Many media outlets — radio, television and print — regularly feature MRC guests on their programs, quote MRC spokespeople in their articles, and cite MRC research in their stories. Below is a sampling of MRC making news in the news media. Links are provided when available, and were active when posted.
NBC
Nightly News (excerpt)
March 31, 2003
O’Neill: "If the line defining patriotism is a fine one, then the fence the journalist walks is even narrower when opinions are so polarized. The NBC affiliate here in Savannah says its news is coverage you can count on. But balance, like bias, is in the eyes of the beholder. Kevin Brennan is the news director in this strong military town."
Kevin Brennan: "Our viewers are definitely more discerning and very vocal about what we cover."
O’Neill: "And if reporters become the news, as was the case with Peter Arnett, viewer response is certain. NBC was swamped with more than 8,000 e-mails, the vast majority negative.... Alleged liberal bias in the media is what the Media Research Center [video of Dickens watching TV] in Virginia looks for every day.
"Tim Graham, Media Research Center, Director of Media Analysis: "It seems that reporters are tougher on our leaders than they are tougher on the Iraqi leaders."
More on this topic
Slate.com
Press Box: Sacking Arnett for the Wrong Reason
Having opinions shouldn't be a firing offense. Credulous behavior, on the other hand … (excerpt)
By Jack Shafer
March 31, 2003
The shallowness of Arnett's reporting, no matter the bravery behind it, should be the issue. Last week, the conservative Media Research Center documented Arnett's remarkable willingness to parrot the propagandists. On the morning of March 26, he reported on NBC's Today program Iraqi Information Minister Said El Sahaf's claim that "the U.S. has started using cluster bombs in the Baghdad area" and repeated the claim an hour later.
That same morning, NBC Pentagon reporter Jim Miklaszewski dispelled that
possibility: "If you look at pictures, so far, outside of Baghdad, a cluster bomb would create a Swiss-cheese effect—thousands and thousands of holes in the target—and we don't see that quite yet."
See column
| More on this topic
WOND (NJ)
March 31, 2003
MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes discusses the battlefield departures of reporters Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera.
More on Arnett
| More on Rivera
WTFK (NC)
March 31, 2003
MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes discusses the battlefield departures of reporters Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera.
More on Arnett
| More on Rivera
Radio America
Behind the Headlines
March 31, 2003
MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes discusses the battlefield departures of reporters Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera.
More on Arnett
| More on Rivera
KPRZ (San Diego, CA)
Michael Law Show
March 31, 2003
MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes discusses the battlefield departures of reporters Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera.
More on Arnett
| More on Rivera
WROL-Boston, MA
Don Feder Show
March 31, 2003
MRC Director of Media Analysis Tim Graham discusses the battlefield departures of reporters Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera.
More on Arnett
| More on Rivera
Talk Radio Network
Behind the News
March 31, 2003
MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes discusses the battlefield departures of reporters Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera.
More on Arnett
| More on Rivera
Mark Bernier Show (syndicated)
March 31, 2003
MRC Director of Media Analysis Tim Graham discusses the battlefield departures of reporters Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera.
More on Arnett
| More on Rivera
WBSM (New Bedford, MA)
March 31, 2003
MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes discusses the battlefield departures of reporters Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera.
More on Arnett
| More on Rivera
American Family Radio
March 31, 2003
MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes discusses the battlefield departures of reporters Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera.
More on Arnett
| More on Rivera
KFRU-AM (Columbia, MO)
March 31, 2003
MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes discusses the battlefield departures of reporters Peter Arnett and Geraldo Rivera.
More on Arnett
| More on Rivera
CNBC
The News with Brian Williams (excerpt)
March 31, 2003 Monday
O’Neill: "If the line defining patriotism is a fine one, then the fence the journalist walks is even narrower when opinions are so polarized. The NBC affiliate here in Savannah says its news is coverage you can count on. But balance, like bias, is in the eyes of the beholder. Kevin Brennan is the news director in this strong military town."
Kevin Brennan: "Our viewers are definitely more discerning and very vocal about what we cover."
O’Neill: "And if reporters become the news, as was the case with Peter Arnett, viewer response is certain. NBC was swamped with more than 8,000 e-mails, the vast majority negative.... Alleged liberal bias in the media is what the Media Research Center [video of Dickens watching TV] in Virginia looks for every day.
"Tim Graham, Media Research Center, Director of Media Analysis: "It seems that reporters are tougher on our leaders than they are tougher on the Iraqi leaders."
More on this topic
Edmonton Journal (Canada)
"TV’s siege on hearts and minds: Bullets and bulletins: The war in Iraq is the most intimately reported conflict in history, turning viewers into 24-hour couch combatants. Never before have media images held so much potential to shape public opinion and political will. But will they?" by David Staples (excerpt)
March 30, 2003
Keeping watch for left-wing bias in the American media is the right-wing Media Research Center from Alexandria, Va.... This past week, the MRC scolded ABC’s anchor Peter Jennings for focusing on "U.S. failures, enemy propaganda and how the war has hurt Iraqi civilians."
More on this topic
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Bush tax plan will pay dividends (excerpt)
BYLINE: Stephen Moore; Moore is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and president of the Club for Growth.
March 30, 2003
It's not surprising that the liberal-biased media applauded the no vote on the tax plan. The folks at the indispensable Media Research Center find that "news" items on Bush's $725 billion tax relief plan have been running "at least 4 to 1" against the proposal. The media is not serving as a neutral judge of the Bush tax plan; they are serving as its executioner.
