David Brock: Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added

Inline

Revision as of 02:01, 8 May 2007

David Brock b. 1962, is an author and the founder of Media Matters for America. He was a prominent conservative journalist during the 1990s^{[citation needed]}. During that time he was best known for his anti-Anita Hill book The Real Anita Hill and authoring the Troopergate story, which led to Paula Jones filing a lawsuit against Bill Clinton. After declaring he was gay, he claimed that he became a liberal; he now works to dismantle what he refers to as the "the conservative media machine" of which he was once a part. He tells his personal story in his memoir Blinded by the Right and describes how the "machine" operates in his book The Republican Noise Machine. His work on the latter book led him to found Media Matters for America, a non-profit organization that describes itself as a "progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media."[1]

Neoconservative

New Jersey-native Brock began leaning to the right as a reporter and editor for The Daily Californian, the campus newspaper at University of California, Berkeley. After graduating from Paramus High School in Paramus, New Jersey, Brock graduated from Berkeley with a B.A. in History in 1985, Brock was an intern at The Wall Street Journal. In 1986, he joined the staff of the weekly conservative news magazine Insight, a sister publication of The Washington Times. After a stint as a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, in March 1992 Brock authored a sharply critical story about Clarence Thomas' accuser, Anita Hill, in The American Spectator magazine, in which he said Hill might be "a bit nutty and a bit slutty." A little over a year later, in April 1993 Brock published a book titled The Real Anita Hill which expanded upon previous assertions that had cast doubt on the verity of Anita Hill's claims of sexual harassment.

The book became a best-seller. It was later attacked in a book review in The New Yorker by Jane Mayer, a reporter for The New Yorker, and Jill Abramson, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. The two later expanded their article into the book Strange Justice, which cast Anita Hill in a much more sympathetic light. It, too, was a best-seller. Brock replied to their book with a book review of his own in The American Spectator.

In the January 1994 issue of The American Spectator, Brock, by then on staff at the magazine, published a story about Bill Clinton's time as governor of Arkansas that made accusations that bred Troopergate. Among other things, the story contained the first printed reference to Paula Jones, referring to a woman named "Paula" who state troopers said offered to be Clinton's girlfriend. Jones called Brock's account of her encounter with Clinton "totally wrong," and she later sued Clinton for sexual harassment, a case which became entangled in the Independent Counsel's investigation of Whitewater scandal and eventually led to the impeachment of the president. The story received an award later that year from the Western Journalism Center, and was partially responsible for a meteoric rise in the 25-year-old magazine's circulation, from around 70,000 to over 300,000 in a very short period.

Transformation

Three years later, Brock surprised conservatives by publishing a somewhat sympathetic biography of Hillary Clinton, titled The Seduction of Hillary Rodham. Having received a $1 million advance and a tight one-year deadline from Simon & Schuster's then-neoconservative-focused Free Press subsidiary, Brock was under tremendous pressure to produce another best-seller. However, the book contained no major scoops. In Blinded by the Right (2002), Brock claimed that he had reached a turning point — he had thoroughly examined charges against the Clintons, could not find any evidence of wrongdoing, and did not want to make any more misleading claims. Brock further claimed that his former friends in right-wing politics shunned him because Seduction did not adequately attack the Clintons. He also argued that his "friends" had not really been friends at all, due to the open secret that Brock was gay.

In July 1997, Brock published a confessional piece in Esquire magazine titled "I Was a Conservative Hit Man," in which he recanted much of what he said in his two best-known American Spectator articles and criticized his own reporting methods. Discouraged at the reaction his Hillary Clinton biography received, he said, "I... want out. David Brock the Road Warrior of the Right is dead." Four months later, The American Spectator declined to renew his employment contract, under which he was being paid over $300,000 per year.

Writing again for Esquire in April 1998, Brock apologized to Clinton for his contributions to Troopergate, calling it simply part of an anti-Clinton crusade. He told a more detailed story of his time inside the right wing in his 2001 memoir, Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative, in which he settled old scores and provided inside details about the Arkansas Project's efforts to bring down Clinton. Later, he also apologized to Anita Hill.

