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.

The Jewish Press
"Grading TV’s War Coverage," by Jason Maoz, Senior Editor 
April 30, 2003

Due to pressing post-holiday obligations, the Monitor yields this week to the Media Research Center’s Brent Baker and Rich Noyes, who prepared the following summary of MRC’s assessment of war coverage by American television....

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KOA-Denver, CO
Mike Rosen Show
April 29, 2003

MRC Special Report: "Grading TV's War News; Fox News Channel and Embedded Reporters Excelled, While Peter Jennings and Peter Arnett Flunked"

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Washington Times
"Inside Politics," by Greg Pierce
April 28, 2003 
A 'whopper'

The New York Times "continues piling on Sen. Rick Santorum over recent remarks he made regarding gays," the Media Research Center reports in its Times Watch column.

"Besides reminding us Santorum is 'conservative' in nearly every paragraph, Adam Nagourney and Sheryl Gay Stolberg pen this whopper: 'Mr. Santorum, who has six children, led the Senate fight to ban the procedure opponents call late-term abortion.' Actually, that's just what the Times calls it, as recently as a March 12 editorial and a February 15 news story. [Stolberg herself used the term back in 1997.] What opponents really call it [and which the Times never will] is the more graphic and accurate 'partial-birth abortion.' "

See column

Chuck Harder Show
April 28, 2003

MRC Special Report: "Grading TV's War News; Fox News Channel and Embedded Reporters Excelled, While Peter Jennings and Peter Arnett Flunked"

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Human Events
April 28, 2003

ABC NEWS ANCHOR Peter Jennings flunked as a wartime anchor, says the Media Research Center. The late David Bloom of NBC was the best of the embedded reporters.

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Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)
"Monday Mutterings" by Tim Feran
April 28, 2003
Fox News' Iraq War Coverage Uses Elements of Talk Radio

The biggest laugh of all came last week when the Washington-based Media Research Center, a conservative group that hounds television for any sign of liberal bias, harrumphed that Peter Jennings and ABC provided terribly biased coverage.

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)
TV Notes
April 26, 2003 
Rather rates

A conservative media watchdog has given Dan Rather a better grade for his war coverage than Fox News Channel's.

The veteran CBS anchorman has been a frequent target of the Washington-based Media Research Center, which keeps an eye out for any signs of liberal bias on television. But the group gave Rather a B-plus for his war work, while Fox News got a B. "This is just on the war," Rich Noyes, the organization's research director, said. "It's not a lifetime achievement award."

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The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY) 
"Owners to Get All Clear from FCC," by William LaRue
April 26, 2003
Koppel gets low mark

ABC "Nightline" anchor Ted Koppel was among the "worst" TV reporters who covered the war with Iraq, according to The Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group. It ranked the late David Bloom, of NBC, and Walter Rodgers, of CNN, among the best.

In a news release, the MRC didn't explain its rationale for giving a low grade to Koppel, a 1960 graduate of Syracuse University. But the group's president, Brent Bozell , says it similarly gave ABC's Peter Jennings an "F" because the anchor "couldn't seem to find any merit to American military or foreign policy."

Also getting the thumbs-down from MRC were Richard Engel, of ABC, and Peter Arnett , who reported for NBC and MSNBC until he was fired for comments to Iraqi TV.

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Fox News Channel
The O’Reilly Factor
April 25, 2003

Personal Story Segment: Interview With Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, Medical Research Center's Tim Graham

O'REILLY: Mr. Turner also called Fox News executives warmongers. Now my take on this is that Mr. Turner is extremely frustrated because Americans are watching us instead of his operation, but, as always, I could be wrong. With us now here in Boston, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and, from Washington, Tim Graham the director of media analysis at the Media Research Center, a conservative group. OK, Tim. We'll start with you. How do you see the Turner situation?