More on this topic
Scripps Howard News Service
"Bush tax plan will pay dividends," by Stephen Moore (excerpt)
March 27, 2003
It's not surprising that the liberal-biased media applauded the no vote on the tax plan. The folks at the indispensable Media Research Center find that "news" items on Bush's $725 billion tax relief plan have been running "at least 4 to 1" against the proposal. The media is not serving as a neutral judge of the Bush tax plan; they are serving as its executioner.
More on this topic
The New York Times
"A Nation at War: The News Media; Critics of Iraq War Say Lack of Scrutiny Helped Administration to Press Its Case,"
by Jim Rutenberg and Robin Toner (excerpt)
March 22, 2003
Critics of the war against Iraq are not reserving their anger exclusively for President Bush. Some also blame the news media, asserting that they failed to challenge the administration aggressively enough as it made a shaky case for war.
The Bush administration's assertion of a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda was an important part of its case for military action against Saddam Hussein, but that link was a matter of some dispute....
Still, a recent New York Times/CBS News Poll showed that nearly half of Americans said they believed that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the Sept. 11 attacks. A Knight Ridder poll taken in early January showed that half said they believed at least some of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11 were Iraqis. None were.
This critique is not universal; conservative media critics say some journalists have shown too much skepticism toward the administration. "When the president does well and his polls go up these people say, 'Obviously the press isn't doing a good enough job,"' said Timothy Graham, director of media analysis for the Media Research Center, a conservative monitor group....
See story
| More on this topic
Agence France Presse
"Invasion of Iraq triggers high-stakes battle between US networks," by Giles Hewitt (excerpt)
March 22, 2003
Even before the invasion was launched, the Media Research Center, a conservative group, had slammed ABC for
"channeling Iraqi propaganda" and "championing France and the UN over the US."
More on this topic
Dallas Morning News
"Critics question embedding of journalists in Iraq war," by Doug J. Swanson (excerpt)
March 23, 2003
From the conservative side, Rich Noyes of the Media Research Center said the embedding seems to be working. "It's been very good for viewers," he said. "I don't think we've had a situation where they're reporting things the military did not want reported."
More on this topic
Salem Radio Network
Mike Gallagher Show
March 20, 2003
MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes discusses media coverage of the Iraq war.
More on this topic
The Hotline
March 19, 2003
Media watchdogs "on the left and right" are looking "forsubtle and overt signs of journalistic bias." On the right, groups are watching to see if reporters "might show insufficient patriotism or undermine soldiers' resolve." On the left, groups are critiquing the media for "not showing enough skepticism over the case for war." The Media Research Center released a report 3/18 criticizing ABC News for "what it called liberal bias." The group said ABC was the "worst 'offender' among the networks for 'channeling Iraqi propaganda,' 'sanitizing radical protestors,' and 'championing France and the U.N. over the U.S." Meanwhile the liberal group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting said that news outlets "were paying inadequate attention to the potential civilian casualties" as well as "failing to ask tough questions of the administration" (Rutenberg, New York Times, 3/19).
More on this topic
Buffalo News (New York)
"Critics Say U.S. Media’s Coverage of Iraq Crisis Lacks Investigative Edge; Americans Appear Satisfied with the Reporting Leading up to the Expected War with Iraq. Journalism Experts Disagree," by Douglas Turner
March 17, 2003
An analyst for the conservative Media Research Center,
Rich Noyes, said most of the public is getting its information from cable news, whose performance is mixed. "CNN has distinguished itself as the voice of dissent," said Noyes.
He noted that Saddam Hussein’s regime ousted reporters from the Fox News organizations, widely regarded as a conservative pro-war voice. Noyes said Fox has been the most faithful in broadcasting "both sides of the debate."
To answer how well the public is being served, Noyes said, one "needs to know how well the public is taking advantage of the range of media that are available. If you use it all, cable, TV, newspapers, the Internet, you have information that is about as comprehensive as you can imagine."
More on this topic
Family News in Focus
March 7, 2003
MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes on Hearst's Helen Thomas.
More on this topic
WILE (Cambridge,OH)
John McDermott Show
March 6, 2003
MRC Director of Media Analysis Tim Graham on coverage of anti-war protests.
More on this topic
KERN (Bakersfield, CA)
Inga Barks Show
March 6, 2003
MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes
on lack of coverage of war supporters.
More on this topic
WRUF (Gainesville, FL)
Front Page on the Air
March 5, 2003
MRC Director of Media Analysis Tim Graham
on Dan Rather's interview of Saddam Hussein.
More on this topic
Family News in Focus
March 5, 2003
MRC Director of Media Analysis Tim Graham
on coverage of anti-war protests.
More on this topic
FOX News Radio
Alan Colmes Show
March 5, 2003
MRC President Brent Bozell on coverage of anti-war protests and Dan Rather's interview of Saddam Hussein.
More on these topics:
Media
Reality Check
Bozell's
News Column
FOX News Channel
The Big Report w/ Shepard Smith
March 4, 2003
MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes
on lack of coverage of war supporters.
More on this topic
KFAB (Omaha, NE)
March 4, 2003
MRC Director of Research Rich Noyes
on coverage of anti-war protests.
More on this topic
WWJC (Deluth, MN)
The Ron Hanson Show
March 3, 2003
MRC Director of Media Analysis Tim Graham
on Dan Rather's interview of Saddam Hussein.