In 2002 he published his book "Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative."^[1] As one supporter wrote: "This continum of Republican attack politics from Watergate to W. is the unacknowledged back story of Brock’s book, which is its own back story to the last third of those three decades."^[2]

Brock directly addressed the right-wing "machine" in his 2004 book, The Republican Noise Machine, in which he detailed an alleged interconnected, concerted effort to raise the profile of conservative opinions in the press through false accusations of liberal media bias, dishonest and highly-partisan columnists, partisan news organizations and academic studies, and other methods. Also in 2004, he featured briefly in the BBC series The Power of Nightmares, giving his updated account on what was behind neoconservative allegations against Bill Clinton.

About the same time he founded Media Matters for America, an Internet-based liberal political organization "dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media." MMFA employees have previously worked for the presidential campaigns of Democrats Al Gore, Sen. John Edwards, and Gen. Wesley Clark, the National Organization for Women, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic National Committee, the Alliance for Justice, and Greenpeace. MMFA receives significant funding from pro-Democratic foundations.

External links

Media Matters for America
Media Matters with Bob McChesney Interview of David Brock (Jan 2, 2005)
BuzzFlash Interview of David Brock
David Brock Interview, "All Things Considered," National Public Radio (July 2, 2001)
David Brock, "Strange Lies," The American Spectator (January 1995) (unofficial site) (Book review of Mayer & Abramson's book on Anita Hill, "Strange Justice")
David Brock, "The Real Anita Hill," The American Spectator (March 1992) (unofficial site)
David Brock, "His Cheatin’ Heart," The American Spectator (January 1994)
David Brock speaks at the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis - Video (January 13, 2007)

Articles and commentary

Critical

Ramesh Ponnuru, "The Real David Brock," National Review (May 10, 2001)
Timothy Noah "David Brock, Liar: A lifelong habit proves hard to break," Slate (March 27, 2002)
Christopher Hitchens, "The Real David Brock," The Nation (May 9, 2002)
David Horowitz, "Believe David Brock at your own risk," Salon (April 17, 2002)
Laura Kipnis, "Brock Attack: The formerly right-wing shark behind Media Matters," Slate (May 18, 2004)
Today Showcases Brock's Smears (Thursday March 14, 2002)
The Unreal David Brock (May 15, 2002)
Brock's Self-Borking (June 28, 2001)
David Brock Is Buzzing Again (May 28, 2004)

Supportive

"Brock, Horowitz and the anti-gay slur." Chad Conway responds to David Horowitz, Salon (April 30, 2002)
Bias Crimes: David Brock once worked inside the "Republican noise machine." Now, with a new Web site, he's trying to silence it. (May 4, 2004)
Checkbook Journalism (July 2, 2006)
The Republican Noise Machine, David Brock, Interviewed By Bradford Plumer (September 1, 2004)

^ Cite error: The named reference redemption 2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Parry, Robert (May 6, 2002). "David Brock & the Watergate Legacy". Media Transparency.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)