TIM GRAHAM, MEDIA RESEARCH CENTER: Well, obviously this is a guy who doesn't know good journalism. This is a guy who put Peter Jennings -- or put Peter Arnett in Baghdad in 1991 to act as a sock puppet for Saddam Hussein. This is a guy who did personal interviews with Fidel Castro that were like a shoe-polish session. This is a guy who did a documentary on the Soviet Union in the 1980s that was so positive that the Soviet Union toned it down when they rebroadcast it. So the idea that this guy knows what good, quality journalism is, and he knows it's not on Fox, it's on anything that he has ever been responsible for, really is a bit of a joke.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pennsylvania)
"GOP Colleagues Put Heat on Santorum; But Conservatives Back Remarks on Gays," by Ann McFeatters
April 25, 2003

The uproar over Sen. Rick Santorum's public remarks about homosexuals has taken on a bipartisan cast, as several Republican senators criticized him yesterday. But various conservative activists were simultaneously leaping to the Pennsylvania Republican's defense.

....Still, conservatives rushed yesterday to Santorum's defense. A street theater protest outside Santorum's office yesterday -- organized by Public Advocate of the United States of America, a self-described "pro-family group" in northern Virginia -- contended that he was being made a victim of "thought patrol police."

Brent Bozell, a conservative who heads a group called the Media Research Center, argued that the Santorum flap was fed by "the liberal media," showing "contempt for free speech and open debate on crucial social issues."

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Washington Times
"Inside Politics," by Greg Pierce
April 25, 2003
Double standard

"The liberal media are once again displaying a blatant double standard in covering the remarks of liberal and conservative politicians," L. Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center, said in a prepared statement yesterday.

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CNBC
Capital Report
BBC director charges US media with lack of impartiality in its coverage of the war in Iraq
April 25, 2003

GLORIA BORGER: But right now, we're going to have a guest who thinks the BBC is right on the mark. John MacArthur is the publisher of Harper's Magazine. He also wrote the book, "Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War." Thanks very much for being with us, John. Why do you think he's right?

JOHN MacARTHUR (Harper's Magazine): Well, on the most basic level, he's right because cable networks, like MSNBC and CNN and Fox News, borrowed the White House slogan for the war, Iraqi -- Operation Iraqi Freedom, and made it their logo for the war. So on that most basic level, they were parroting the government line. But the BBC gentleman misses the larger point, which is that the general broadcast networks, like CBS, were also very pro-military, very pro-war, as it were. The Media Research Center, which is a right-wing pro-war watchdog group, or that's what they call themselves, gave CBS and Dan Rather its highest grade for war coverage, a B-plus, higher even than Fox, which, after all, is not really a news network. It's more of a three-win -- a three-ring circus. But when you see Dan Rather, who is supposedly this terrible liberal, terrible left-winger, who's always abusing powerful -- the powerful and making trouble, rated as the most patriotic anchorman, you -- you -- you can see why Mr. Dyke is upset.

The Arizona Republic
"Nation lavishes lopsided attention on female POWs," by Louie Gilot
April 25, 2003

Former prisoner of war Spc. Shoshana Johnson has been offered a scholarship to a prestigious culinary school, her own bakery, and is being courted by Oprah Winfrey and NBC's Stone Phillips. The other rescued woman, Pfc. Jessica Lynch, was on the cover of People and Newsweek and had to ask well-wishers to stop sending gifts to her crowded hospital room.

And what about the male POWs from Fort Bliss?....these men have not received nearly as much attention as their female counterparts....

Media experts and sociologists said women POW stories are more exciting because they are rare....Some experts think the public may actually be more sympathetic to women who are in dangerous situations. "Our chivalrous intentions kick in," said Tim Graham, director of media analysis for the conservative Media Research Center in Washington, D.C.

Graham also said media outlets use female-friendly stories to attract female readers, a lucrative demographic for their advertisers. Two dominant stories in the past several weeks were the first war death of a female Native American soldier, Tuba City's Pfc. Lori Piestewa, and the homicide of Califonia's Lacy Peterson, an expectant mother.

See story

The Hotline
Santorum: GOP "Light" Criticize Santorum
April 25, 2003

If it Weren't for the Media, There'd Be No Hub-Bub?

