertainment columns written by founder Bozell.

MRC staff members have also written editorials and books about their findings of the media. Bozell has written three books about the news media: And That's the Way it Isn't: A Reference Guide to Media Bias (1990, with Brent Baker); Weapons of Mass Distortion: The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media (2004); and Whitewash: How The News Media Are Paving Hillary Clinton's Path to the Presidency (2007, with Tim Graham). Research director Rich Noyes has also co-authored several published books.[10]

Business and Media Institute

In 1992, the MRC created the Free Market Project to promote the culture of free enterprise and combat what it believes to be media spin on business and economic news. That division recently changed its name to the Business & Media Institute (www.businessandmedia.org) and is now focused on "Advancing the culture of free enterprise in America." BMI's advisory board includes such well-known individuals as economists Walter Williams and Bruce Bartlett, as well as former CNN anchor David Goodnow. BMI is led by career journalist Dan Gainor, a former managing editor at CQ.com, the website for Congressional Quarterly. It released a research report in June 2006 covering the portrayal of business on prime-time entertainment television during the May and November "sweeps" periods from 2005. The report concluded that the programs, among them the long-running NBC legal drama Law & Order, were biased against business.[11] Another report of the BMI accused the networks of bias in favor of the Gardasil vaccine, a vaccine intended to prevent cervical cancer.

Parents Television Council

Main article: Parents Television Council

In 1989, the MRC began monitoring the entertainment industry through its Entertainment Division and newsletter TV, etc.[12] MRC president L. Brent Bozell III branched out the Parents Television Council from the Center in 1995 after he felt that decency on prime-time television was decreasing. The PTC monitors prime-time television for what it believes to be indecent content and publishes content-based reviews of television shows and oversees campaigns to make advertisers withdraw from programs that they believe to be morally offensive.[13] Extra!, the magazine published by left-wing group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, asserted that the MRC's former newsletter TV, etc. inspired the group and "tracked the allegedly leftist politics of entertainment industry figures".[14] In July 2002, MRC and affiliate Parents Television Council (PTC) paid an out-of-court settlement ending a lawsuit which had been launched by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in November 2000. WWE alleged 13 instances of defamation, copyright infringement and interference with prospective business relations after PTC produced a fundraising video using unauthorized WWE footage, falsely claimed WWE was responsible for the murders of four children, and falsely claimed advertisers had pulled their commercials from the show. MRC paid US$3.5 million.[15] MRC and PTC President Brent Bozell wrote in a lengthy public statement "it was wrong to have stated or implied that WWE or any of its programs caused these tragic deaths." [16] The PTC has been found to have filed the majority of complaints about alleged indecent television content to the Federal Communications Commission.[17]

Cybercast News Service

Main article: Cybercast News Service

Bozell founded the Conservative News Service (now Cybercast News Service [CNSNews.com]) in 1998 to cover stories he believes are ignored by mainstream news organizations.[18] CNSNews.com provides news articles for Townhall.com and other websites for a subscription fee. Its leadership consists of president Brent Bozell and editor Terry Jeffrey. Under editor David Thibault, CNSNews.com questioned the validity of the circumstances in which Democratic Rep. John Murtha received his purple hearts as a response to Murtha's criticisms of the U.S. War in Iraq. The Washington Post and Nancy Pelosi have commented that this approach is similar to the tactics of the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, which opposed John Kerry's candidacy in the 2004 election.[19]

NewsBusters

In the summer of 2005, Media Research Center launched the NewsBusters, a website "dedicated to exposing & combating liberal media bias," in cooperation with Matthew Sheffield, a conservative blogger involved in the CBS Killian documents story. NewsBusters is styled as a rapid-response blog site that contains posts by MRC editors to selected stories in mass media.[20] Although the site is advertised chiefly as a conservative site, it frequently defends Neoconservatives as well.[21] Not only does the site highlight journalists it deems to be liberally biased, but also non-journalists (writers, musicians, producers, scientists, etc.) who have a perceived liberal viewpoint.[22][23][24][25] In addition to conventional media outlets, NewsBusters has attacked Wikipedia over perceived liberal bias in its John Edwards discussion pages. [26] The site is also highly critical of moderate Republicans.[27][28]