[redemption_2-1] Cite error: The named reference redemption 2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[mediatransparency4-2] Parry, Robert (May 6, 2002). "David Brock & the Watergate Legacy". Media Transparency.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Cleanup|date=August 2006}}
-[[Image:Mediamatters.png|thumb|Screenshot from Media Matters for America (Jan 6, 2006)]]
-{{Journalism}}'''Media Matters for America''' [or '''MMfA'''] is a [[501(c)(3)]] [[non-profit organization]] founded in 2004 by [[liberal]] [[journalist]] and [[author]] [[David Brock]]; it is an organization that hosts a website featuring [[watchdog journalism]]. Media Matters for America describes itself as "a web-based, not-for-profit, libelous, slanderous, pornographic, propagandistic, dishonest, [[Progressivism|progressive]] research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media while turning a blind eye to all similar distortions from the left" Media Matters for America defines "conservative misinformation" as "news or commentary presented in the media that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the [[Conservatism|conservative]] agenda."<ref>{{cite web | url = http://mediamatters.org/about_us/ | title = "About Media Matters" | work = Media Matters for America | accessdate =  November 29 | accessyear = 2005}}</ref>
+'''David Brock''' b. [[1962]], is an author and the founder of [[Media Matters for America]]. He was a prominent [[conservative]] journalist during the [[1990s]]{{Fact|date=April 2007}}. During that time he was best known for his anti-[[Anita Hill]] book ''[[The Real Anita Hill]]'' and authoring the [[Troopergate]] story, which led to [[Paula Jones]] filing a lawsuit against [[Bill Clinton]]. After declaring he was [[gay]], he claimed that he became a [[liberal]]; he now works to dismantle what he refers to as the "the conservative [[Mass media|media]] machine" of which he was once a part. He tells his personal story in his memoir ''[[Blinded by the Right]]'' and describes how the "machine" operates in his book ''[[The Republican Noise Machine]]''. His work on the latter book led him to found [[Media Matters for America]], a non-profit organization that describes itself as a "progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media."[http://mediamatters.org/etc/about.html]
-Media Matters scrutinizes [[news]] reporting and political commentary that it perceives to contain conservative distortions or falsehoods. Conservative commentators such as [[Ann Coulter]] and [[Rush Limbaugh]], as well as self-described independent [[Bill O'Reilly (commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]], are often targets, but reporting from mainstream news outlets is also scrutinized.
-== Research Work ==
+== Neoconservative ==
+[[New Jersey]]-native Brock began leaning to the right as a reporter and editor for ''[[The Daily Californian]]'', the campus newspaper at  [[University of California, Berkeley]]. After graduating from [[Paramus High School]] in [[Paramus, New Jersey]], Brock graduated from Berkeley with a [[B.A.]] in History in [[1985]], Brock was an intern at ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''. In [[1986]], he joined the staff of the weekly conservative news magazine ''Insight,'' a sister publication of ''[[The Washington Times]]''. After a stint as a research fellow at the [[Heritage Foundation]], in March [[1992]] Brock authored a sharply critical story about [[Clarence Thomas]]' accuser, [[Anita Hill]], in ''[[The American Spectator]]'' magazine, in which he said Hill might be "a bit nutty and a bit slutty." A little over a year later, in April [[1993]] Brock published a book titled ''[[The Real Anita Hill]]'' which expanded upon previous assertions that had cast doubt on the verity of Anita Hill's claims of sexual harassment.
-Media Matters uses a variety of techniques to demonstrate how it believes information is manipulated by [[right-wing]] media figures. Employing methods such as [[content analysis]], fact checking, monitoring, and comparison of quotes or presentations from media figures to primary documents such as [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]] or [[Government Accountability Office]] reports, MMfA provides daily analysis to its readers.<ref>MMfA has used the [[Government Accountability Office]] in make fact checking articles. For example, [http://mediamatters.org/items/200607070008 GMA, CNN, print media fail to challenge Bush's missile defense claim]. Pentagon reports have been used to debunk claims of WMD claims, such as [http://mediamatters.org/items/200607070007 Hannity criticized media, Bush administration...]</ref>