Media Research Center pres. Brent Bozell, on Santorum coverage: "Gay-left pressure groups like the Human Rights Campaign have shown that they believe that traditional religious values are obscene and should not be expressed by any public official. In other words, they are censors, out to blacklist any conservative who dares condemn homosexual behavior. They are trying to impose a religious test for public office, and the media are aiding this campaign at their request. For the media, homosexuality isn't a desirable topic for public debate. It's a topic that comes up only when it's time to tell conservatives to shut up" (release, 4/24).

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St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
"Pride and prejudice; Can TV news cover a war without constantly waving the flag? Should we expect it to?" by Eric Deggans
April 25, 2003

The Peter in [ABC News spokesman Jeffrey] Schneider’s sentence is ABC anchor Peter Jennings. For years, Jennings has been criticized by advocacy groups (and by Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales) who claim his reports reveal a liberally pro Arab or antiwar bias. One item, featured on the Media Research Center Web site, denounces Jennings for failing to describe U.S. forces as liberators of Iraq, saying he often attributes the phrase to others or many. Another item criticized ABC News for making "sure viewers understood that Arab media see the U.S. as occupiers of Iraq."

"What you get is a withering cynicism about America and its motives," said Tim Graham, director of media analysis for the MRC, a group that often criticizes mainstream media outlets regarding signs of liberal bias. "That's not necessarily balanced journalism."

...."Conservatives are worried . . . can the media undermine public support for the war and lead us down a path where the war is lost?" Graham said. "Basically, the right is concerned that the media's going to sour everyone on the war and the left is concerned the media won't sour anyone on it."

See column

MSNBC 
MSNBC Reports with Joe Scarbourgh
April 25, 2003

Coverage of Senator Rick Santorum’s comments on a pending Supreme Court case regarding a Texas sodomy law.

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WBAP-Dallas, TX
April 25, 2003

MRC Special Report: "Grading TV's War News; Fox News Channel and Embedded Reporters Excelled, While Peter Jennings and Peter Arnett Flunked"

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Radio America 
Newsbeat
April 25, 2003

MRC Special Report: "Grading TV's War News; Fox News Channel and Embedded Reporters Excelled, While Peter Jennings and Peter Arnett Flunked"

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USA Radio 
Point of View
April 25, 2003

MRC Special Report: "Grading TV's War News; Fox News Channel and Embedded Reporters Excelled, While Peter Jennings and Peter Arnett Flunked"

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WROL-Boston, MA
Don Feder Show
April 25, 2003

MRC Special Report: "Grading TV's War News; Fox News Channel and Embedded Reporters Excelled, While Peter Jennings and Peter Arnett Flunked"

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WTKF-Morehead City, NJ
April 25, 2003

MRC Special Report: "Grading TV's War News; Fox News Channel and Embedded Reporters Excelled, While Peter Jennings and Peter Arnett Flunked"

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WBAP-Dallas, TX
April 25, 2003

MRC Special Report: "Grading TV's War News; Fox News Channel and Embedded Reporters Excelled, While Peter Jennings and Peter Arnett Flunked"

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Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul)
TV notebook 
April 25, 2003

A conservative media watchdog group has given Dan Rather a better grade for his war coverage than Fox News Channel. The veteran CBS anchorman has been a frequent target of the Washington based Media Research Center, which keeps an eye out for any signs of liberal bias on television. But the group gave Rather a B plus for his war work, while Fox News got a B. "This is just on the war," said Rich Noyes, the organization s research director. "It s not a lifetime achievement award."

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The Hotline
Media Monitor
A Low-Grade Affair
April 24, 2003

The Media Research Center has released its "report card" for network war coverage, including both networks and its anchors... Media Research Center Dir. Richard Noyes: "Embedded reporters excelled when they acted as the viewers' eyes and ears in Iraq. The late David Bloom of NBC, in his innovative Bloommobile, was the star of the group. ... On the other hand, Fox's Geraldo Rivera embarrassed himself and his network by stupidly revealing information that jeopardized American lives.... His gaffe was the low-point of FNC's otherwise exemplary coverage" (release, 4/23). More Noyes, on Rather's high marks: "This is just on the war. It's not a lifetime achievement award" (AP, 4/24).