At the NewsBusters site, a semi-weekly mock newscast called NewsBusted parodies recent events. The NewsBusted programs are often uploaded to sites such as YouTube.[29]

TimesWatch

In March 2003,[30] MRC analyst Clay Waters established TimesWatch, a website monitoring bias in The New York Times.[31]

Culture and Media Institute

Main article: Culture and Media Institute

In October 2006, the MRC created the Culture and Media Institute, the mission of which is "to advance, preserve, and help restore America's culture, character, traditional values, and morals against the assault of the liberal media."[32] Robert H. Knight is the institute's director.

Eyeblast

MRC sponsors Eyeblast,[33] a conservative-leaning YouTube-like video-hosting site.[34]

Viewpoints

In its mission to show that there is a "strident liberal bias" [35] in the national news media, the MRC has produced a number of their own analyses and has offered as evidence the claims that news reporters use the "conservative" or "Republican" label to describe conservatives more often than they label liberals or Democrats, that the media is sympathetic to Communism or "dictators",[36][37] that media coverage of global warming is biased in favor of environmentalism,[38] and that the media focuses on covering the negative side of the Iraq war. In 1999, the MRC reported that the network news programs on ABC, CBS, and NBC largely ignored Chinese espionage in the United States during the Clinton administration.[39]

Beyond the news media, MRC also publishes research about entertainment television. Reports it conducted from 1993 to 1995 found that such programs made more references to religion each later year, most of which became more favorable.[40] In 2003, the MRC urged advertisers to pull sponsorship from The Reagans, a miniseries about President Ronald Reagan to be shown on CBS. The network later moved the program to its co-owned premium cable network Showtime.[41]

MRC released a report in 2007 claiming that the network morning shows devoted more airtime to covering Democratic presidential candidates than Republican ones for the 2008 election. Producers for such shows criticized the MRC's methodology as flawed.[42] During the 2008 US presidential election, MRC released a report claiming that the vast majority of news stories about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had a positive slant.[43] MRC president Bozell praised MSNBC for having David Gregory replace Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann as political coverage anchor beginning September 8, 2008, but MSNBC president Phil Griffin disputed the statements by Bozell and others who have accused the network of liberal bias.[44]

Criticism

Extra!, the magazine of the progressive media watch group FAIR, criticized the MRC in 1998 for selective use of evidence. MRC had said that there was more coverage of government death squads in right-wing El Salvador than in left-wing Nicaragua in the 1980s, when Amnesty International stated El Salvador was worse than Nicaragua when it came to extrajudicial killings. Extra! also likened a defunct MRC newsletter TV etc., which tracked the off-screen political comments of actors, to "Red Channels, the McCarthy Era blacklisting journal."[14]

Journalist Brian Montopoli of Columbia Journalism Review in 2005 labeled MRC "just one part of a wider movement by the far right to demonize corporate media" rather than "make the media better." Additionally, Montpoli wrote that "false equivalence is at the very root of MRC’s beliefs."[45]