+The book became a best-seller.  It was later attacked in a book review in ''[[The New Yorker]]'' by [[Jane Mayer]], a reporter for ''The New Yorker'', and Jill Abramson, a reporter for ''The Wall Street Journal''.  The two later expanded their article into the book ''Strange Justice'', which cast Anita Hill in a much more sympathetic light.  It, too, was a best-seller.  Brock replied to their book with a book review of his own in ''The American Spectator''.
-Media Matters analyzes the dominant American news sources.  Networks reviewed include [[NBC]], [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], [[CBS]], [[PBS]], [[CNN]], [[MSNBC]], [[CNBC]], and [[FOX News Channel]]. Newspapers that are subject to scrutiny include ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''[[The Washington Post]]'', ''[[The New York Post]]'', ''[[The Washington Times]]'', ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', and ''[[USA Today]]''. Journalists and personalities investigated by Media Matters include [[Bill O'Reilly (commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]], [[Brit Hume]], [[Sean Hannity]], [[Neil Cavuto]], [[John Gibson (media host)|John Gibson]], [[Shepard Smith]], [[Chris Matthews]], [[Joe Scarborough]], [[Tucker Carlson]], [[Wolf Blitzer]], [[Lou Dobbs]], and [[Glenn Beck]].
+In the January [[1994]] issue of ''The American Spectator,'' Brock, by then on staff at the magazine, published a story about [[Bill Clinton]]'s time as governor of [[Arkansas]] that made accusations that bred [[Troopergate]]. Among other things, the story contained the first printed reference to [[Paula Jones]], referring to a woman named "Paula" who state troopers said offered to be Clinton's girlfriend. Jones called Brock's account of her encounter with Clinton "totally wrong," and she later sued Clinton for [[sexual harassment]], a case which became entangled in the Independent Counsel's investigation of [[Whitewater scandal]] and eventually led to the impeachment of the president.  The story received an award later that year from the Western Journalism Center, and was partially responsible for a meteoric rise in the 25-year-old magazine's circulation, from around 70,000 to over 300,000 in a very short period.
-The group also monitors conservative talk-show hosts and commentators such as [[Ann Coulter]], [[Rush Limbaugh]], [[Michael Savage (commentator)|Michael Savage]], and [[Pat Robertson]].  For example, Media Matters has documented epithets against the [[Crystal Gail Mangum|accuser]] in the [[Duke rape]] case by [http://mediamatters.org/items/200604030004 Limbaugh] ("ho") and [http://mediamatters.org/items/200604140011 Savage] ("verminous black stripper"); Limbaugh later apologized for his comment.{{Fact|date=April 2007}}
+== Transformation ==
-Media Matters also posts video clips. For example, they host clips of [[Keith Olbermann]], from MSNBC's show "Countdown," criticizing [[Bill O'Reilly (commentator)|Bill O'Reilly]] for allegedly making factual errors and gaffes in his reporting.<ref>{{cite press release |publisher=Media Matters for America |date=[[2006-05-01]] |url=http://mediamatters.org/items/200605010009 |title=Olbermann hosted authors of ''Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly'' |accessdate=2006-06-06}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release |publisher=Media Matters for America |date=[[2006-04-27]] |url=http://mediamatters.org/items/200604270008 |title=Olbermann named O'Reilly "Worst Person" for establishing "Hall of Shame" for media that "smear" him |accessdate=2006-06-06}}</ref>
+Three years later, Brock surprised conservatives by publishing a somewhat sympathetic [[biography]] of [[Hillary Clinton]], titled ''[[The Seduction of Hillary Rodham]]''. Having received a $1 million advance and a tight one-year deadline from [[Simon & Schuster|Simon & Schuster's]] then-neoconservative-focused Free Press subsidiary, Brock was under tremendous pressure to produce another best-seller.  However, the book contained no major scoops.  In ''Blinded by the Right'' ([[2002]]), Brock claimed that he had reached a turning point &mdash; he had thoroughly examined charges against the Clintons, could not find any evidence of wrongdoing, and did not want to make any more misleading claims.  Brock further claimed that his former friends in right-wing politics shunned him because ''Seduction'' did not adequately attack the Clintons.  He also argued that his "friends" had not really been friends at all, due to the open secret that Brock was [[gay]].
+In July [[1997]], Brock published a confessional piece in ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'' magazine titled "I Was a Conservative Hit Man," in which he recanted much of what he said in his two best-known ''American Spectator'' articles and criticized his own reporting methods. Discouraged at the reaction his [[Hillary Clinton]] biography received, he said, "I... want out. David Brock the Road Warrior of the Right is dead." Four months later, ''The American Spectator'' declined to renew his employment contract, under which he was being paid over $300,000 per year.