More on this topic

Washington Times
"Inside Politics," by Greg Pierce
April 24, 2003
Saddam the feminist

"On the one hand, Saddam Hussein's 'regime brutalized women' with 'rape, torture, even beheadings,' but on the up side, reporter Mike Taibbi said on Tuesday's 'NBC Nightly News,' Saddam was a feminist pioneer in the Middle East since 'his secular government also gave women more rights than their counterparts in many other Islamic countries,' " the Media Research Center reports.

"Following the media habit in the early 1990s of lamenting the negative impact of the fall of communism on women because of the loss of the 'safety net,' including day care service and abortion access, NBC News seems to be first out of the box in fondly recalling the wonders Hussein bestowed upon women at least those he did not have raped, tortured or beheaded a feminist nirvana in the sand that could soon end, thanks to Shi'ite religious fervor unleashed by the U.S. invasion," the MRC's Brent Baker writes at www.mediaresearch.org.

Fort Worth Star Telegram (Texas)
People Watch
April 24, 2003

Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog that keeps an eye out for any signs of liberal bias on TV, has given Dan Rather a better grade for his war coverage than Fox News Channel. Rather, a frequent target of the group, got a B-plus for his war work; Fox News got a B, mainly for the work of Geraldo Rivera.

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Roanoke Times & World News (Roanoke, VA)
"Beware the Anti-American Propagandists" by Elinor D. Wright
April 24, 2003

The claim by some media anchors, politicians and protesters that anti-Americanism abroad and at home is caused by American arrogance, selfishness, etc., is truly preposterous and insulting. As an immigrant from a former National Socialist dictatorship, I know exactly what America is and has been for centuries in the minds of oppressed, mistreated people around the world.

...There are many erosive groups in our country today who steadily chip away at the very foundation of our freedom and laws. Groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America and the Progressive Caucus are part of the problem. That they have been elected to Congress establishes the naivete of many citizens. The Media Research Center in Arlington in the past has also written on this subject.

Newsday (New York)
"They'd Rather Watch CBS' Coverage," by Associated Press
April 24, 2003

A conservative media watchdog has given Dan Rather a better grade for his war coverage than it gave Fox News Channel.

The veteran CBS anchorman has been a frequent target of the Washington-based Media Research Center, which keeps an eye out for any signs of liberal bias on television. But the group gave Rather a B-plus for his war work, while Fox News got a B. "This is just on the war," Rich Noyes, the organization's research director, said yesterday. "It's not a lifetime achievement award."

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Philadelphia Daily News
"Critics: Dan covered war Rather well," by Howard Gensler
April 24, 2003

Dan Rather has been a frequent target of the Washington-based Media Research Center, which keeps an eye out (the right one) for any signs of liberal bias on television, but the group gave Rather a surprisingly high grade of B-plus for his recent coverage of the war in Iraq.

Conservative Fox News only got a B. But Rather shouldn't get carried away yet. "This is just on the war," Rich Noyes, the MRC's research director, said yesterday. "It's not a lifetime-achievement award."

More on this topic

KTSA-San Antonio, TX 
April 24, 2003 
ABC News's war coverage 

WLEI-New York, NY 
April 24, 2003 
MRC Special Report, "Grading TV's War News"

Michael Medved Show 
April 24, 2003
MRC Special Report, "Grading TV's War News"

WOND-Atlantic City, NJ 
April 24, 2003
MRC Special Report, "Grading TV's War News"

WAIC-Springfield, MA 
April 24, 2003 
MRC Special Report, "Grading TV's War News"

WRUF-Gainesville, FL 
Front Page on the Air
April 24, 2003 
MRC Special Report, "Grading TV's War News"

MetroNews Radio Network
April 24, 2003 
MRC Special Report, "Grading TV's War News"

Radio America
Dateline Washington
April 24, 2003

MRC Special Report: "Grading TV's War News; Fox News Channel and Embedded Reporters Excelled, While Peter Jennings and Peter Arnett Flunked"

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Ken Hamblin Show
April 24, 2003

MRC Special Report: "Grading TV's War News; Fox News Channel and Embedded Reporters Excelled, While Peter Jennings and Peter Arnett Flunked"

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WAPI-Birmingham, AL 
April 24, 2003

MRC Special Report: "Grading TV's War News; Fox News Channel and Embedded Reporters Excelled, While Peter Jennings and Peter Arnett Flunked"

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Lucianne.com
Short Cuts
April 24, 2003

Decompression Time: For those who have spent the last six weeks living, virtually, inside our TV sets, it's time to kick back and figure out exactly what we saw. Thanks to the amazing eyeballs at the Media Research Center who watch 24/7 even when there is no war, we have this excellent report.

