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Revision as of 00:24, 17 January 2010

For other organizations named 'Media Matters', see Media Matters.
Media Matters for America
Media Matters Home Page
Screenshot from Media Matters for America (April 14, 2009)
Formation2004
WebsiteMediaMatters.org

Media Matters for America (or MMfA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2004 by journalist and author David Brock. Media Matters for America describes itself as "a web-based, not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media." 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 conservative agenda."[1] Eric Burns is the president of the organization.[2]

Research work

Media Matters uses a variety of techniques, including content analysis, fact checking, monitoring, and comparison of quotes or presentations from media figures to primary documents such as Pentagon or Government Accountability Office reports, to provide daily analysis of what it perceives as conservative misinformation in the media.[3]

Media Matters analyzes the dominant American news sources. Networks reviewed include NBC, 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 also include Brit Hume, Sean Hannity, Neil Cavuto, John Gibson, Shepard Smith, Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough, Tucker Carlson, Wolf Blitzer, Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, and Pat Robertson.

Media Matters also posts video clips. For example, the organization's website hosts clips of Keith Olbermann, from MSNBC's show "Countdown," accusing Bill O'Reilly of making factual errors and gaffes in his reporting.[4][5]

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 team members as "nappy-headed hoes." The organization posted their view of this comment 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.[6]

Analysis of weekend television commentary

On February 14, 2006, the organization released 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."[7] The American Spectator, a conservative magazine, later criticized this study for allegedly characterizing "progressive" commentators as "neutral" in its underlying methodogy.[8]

A second analysis was released April 4, 2006 examining Sunday news programs from January through March 2006.[9] 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."

The third study was released July 20, 2006 concluding "Republicans and conservatives dominated on all three Sunday shows."[10][11] 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."[10]

Analysis of syndicated editorial columns

On September 12, 2007, Media Matters released a study examining 1,377 U.S. newspapers and the 201 syndicated political columnists the papers carry on a regular basis. According to Media Matters' analysis, conservative pundits appear in three times as many papers and reach many more readers than do progressives/liberals.[12]

John Diaz, editorial page editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, criticized the study as flawed. He argued that that because the conservative imbalance was most pronounced in the smallest newspapers, which have less reach than major newspapers, the numerical disparity did not accurately reflect how influential conservative columns were. He also wrote that "pigeonholing" columnists as conservative, progressive or centrist obscured columnists' ability to hold nuanced ideological positions.[13]

Phony soldiers controversy

Main article: Phony soldiers controversy

In September 2007, Media Matters kicked off what became known as the "phony soldiers controversy" by publicizing remarks made by conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh under the headline "Limbaugh: Service members who support U.S. withdrawal are 'phony soldiers'".[14] Media Matters' report, which contained a partial transcript of Limbaugh's September 26 show, alleged that he was referring to Iraq war veterans opposed to the war when he used the phrase "phony soldiers" on the broadcast. The national media quickly picked up the story, and by early October, Limbaugh's comment and its possible meaning was being debated on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Limbaugh, conservative pundits, and many Republican congressmen contended that the remark was being taken out of context, and he had actually been referring to Jesse MacBeth, a man claiming be to a decorated veteran who had never actually served in the war. John Gibson, of Fox News, criticized Media Matters' reporting of Limbaugh, and the conservative National Review accused them of creating a "phony controversy" and trying to "manufacture outrage" regarding the remark. The National Review suggested that Media Matters may have intended to present a "completely false account of what happened".[15] Media Matters argued that its item was accurate and included context and that it was Limbaugh and his defenders who sought to remove context in order to cast his remarks in a more favorable light.[16] Lampooning O'Reilly, Gibson, and others who rallied behind Limbaugh, Stephen Colbert satirically blamed Media Matters for the controversy. "By posting [Limbaugh's remarks] on the Internet," Colbert said, "the general public [heard] words that were meant for people who already agree with us. Hey, Media Matters, you want to end offensive speech? Then stop recording it for people who would be offended."[17][18]

Misinformer of the Year

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, was responsible for the most numerous and/or grievous factual errors and claims made when presenting a pro-conservative position[19]. The complete list of awardees of "Misinformer of the Year" is as follows:

Affiliations

The offices for MMfA located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Chapters

In July 2006, Media Matters for America launched its first state chapter, Colorado Media Matters [1]. Media Matters recruited Colorado natives to run Colorado Media Matters and to analyze the local state media using the original Media Matters' research techniques.