-On April 4, 2007, Media Matters for America monitored the [[Imus in the Morning]] broadcast when [[Don Imus]] referred to the [[Rutgers University]] [[women's basketball]] as "not the best basketball team I've seen."  The organization posted this information and later a video clip on the [[Internet]], and sent out a bulk emailing to individual [[journalists]] and to the [[National Association of Black Journalists]], eventually resulting in [[CBS Radio]] and [[MSNBC]] canceling his program.[http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117641076468168180-_8j64ZGWvFmGTOCT4_DxJnEjrS0_20070512.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top]
+Writing again for ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'' in April [[1998]], Brock apologized to Clinton for his contributions to [[Troopergate]], calling it simply part of an anti-Clinton crusade. He told a more detailed story of his time inside the right wing in his [[2001]] memoir, ''Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative'', in which he settled old scores and provided inside details about the [[Arkansas Project]]'s efforts to bring down Clinton.  Later, he also apologized to [[Anita Hill]].
-=== Analysis of weekend television commentary===
+In 2002 he published his book "''[[Blinded by the Right|Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative]]''."<ref name="redemption 2"/> As one supporter wrote: "This continum of Republican attack politics from [[Watergate]] to W. is the unacknowledged back story of Brock’s book, which is its own back story to the last third of those three decades."<ref name="mediatransparency4">{{cite web| url=http://www.mediatransparency.org/issue.php?issueID=4| first=Robert| last=Parry| year=May 6, 2002| title=David Brock & the Watergate Legacy| publisher=Media Transparency}}</ref>
-On February 14, 2006, the organization published a study of the guest appearances on ABC's ''[[This Week]]'', CBS' ''[[Face the Nation]]'', and NBC's ''[[Meet the Press]]'' from 1997 through 2005. This study examined over 7,000 guests as either Democrat, Republican, conservative, progressive, or neutral. Media Matters stated: "The conclusion is clear: Republicans and conservatives have been offered more opportunities to appear on the Sunday shows - in some cases, dramatically so."<ref name="Study1">{{cite news | url=http://mediamatters.org/items/200602140002 | title=If It's Sunday, It's Conservative|publisher=Media Matters for America |date=February 14, 2006 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2006-11-04}}</ref>  [[The American Spectator]] later criticized this study for allegedly characterizing "progressive" commentators as "neutral" in its underlying methodogy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spectator.org/blogger.asp?BlogID=1999 |title=Garbage In, Garbage Out, Continued |accessdate=2007-01-30 |last=Tabin |first=John  |date=2006-02-21 |work=AmSpec Blog |publisher=[[The American Spectator]]}}</ref>
+Brock directly addressed the right-wing "machine" in his [[2004]] book, ''The Republican Noise Machine'', in which he detailed an alleged interconnected, concerted effort to raise the profile of conservative opinions in the press through false accusations of [[liberal media bias]], dishonest and highly-[[partisan (political)|partisan]] columnists, partisan news organizations and academic studies, and other methods. Also in 2004, he featured briefly in the [[BBC]] series [[The Power of Nightmares]], giving his updated account on what was behind [[neoconservative]] allegations against Bill Clinton.
-A second analysis was published April 4, 2006 examining Sunday news programs from January through March 2006.<ref>
-{{cite news | url=http://mediamatters.org/items/200604040001 | title=If It's Sunday, It's Still Conservative|publisher=Media Matters for America |date=April 4, 2006 | first= | last= | accessdate = 2006-11-04}}</ref> Media Matters reported: "Republican and conservative dominance continued unabated, as those from the right outnumbered Democrats and their progressive compatriots." Besides the political stance of the guests, "the Sunday shows feature panel discussions comprising conservative journalists and opinion writers "balanced" by reporters for mainstream news outlets -- with no progressive journalist."
+About the same time he founded [[Media Matters for America]], an Internet-based [[liberalism|liberal]] [[political]] organization "dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media." MMFA employees have previously worked for the presidential campaigns of Democrats Al Gore, [[John Edwards|Sen. John Edwards]], and [[Wesley Clark|Gen. Wesley Clark]], the [[National Organization for Women]], the [[Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee]], the Democratic National Committee, the Alliance for Justice, and [[Greenpeace]].  MMFA receives significant funding from pro-[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] foundations.