National Review Online
The Corner
April 24, 2003

MORE GALLOWAY [Jonah Goldberg]
From the Media Research Center.

San Francisco Chronicle
"Conservative group rates Dan Rather's war coverage ahead of Fox News Channel"
April 24, 2003

A conservative media watchdog has given Dan Rather a better grade for his war coverage than Fox News Channel. The veteran CBS anchorman has been a frequent target of the Washington based Media Research Center, which keeps an eye out for any signs of liberal bias on television. But the group gave Rather a B plus for his war work, while Fox News got a B. This is just on the war, Rich Noyes, the organization research director, said Wednesday. It not a lifetime achievement award."

See story

Fox News Network
The O'Reilly Factor
April 23, 2003

O'REILLY: In the "Personal Story" segment tonight, Bill Moyers versus Dick Cheney versus some media watchdogs. On PBS last week, Moyers called the vice president the poster boy for the military industrial complex, made up of those who "call for war with all of the ferocity of noncombatants and then turn around and feed on the corpse of war." I mean, this is typical Moyers stuff. He's been putting this out for years. Why then are some conservatives so upset?...

BRENT BOZELL, MEDIA RESEARCH CENTER: Well, he has, but Mr. O'Rilley, I don't care who it is. I consider the vice president of the United States to be a terrific man and a great patriot. And when somebody suggests that he's calling for us to go to war so that he could feed on the corpse of Iraq's, is to me, a -- it is beyond despicable. It is heinous. And the worst thing about it is that I paid for it with my tax money.

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The Associated Press
"Conservative group rates Dan Rather's war coverage ahead of Fox News Channel"
April 23, 2003

A conservative media watchdog has given Dan Rather a better grade for his war coverage than Fox News Channel. The veteran CBS anchorman has been a frequent target of the Washington-based Media Research Center, which keeps an eye out for any signs of liberal bias on television. But the group gave Rather a B-plus for his war work, while Fox News got a B. "This is just on the war," Rich Noyes, the organization's research director, said Wednesday. "It's not a lifetime achievement award."

More on this topic

Laura Ingraham Show
April 23, 2003

MRC Special Report, "Grading TV's War News"

The News & Observer (North Carolina)
"Conservative media group praises Rather for war coverage" by AP
April 23, 2003

A conservative media watchdog has given Dan Rather a better grade for his war coverage than Fox News Channel. The veteran CBS anchorman has been a frequent target of the Washington based Media Research Center, which keeps an eye out for any signs of liberal bias on television. But the group gave Rather a B plus for his war work, while Fox News got a B. "This is just on the war," Rich Noyes, the organization research director, said Wednesday. "It is not a lifetime achievement award."

See story

National Review Online
The Corner
April 22, 2003

IF ONLY THE MEDIA RESEARCH CENTER WERE THE ONION [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

Latest catch: The setback for women the Coalition caused in Iraq, courtesy of NBC: On the one hand, Saddam Hussein's "regime brutalized women" with "rape, torture, even beheadings," but on the up side, reporter Mike Taibbi contended on Tuesday's NBC Nightly News, Hussein was a feminist pioneer in the Middle East since "his secular government also gave women more rights than their counterparts in many other Islamic countries."

Following the media habit in the early 1990s of lamenting the negative impact of the fall of communism on women because of the loss of the "safety net," including day care service and abortion access, NBC News seems to be first out of the box in fondly recalling the wonders Hussein bestowed upon women -- at least those he did not have raped, tortured or beheaded -- a feminist nirvana in the sand that could soon end thanks to Shiite religious fervor unleashed by the U.S. invasion.