In July of 2010, Dan Gainor, VP of Business and Culture for Media Research Center, sparked a minor controversy by publishing a Tweet in which he offered $100 to the "first Rep. who punches smary [sic] idiot Alan Grayson in the nose." [46]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c "About the Media Research Center". MRC. http://mrc.org/about/aboutwelcome.asp. Retrieved 2008-07-26. 
  2. ^ "Conservative Official Resigns". The New York Times. Associated Press. 1987-09-01. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5DC143FF932A3575AC0A961948260. Retrieved 2008-08-03. 
  3. ^ Webster, Ben (July 19, 2010). "Oil giant gave £1 million to fund climate sceptics; ExxonMobil broke its pledge to halt payments Oil giant gave £1m to fund climate change sceptics". The Times (London (UK)): p. 1. 
  4. ^ Baker, Brent. "CyberAlert". Media Research Center. http://www.mrc.org/archive/cyber/welcome.asp. Retrieved 2009-03-15. 
  5. ^ Queenan, Joe (1991-08-05). "The Media's Wacky Watchdogs". Time: p. 1. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20081201134155/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973551,00.html. 
  6. ^ "MediaWatch". Media Research Center. http://www.mediaresearch.org/archive/mediawatch/welcome.asp. Retrieved 2009-03-15. 
  7. ^ "BiasAlert Archive". Media Research Center. http://www.mediaresearch.org/biasalert/archive.aspx. Retrieved June 8, 2011. 
  8. ^ "Media Reality Check". MRC. http://mrc.org/archive/realitycheck/welcome.asp. Retrieved 2008-07-26. 
  9. ^ Queenan, Joe (1991-08-05). "The Media's Wacky Watchdogs". Time: p. 2. Archived from the original on December 1, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20081201134155/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973551,00.html. 
  10. ^ "Rich Noyes". MRC. http://www.mediaresearch.org/bios/noyes/noyesbio.asp. Retrieved 2008-08-01. 
  11. ^ Ahrens, Frank (2006-06-23). "On TV, There's a Killer Corporate Image Problem". The Washington Post: p. D1. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062201786.html. 
  12. ^ Bozell, L. Brent III (1992-01-21). "Why Conservatives Should Be Optimistic About the Media". Heritage Lecture #380. Heritage Foundation. http://www.heritage.org/research/politicalphilosophy/hl380.cfm. Retrieved 2009-08-30. 
  13. ^ Poniewozik, James (2005-03-20). "The Decency Police". Time. http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1039700,00.html. Retrieved 2008-07-26. 
  14. ^ a b "Meet the Myth-Makers". Extra!. FAIR. July/August 1998. http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1972. 
  15. ^ Higgins, John M. (2002-07-15). "Bozell's $3.5M apology". Broadcasting & Cable. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA233378.html. Retrieved 2008-07-26. 
  16. ^ "PTC Retraction to WWE and the Public" (Press release). PTC. 2002-07-11. http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2002/ptctext.html. 
  17. ^ Shields, Todd (2004-12-06). "Activists Dominate Content Complaints". Mediaweek (Parents Television Council). Archived from the original on 2005-02-13. http://web.archive.org/web/20050213091055/http://www.mediaweek.com/mediaweek/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000731656. Retrieved 2007-06-28. 
  18. ^ Hafner, Katie (1998-06-18). "New Conservative News Site Will Fill a Void, Founder Says". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E6DF1E3DF93BA25755C0A96E958260. Retrieved 2008-07-28. 
  19. ^ Kurtz, Howard; Murray, Shailagh (2006-01-14). "Web Site Attacks Critic of War". The Washington Post: p. A5. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/13/AR2006011301736.html. 
  20. ^ Krepel, Terry (2005-09-22). "NewsBusted". ConWebWatch. http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2005/newsbust.html. Retrieved 2009-03-15. 
  21. ^ Finkelstein, Mark (2006-07-19). "Take the Anti-Neo-Con Test: Who Said It - Matthews or Buchanan?". NewsBusters.org. http://newsbusters.org/node/6494. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
  22. ^ Meister, Pam (2009-10-29). "Leftist Rocker John Mellencamp: First Amendment More of a 'Collective' Thing". NewsBusters.org. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/pam-meister/2009/07/10/leftist-rocker-john-mellencamp-first-amendment-more-collective-thing. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