Funding sources

In May 2004, the New York Times reported that Media Matters has received "more than $2 million in donations from wealthy liberals" and "was developed with help from the newly formed Center for American Progress".[24]

Criticism

On August 19, 2005, Media Matters posted an item regarding a letter that Cliff Kincaid, editor from the conservative, media watchdog organization Accuracy in Media, said he had received from an Afghan ambassador. Media Matters wrote that the letter was not a scanned document and that it "bears all the hallmarks of a do-it-yourself, cut-and-paste job."[25] Within hours of the post, Kincaid posted scanned images of the letter and envelope he said he had received, and wrote that Media Matters had accused him of "having fabricated or forged a letter from the Ambassador of Afghanistan." He characterized the piece as "defamatory" and criticized Media Matters for not obtaining his side of the story prior to publishing their item.[26] Media Matters then issued a subsequent post stating that Kincaid "misrepresented the original Media Matters item" and "failed to point out a single falsehood" in the item, which "simply pointed out that the letter as posted on the America's Survival website consisted of separate elements cobbled together from various sources."[27]

Bill O'Reilly, the subject of many Media Matters items and a frequent critic of Media Matters, has called them a "vile propaganda outfit … which specializes in distorting comments made by politicians, pundits, and media people."[28] O'Reilly said that he believes Media Matters took comments he made on his radio program to Juan Williams regarding a dinner with Al Sharpton in Harlem out of context.[29][30] O'Reilly said that the Media Matters piece put together two out of context comments that were initially spoken five minutes apart and presented them as one comment in an effort to mislead readers.[31] In an appearance on NBC's Today with Matt Lauer, Media Matters senior fellow Paul Waldman responded that they had included "the full audio, the full transcript, [and] nothing was taken out of context."[32] In response to the controversy, Williams wrote an editorial for Time noting that in his opinion "the attacks on O'Reilly amounted to an effort to take what he said totally out of context in an attempt to brand him a racist by a liberal group that disagrees with much of his politics."[33]

See also

References

  1. ^ ""About Media Matters"". Media Matters for America. Retrieved November 29 2005. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  2. ^ Media Matters
  3. ^ MMfA has used the Government Accountability Office in make fact-checking articles. For example, 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 Hannity criticized media, Bush administration...
  4. ^ "Olbermann hosted authors of Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly" (Press release). Media Matters for America. 2006-05-01. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
  5. ^ "Olbermann named O'Reilly "Worst Person" for establishing "Hall of Shame" for media that "smear" him" (Press release). Media Matters for America. 2006-04-27. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
  6. ^ Barnes, Brooks; et al. (April 13, 2007). "Behind the Fall of Imus, A Digital Brush Fire". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2007-09-09. {{cite news}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help)
  7. ^ "If It's Sunday, It's Conservative". Media Matters for America. February 14, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-04.
  8. ^ Tabin, John (2006-02-21). "Garbage In, Garbage Out, Continued". AmSpec Blog. The American Spectator. Retrieved 2007-01-30.
  9. ^ "If It's Sunday, It's Still Conservative". Media Matters for America. April 4, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-04.
  10. ^ a b Third time's not the charm: Sunday-morning talk shows still imbalanced. Media Matters for America, July 20, 2006
  11. ^ "Media Watch: Sunday Morning Blues?". Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  12. ^ "Black and White and Re(a)d All Over: The Conservative Advantage in Syndicated Op-Ed Columnists". Media Matters for America. September 12, 2006. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
  13. ^ http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/09/30/EDLJSFN16.DTL
  14. ^ "Limbaugh: Service members who support U.S. withdrawal are "phony soldiers"". Media Matters. 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
  15. ^ Wehner, Peter (September 28, 2007). "Phony Controversy". The National Review. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
  16. ^ Media Matters - MEMO: Fact vs. Fiction in the Limbaugh "phony soldiers" controversy
  17. ^ "Colbert: "Hey, Media Matters, you want to end offensive speech? Then stop recording it for people who would be offended."". Retrieved 2008-01-09.
  18. ^ Howard, Adam (September 10, 2007). "Colbert on Why Media Matters Makes Life Hard for Limbaugh". AlterNet. Retrieved 2008-08-28.
  19. ^ a b "Misinformer of the Year: Bill O'Reilly of Fox News Channel". Media Matters for America. December 23, 2004. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  20. ^ "Misinformer of the Year: Chris Matthews of MSNBC". Media Matters for America. December 23, 2005. Retrieved 2007-08-14.
  21. ^ "Misinformer of the Year: ABC". Media Matters for America. December 22, 2006. Retrieved 2007-01-14.
  22. ^ "Sean Hannity: Media Matters' 2008 Misinformer of the Year". Media Matters for America. December 17, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-17.
  23. ^ "Glenn Beck: Media Matters' 2009 Misinformer of the Year". Media Matters for America. December 21, 2009. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
  24. ^ Rutenberg, Jim (May 3, 2004). "New Internet Site Turns Critical Eyes and Ears to the Right". New York Times. p. A21.
  25. ^ "AIM's Kincaid posted "letter" from Afghan ambassador thanking him for petition to extradite Newsweek's Isikoff". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  26. ^ "Reply from Cliff Kinciad". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  27. ^ "Kincaid denounced "false" Media Matters item but failed to point out a single falsehood". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  28. ^ "Buying Political Power". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  29. ^ Bauder, David (2007-09-26). "Bill O'Reilly Says He's Being Smeared". AP. Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  30. ^ "CNN Goes Over to the Dark Side". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  31. ^ "Media Matters and the Corrupt Press on the Run". Retrieved 2007-10-04.
  32. ^ "Media Matters' Waldman: "[I]f Bill O'Reilly got caught robbing a bank he would say he was taken out of context"". Retrieved 2007-09-26.
  33. ^ ""What Bill O'Reilly Really Told Me"". Retrieved 2007-10-03.
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