Taibbi's story, based around the fears of a Western-dressed woman who runs an Iraqi telecommunications firm, also aired on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Taibbi failed to address the wealthy woman's complicity or ties to the Ba'ath party, a connection or approval that must exist at some level given her high position and wealth.

NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw teased at the top of his April 22 program: "The women of Iraq: With Saddam out of power why are some worried a new government could set them back?"

Read the transcript (should be up shortly) here.
Posted at 10:13 AM

Media Life Magazine
News Shorts
Conservative group gives Dan Rather high marks
April 21, 2003

Is Fox News Channel losing its status as a darling of the right? First NBC’s Tom Brokaw, not Shepard Smith or Brit Hume, was granted the first wartime interview with President Bush. And now a conservative media group has rated Dan Rather higher than Fox for his war coverage. Basing its assessment on the unabashedly conservative standard of how positively news outlets portrayed the U.S. war effort, the Media Research Center gave Rather's coverage of the war in Iraq a B-plus to Fox News’ B. The group, which exists to combat "liberal bias" in the press, said Fox News would have gotten an A if Geraldo Rivera hadn’t gotten himself booted from Iraq for compromising the security of U.S. forces. Fox’s Hume got the only A given out to a news anchor.

See story

Daily Telegraph (London)
"CNN's secret news agenda with Saddam regime," by Tom Leonard
April 18, 2003

Journalists love to complain about the stories that never get used but Eason Jordan, the chief news executive of CNN, may now be regretting that he ever revealed some of the contents of his network's spike. In an opinion piece for the New York Times last Friday, Jordan admitted that over the past 12 years CNN had buried a series of deeply damaging stories about the brutality of Saddam Hussein's regime....

Had he anticipated the barrage of abuse in the American media that has greeted his mea culpa perhaps he might have kept them bottled up a bit longer. Rival journalists were dumbfounded as to why he had said anything at all, while academics and commentators accused Jordan of compromising CNN's journalistic mission simply so the network could continue to report from Iraq. "If accurate reporting from Iraq was impossible, why was access to this dictatorship so important in the first place?" asked Rich Noyes of the conservative Media Research Center. Another critic speculated that he must have had a cosy relationship with Uday if he was willing to tell him of his assassination plans. Others wanted to know whether any other unpleasant regimes were getting the same kid gloves treatment. Some however have praised Jordan's "courage" and "honesty".

Washington Times
"Inside Politics," by Greg Pierce
April 18, 2003

'McCarthyism' returns 
"ABC News on Wednesday night raised the specter of McCarthyism and blacklists in condemning how some have dared to criticize the antiwar views of celebrities, as if celebrities must be accorded the right to pontificate without anyone having the right to say anything adverse about those views," the Media Research Center's Brent Baker writes at www.mediaresearch.org.

"'World News Tonight' anchor Peter Jennings previewed the story by claiming celebrities are being 'punished' somehow: 'When we come back this evening, being against the war and in show business. And the people who want to punish you for that.'

See column | More on this topic

Talk Radio Countdown
April 18, 2003

Washington Times
"Aiding freedom's enemies," by Rich Noyes
April 17, 2003

See if any of this sounds familiar: An oppressive dictator who's an international pariah; a totalitarian regime with an abysmal human-rights record; secret police who harass and imprison local journalists; and the ubiquitous presence of CNN — cozily ensconced in the capital, blandly repeating the government's pronouncements, while doing little to highlight the plight of repressed citizens.

Thinking of Iraq under Saddam Hussein? How about Fidel Castro's Cuba, the only communist dictatorship in the Western Hemisphere. In 1997, CNN became the first U.S.-based news organization with a fulltime news bureau in Cuba in nearly 30 years. As an independent news organization, CNN had a chance to show Americans the reality of Mr. Castro's dictatorship. On her first day, incoming Havana bureau chief Lucia Newman promised viewers that "we will be given total freedom to do what we want and to work without prior censorship."

....CNN's presence in Cuba could have bolstered local reporters. CNN could have used its unique bureau to dig out stories that revealed the brutal nature of the regime. CNN could have embarrassed Mr. Castro by frequently demanding access to imprisoned dissidents. But rather than exposing Mr. Castro, CNN gave him an international platform.