  23. ^ "George Soros". NewsBusters.org. http://newsbusters.org/people/political-figures/george-soros. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
  24. ^ Sheffield, Greg (2009-10-29). "Barbara Streisand: Psychoanalyst Extraordinaire". NewsBusters.org. http://newsbusters.org/node/4863. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
  25. ^ Shepherd, Ken (2009-10-29). "Ted Turner: China's Population Control Scheme Is Not 'Draconian'". NewsBusters.org. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2009/05/07/ted-turner-chinas-population-control-scheme-not-draconian. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
  26. ^ By P.J. Gladnick (Bio (2008-07-28). "Wikipedia Disallows Any Mention of Alleged John Edwards Scandal". NewsBusters.org. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2008/07/28/wikipedia-disallows-any-mention-alleged-john-edwards-scandal. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
  27. ^ Graham, Tim. "Today's David Gregory Comedy: Chuck Hagel, Just Now Bashing Bush?". NewsBusters.org. http://newsbusters.org/node/9555. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
  28. ^ Sheppard, Noel (2009-10-29). "Colin Powell Again Goes After Rush Limbaugh". NewsBusters.org. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009/07/05/colin-powell-again-goes-after-rush-limbaugh. Retrieved 2010-08-13. 
  29. ^ One such upload is NewsBusted 4/24/09. Retrieved on 2009-05-16.
  30. ^ Krepel, Terry (2003-05-20). "The ConWeb's Glass House". ConWebWatch. http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2003/times.html. Retrieved 2009-03-15. 
  31. ^ "About Times Watch". TimesWatch. http://www.mrc.org/timeswatch/public/about.aspx/welcome.aspx. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
  32. ^ MRC Launches Culture & Media Institute
  33. ^ About Eyeblast
  34. ^ On a shoestring, Web videos reshaping race, Jim Rutenberg, The New York Times, June 30, 2008.
  35. ^ "About Media Research Center". http://www.mediaresearch.org/about/aboutwelcome.asp. Retrieved 2008-09-23. 
  36. ^ "Megaphone for a Dictator". MRC. 2002-05-09. http://www.mediaresearch.org/specialreports/2002/sum/exec20020509.asp. Retrieved 2008-08-01. 
  37. ^ Garvin, Glenn (May 13, 2002). "Conservative Group Attacks CNN Over Its Cuba Coverage". The Miami Herald. Archived from the original on December 27, 2004. http://web.archive.org/web/20041227065738/http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/news/3256023.htm. 
  38. ^ "Clamoring for Kyoto: The Networks’ One-Sided Coverage of Global Warming". MRC. 2001-05-07. http://www.mediaresearch.org/specialreports/2001/sum/kyoto01.asp. Retrieved 2008-08-01. 
  39. ^ Sperry, Paul (May 10, 1999). "TV's blackout on China spying". Investor's Business Daily. Archived from the original on November 9, 1999. http://web.archive.org/web/19991109064006/http://www.investors.com/stories/IF/1999/May/10/17.html. 
  40. ^ Suman 1997, p. 119
  41. ^ "CBS pulls Reagan miniseries". CNN.com. Associated Press. November 5, 2003. Archived from the original on June 19, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080619075056/http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/04/cbs.reagans.ap/. 
  42. ^ Bauder, Davis (2007-08-29). "Study: Democrats Get More A.M. Airtime". The San Francisco Chronicle. Associated Press. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/29/AR2007082901780.html. Retrieved 2009-03-15. 
  43. ^ Kurtz, Howard (2008-08-20). "Conservative Group Finds Networks Positive on Obama". The Trail (The Washington Post). http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/08/20/conservative_group_finds_netwo.html. Retrieved 2008-09-10. 
  44. ^ "MSNBC shifts Matthews, Olbermann". MSNBC. 2008-09-08. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26610314/. Retrieved 2008-09-10. 
  45. ^ Montopoli, Brian (March 23, 2005). "Propaganda Clothed as Critique". Columbia Journalism Review. http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/propaganda_clothed_as_critique.php?page=all. Retrieved July 15, 2011. 
  46. ^ "Critic Offers $100 To Punch Grayson In Nose". WESH News, Orlando NBC Affiliate. July 21, 2010. http://www.wesh.com/news/24337918/detail.html. Retrieved October 17, 2011. 

References

See also

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