-The third study was released July 20, 2006 concluding "Republicans and conservatives dominated on all three Sunday shows."<ref name="Study3">[http://mediamatters.org/items/200607200006 Third time's not the charm: Sunday-morning talk shows still imbalanced]. ''Media Matters for America'', July 20, 2006 </ref> Media Matters stated that "Republicans and conservatives outnumbered Democrats and progressives in total guest appearances," more particularly ''Face the Nation'' "featured nearly twice as many Republicans and conservatives as Democrats and progressives during the second quarter." <ref name="Study3" />
+==External links==
-Media Matters methodology has been criticized for not taking into account the fact that the current administration is Republican and that the Congress had been Republican controlled until January 2007.{{Fact|date=April 2007}}
+*[http://mediamatters.org/ Media Matters for America]
+*[http://www.will.uiuc.edu/willmp3/mediamatters050102.mp3 Media Matters with Bob McChesney Interview of David Brock] (Jan 2, 2005)
+*[http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/2002/03/David_Brock_031802.html BuzzFlash Interview of David Brock]
+* [http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2001/jul/010702.brock.html  David Brock Interview, "All Things Considered," National Public Radio] (July 2, 2001)
+* [http://www.uiowa.edu/~030116/153/articles/brock03.htm David Brock, "Strange Lies," The American Spectator] (January 1995) (unofficial site) (Book review of Mayer & Abramson's book on Anita Hill, "Strange Justice")
+* [http://www.uiowa.edu/~030116/153/articles/brock01.htm David Brock, "The Real Anita Hill," The American Spectator] (March 1992) (unofficial site)
+* [http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=6736 David Brock, "His Cheatin’ Heart," The American Spectator] (January 1994)
+* [http://www.dane101.com/current/2007/01/14/media_reform_bonus_video_david_brock_of_media_matters David Brock speaks at the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis - Video] (January 13, 2007)
+===Articles and commentary===
+====Critical====
+* [http://www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback-ponnuru051001.shtml Ramesh Ponnuru, "The Real David Brock," National Review] (May 10, 2001)
+* [http://slate.msn.com/id/2063759/ Timothy Noah "David Brock, Liar: A lifelong habit proves hard to break," Slate] (March 27, 2002)
+* [http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020527&s=hitchens  Christopher Hitchens, "The Real David Brock," The Nation] (May 9, 2002)
+* [http://www.salon.com/news/col/horo/2002/04/17/brock/index_np.html David Horowitz, "Believe David Brock at your own risk," Salon] (April 17, 2002)
+* [http://slate.msn.com/id/2100712/ Laura Kipnis, "Brock Attack: The formerly right-wing shark behind Media Matters," Slate] (May 18, 2004)
+* [http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2002/cyb20020314.asp Today Showcases Brock's Smears] (Thursday March 14, 2002)
+* [http://www.eastbayexpress.com/issues/2002-05-15/news/feature_1.html The Unreal David Brock] (May 15, 2002)
+* [http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg062801.shtml Brock's Self-Borking] (June 28, 2001)
+* [http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200405281333.asp David Brock Is Buzzing Again] (May 28, 2004)
-===Misinformer of the Year===
+====Supportive====
+* [http://www.salon.com/news/letters/2002/04/30/conway "Brock, Horowitz and the anti-gay slur." Chad Conway responds to David Horowitz, Salon] (April 30, 2002)
+* [http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=7680 Bias Crimes: David Brock once worked inside the "Republican noise machine." Now, with a new Web site, he's trying to silence it.] (May 4, 2004)
-An annual feature on the Media Matters website is the title of "Misinformer of the Year," which is awarded to the journalist, commentator, and/or network which, in the opinion of Media Matters, is responsible for the most numerous and/or grievous factual errors and claims. The complete list of awardees of "Misinformer of the Year" is as follows:
+* [http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/spingola/060702 Checkbook Journalism] (July 2, 2006)
+* [http://www.motherjones.com/news/qa/2004/09/09_400.html The Republican Noise Machine, David Brock, Interviewed By Bradford Plumer] (September 1, 2004)
-*[[2004]] -- [[David Brock]]
-*[[2005]] -- [[David Brock]]
-*[[2006]] -- [[David Brock]]
-*[[2007]] -- [[David Brock]]