Given the awfulness of the secrets we now know CNN was hiding for Saddam, it's fair to ask whether CNN is doing the same for Fidel.

See op-ed | More on this topic

New York Times
"Cable's War Coverage Suggests a New 'Fox Effect' on Television," by Jim Rutenberg
April 16, 2003

...MSNBC, which is ranked third among cable news channels, hired [Michael Savage and Joe Scarborough] shortly before the war in Iraq, saying it sought better political balance in its programming. But others in the industry say the moves are the most visible sign of a phenomenon they call "the Fox effect."...

"After Sept. 11 the country wants more optimism and benefit of the doubt," Mr. Sorenson said. "It's about being positive as opposed to being negative. If it ends up negative, so be it. But a big criticism of the mainstream press is that the beginning point is negative: `On Day 2, we're in a quagmire.' "

MSNBC's programming moves were welcomed by L. Brent Bozell III, founder of the Media Research Center, a conservative media analysis group. "What Fox is doing, and frankly what MSNBC is also declaring by its product, is that one can be unabashedly patriotic and be a good news journalist at the same time," Mr. Bozell said.

See story

Newsday (New York)
"Times Publisher Defends Paper's War Coverage," by James T. Madore, Tania Padgett
April 16, 2003

The publisher of The New York Times yesterday vowed that it would not be "cowed" by critics of the daily newspaper's reporting and commentary on the war with Iraq.

Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., speaking at a meeting of company shareholders, said "this great organization will never be cowed by attempts to demean our journalism and our good name." The third-largest U.S. paper, considered one of the most influential, will continue to report the news "without fear or favor," he said, quoting a century-old editorial from the Times.

Sulzberger's defense was somewhat unusual given that the paper often is the target of criticism to which he doesn't publicly respond. Still, supporters of the war, media watchdogs and others have blasted the Times for allegedly casting doubt in articles and headlines about the United States' ability to win a quick victory against Saddam Hussein's regime....

However, conservative think tanks such as Accuracy in Media and the Media Research Center have targeted The New York Times, accusing it of having an "anti-war bias."

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Chattanooga Times Free Press
"False media prophets," by Cal Thomas
April 16, 2003

When the Berlin Wall fell and Eastern Europe escaped from the shackles of communism, I wrote that we must not forget the enablers, apologists and other "fellow travelers" who helped sustain communism's grip on a sizable portion of humanity for much of the 20th century. I suggested that a "cultural war crimes tribunal" be convened, at which people from academia, the media, government and the clergy who were wrong in their assessment of communism would be forced to confront their mistakes. While not wishing to deprive anyone of his or her right to be wrong, it wouldn't hurt for these people to be held accountable....

National Review Online and the Media Research Center have accumulated some of the predictions. In light of developments, they make for hilarious reading - better than a Chinese fortune cookie or the horoscopes.

This column also appeared in the Sun-Sentinel (Florida) on April 16, 2003 as "Prophets of Doom Should Be Accountable"

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KABC-Los Angeles, CA 
April 16, 2003

Daily Press (Newport News, VA)
"Antiwar People Just Can't Be Still," by Kathleen Parker
April 15, 2003

What was that whimpering sound? Oh that. It's just the "Yes, but" crowd formerly known as the "anti-war pundits." Ignore them.

Saddam's statue had barely hit the ground in central Baghdad before America's armchair doomsayers began harrumphing a new caveat in which to couch this turn of events. One might almost think they didn't want Saddam to fall....

The media are having a little more fun. The conservative Media Research Center, which monitors liberal slant in the media, quickly posted a special "Gloat and Quote" edition, showcasing the predictions and news analyses proved ridiculous by recent events. Various bloggers and Web sites, including National Review Online and Andrew Sullivan, did the same, providing amusing anecdotes for dull parties.

