MRC “Tell The Truth!” 2004 Campaign Statement

June 18, 2004

The national liberal “news” media are participating in a campaign of partisan viciousness not seen since the days of Ronald Reagan, tossing any pretense of objectivity aside, distorting the truth, and simply refusing to report real news that doesn’t fit their political agenda.

This must stop. It’s time to demand that the news media “Tell the Truth!”

The country has been through a recession, and the worst terrorism attack in our history, and two wars – all since just 2001. And yet our economy is now booming. Ten straight months of growth. 1.4 million new jobs since August. The US economy over the past four quarters has grown faster than at any time in the past 20 years. All this and a massive tax cut, too.

And what of the War on Terrorism? We’ve toppled the terrorist regime in Kabul. We’ve ended the murderous regime of Saddam Hussein. Terrorists the world over are on the run. Or in prison. Or dead. The American homeland has been safe since 9-11.

Sure, things could be better. Things can always be better. But by any stretch this is a time to be optimistic. And yet you’d never know that reading the papers or watching the evening news. Day after day, night after night the news media question, denounce or just plain ignore the good news. They want higher taxes to fund massive new federal spending for more liberal experiments like socialized health care. They want America – and the world – to see our military as corrupt and barbaric. And they’ll denounce anyone or anything that stands in the way of that message.

According to a Pew Research Center for People and the Press poll of the national news media published this spring, the media themselves admit their bias. By a factor of 5-1 they label themselves as liberal over conservative. The public is on to this bias. By a factor of 2-1 Americans believe there is a leftist tilt to the news media. But many Americans don’t realize the extent to which the liberal media are slanting the news. 2004 is a critical year for America. Americans need to see exactly how the press is distorting the truth.

Today the MRC is announcing the launch of a massive $2.8 million “Tell the Truth!” campaign to reach 50 million Americans every week between now and the end of the year with the evidence of the “news” media’s leftist tilt.

The MRC is applying a vast amount of resources to the “Tell the Truth” campaign. From now until the end of the year the MRC will be monitoring virtually all news programming on television, both network and cable; monitoring all of the major newspapers, magazines and wire services; and monitoring assorted radio broadcasts as well. With the evidence in hand, the MRC will be publishing daily CyberAlerts through the Internet; a weekly “Worst of the Week” (“WOW”) fax report; regular “Media Reality Check” fax reports; the bi-weekly “Notable Quotables” and a number of in-depth Special Reports, like the 18-page Special Report documenting the hostility of the media to the very policies of Ronald Reagan that they today acknowledge were monumental achievements. As well, through the MRC’s Free Market Project we will be releasing four major studies this year documenting the media’s agenda against the food industry, in favor of higher taxes and greater environmental activism, and against tort reform.

The MRC will be torquing up the activities of its numerous websites and programs including www.MediaResearch.org, www.TimesWatch.org, and www.FreeMarketProject.org. to handle all of our material this year.

As part of the “Tell the Truth!” campaign, MRC analysts will participate in a sophisticated earned media campaign, confronting journalists directly with the evidence of their bias. There will be a paid component as well. The MRC will be placing full page ads around the country with the “Tell the Truth!” message as well as taking out billboards in as many of the top 50 media markets as possible. Finally, the MRC will be producing and distributing tens of thousands of bumper stickers, coffee mugs, pens, t-shirts and other assorted paraphernalia, all with the “Tell the Truth!” slogan attached.

For more than 17 years the Media Research Center – America’s Media Watchdog – has been documenting, exposing and neutralizing the left wing press. We don’t want a “conservative” news media. We want, and demand, truth. We want the news media to strive for objectivity at all times. We want balance. We want fairness.

Sincerely,

L. Brent Bozell III
Founder and President