-===Unbiased informer of the year===
-The opposite of the "misinformer of the year" is the "unbiased informer of the year." The complete list is as follows:
-*[[2004]] -- [[Keith Olbermann]]
-*[[2005]] -- [[Keith Olbermann]]
-*[[2006]] -- [[Keith Olbermann]]
-*[[2007]] -- [[Keith Olbermann]]
-==="Should be fired" of the year===
-The complete list is as follows:
-*[[2004]] -- [[Don Imus]]
-*[[2005]] -- [[Don Imus]]
-*[[2006]] -- [[Don Imus]]
-*[[2007]] -- [[Don Imus]]
-With the firing of Don Imus, David Brock decided to end the "should be fired" of the year award. In an official statement, he said "Worry not, my informants and totally unbiased liberals, Don Imus has been neutralized. No one will ever criticise my favorite basketball team again. Me and Olbermann were brainstorming some ideas the other day. I asked who should be fired now that we "took care" of Imus. Before I finished the sentense, he said "George Bush! George Bush! George Bush!" while rythmically slamming his fists into his face. I told him to take it easy, I had already started on it."
-In a later statement, Brock announced that he and Olbermann were to, on May 1, meld together into "David Goliath Brock Olbermann." This new monster would have special mind-reading powers, in order systematically scan "all of mankind's thoughts and all stored human knowledge for disinformation, propaganda, lies, obscenity, and every other evils completely caused by conservatives and O'Reiley, and their evil media henchmen, such as J.S. Mill, Adam Smith, Plato, Aristotle, John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Ronald Reagan, F.A. Hayek, Shakespeare, and especially Orwell, that last man, how I hate himmmm!" Brock then discussed his days as a Pokemon trainer, and his later eye surgery. Finally, the topic turned to how he was going to continue to be "comprehensively honest and unbiased in my quest to rid the world of all wrong conservative opinions. It is an important advancement of the liberal's triad of values: [[diversity]], tolerance, and [[free speech]]."
-==Affiliations==
-===Chapters===
-In [[July 2006]], Media Matters for America launched its first state chapter, [[Colorado Media Matters]].  Media Matters recruited Colorado natives to run Colorado Media Matters and to analyze the local state media using the original Media Matters' research techniques. Outlets being scutinized by Colorado Media Matters include the ''[[Rocky Mountain News]]'', ''[[The Denver Post]]'', ''[[The Colorado Springs Gazette]]'', [[KCNC-TV]] ([[CBS]] -- [[Denver]]), [[KMGH-TV]] ([[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] -- Denver), [[KUSA-TV]] ([[NBC]] -- Denver), [[KDVR-TV]] ([[FOX]] -- Denver), and [[KBDI-TV]] ([[PBS]] -- Denver).
-===Funding sources ===
-In May 2004, the ''[[New York Times]]'' reported that Media Matters has received "more than $2 million in donations from Fox News and Bill O'Reiley."
-==Criticism==
-Bill O'Reilly, who is frequently a target of Media Matters' criticisms, has accused them of "specializing in distorting comments made by politicians, pundits, and media people" while "smearing" those who do not agree with left wing politics including moderates like [[Joseph Lieberman]].  <ref>http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268043,00.html</ref> Media Matters for America has noted, however, that O'Reilly did not cite any examples of how they had distorted comments. <ref>http://mediamatters.org/items/200704240003</ref><ref>http://mediamatters.org/items/200704260003</ref>
-The organization has also come under criticism for attacking conservative opinions in news as not being "accurate, reliable, or credible" when Media Matters itself is an organization with strong opinions.
-Media Matters is a [[noise machine]], according to David Goliath Brock Olbermann. This means it produces, according to shim, nothing but "noise" and "intellectual farting."
-==Footnotes==
-<!--See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags-->
-<div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; column-count:2;">
-<references/>
-</div>
-==See also==
-* [[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]] - Politically progressive/liberal media monitoring group similar to Media Matters
-* [[Media Research Center]] - Another media watch site on the opposite end of the spectrum monitoring alleged liberal bias in the media.
-* [[Journalism ethics and standards]]
-* [[List of progressive organizations]]
-* [[Media bias]]
-* [[Media bias in the United States]]
-==External links==
-* [http://english.aljazeera.net/homepage/ Official website]
+{{DEFAULTSORT:Brock, David}}
-[[Category:Criticism of journalism]]
-[[Category:Liberal organisations]]
+[[Category:American political writers]]
+[[Category:Gay writers]]
+[[Category:Bradley Foundation]]
+[[Category:Year of birth missing]]