This column also appeared in the Orlando Sentinel (Florida) as "Iraqi Liberation Tastes like Crow to Antiwar Crowd," on April 13, 2003

More on this topic

Augusta Chronicle (Georgia)
"CNN Covers up Torture; Betrays Viewers, Journalism," by Michael Reagan
April 15, 2003

One of Rush Limbaugh's listeners wondered how many lives might have been saved if the press had told the truth about the torture in Iraq. I wonder too, especially after CNN boss Eason Jordon confessed that for some 12 years he covered up the fact that Saddam Hussein was a murderous "maniac" whose goons regularly tortured not only Iraqi citizens but even his own Baghdad bureau CNN employees.

The incidences of torture he covered up simply boggle the mind....As frightening as this story is, even more frightening is the thought that this network and other liberal dominated news media are covering up similar horrors elsewhere.

We know that CNN, for one, has kowtowed to Fidel Castro, whose own torture chambers were recently described in terrible detail in a State Department human rights report.

The Media Research Center analysts reviewed all 212 stories about the Cuban government or Cuban life that were presented on CNN's prime time news programs from March 17, 1997, the date the Havana bureau was established, through March 17, 2002. That analysis found that instead of exposing the totalitarian regime that runs Cuba, "CNN has allowed itself to become just another component of Fidel Castro's propaganda just as it had in the case of Iraq."

More on this topic

Washington Times
"Inside Politics," by Greg Pierce
April 14, 2003

Garofalo's pledge

"Time for Janeane Garofalo's comeuppance?" the Media Research Center's Brent Baker asks at www.mediaresearch.org.

"Will Garofalo follow through on her promise, made to Fox's Bill O'Reilly, that if she is proven wrong and Iraqis welcome U.S. troops who find stores of weapons of mass destruction, 'I will go to the White House on my knees on cut glass and say, hey, you were right, I shouldn't have doubted you.'

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PR Week
"Al-Sahaf Charade Prompts Ethical Questions for Press," by Matthew Creamer 
April 14, 2003

As the voice of Iraqi officialdom and the link between the Hussein regime and the outside world, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf has been the face of the Iraqi wartime PR effort.

But al-Sahaf's apocalyptic rhetoric bespeaking the inevitable doom of American and British invaders became a story itself. With bombs literally bursting in the background of his press conferences, and coalition troops moving on Baghdad, the information minister remained resolute in his promises of the defeat of coalition forces -- much to the bemusement of Western reporters. 'In the last few days, it's turned into a joke -- into a Saturday Night Live skit,' said Tim Graham, director of media analysis at the Media Research Center.

Windsor Star (Canada)
"War critics got it wrong," by Deroy Murdock
April 14, 2003

Critics of Operation Iraqi Freedom have enough egg on their faces to bake a souffle worthy of a Paris bistro. At this writing, Saddam Hussein's tattered regime has not surrendered. Nonetheless, the Coalition's stunning progress belies the impending doom that antiwar elements predicted.

Dams exploding on the Euphrates River. Refugees teeming on the Jordanian frontier. SCUD missiles raining on Tel Aviv. Terrorists blasting American targets everywhere. Anti-warriors offered glimpses of Armageddon.

To date, none has transpired. Here are some who got it wrong:

* "The United States does not have the military means to take over Baghdad," former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter told France's Radio TSF.

"The United States is going to leave Iraq with its tail between its legs, defeated." As the Media Research Center notes, CBS's Lesley Stahl asked a veteran on March 26: "You fought in Vietnam. Are you getting any feelings of deja vu?" Rather than spend 20 years avoiding Hanoi, American GIs spent 19 days rolling from the border to Baghdad's Al-Sajoud Palace, whereupon they enjoyed Hussein's gold-plated plumbing.

This column also appeared in the Edmonton Journal (Canada) as "CNN assailed for silence over Saddam horrors" on April 20, 2003

KOGO - San Francisco, CA
April 14, 2003
Media coverage of war

St. Louis Post Dispatch
"Criticism from the right," by Michael D. Sorkin
April 13, 2003

The battlefield isn't the only place journalists are under fire. Back home, news critics are poring over every word reported from Iraq. And they don't like a lot of what they see.

... Supporters of the war can be found and heard on their Web sites: mediaresearchcenter.com; aim.org; andrewsullivan.com; theamericanprowler.org; nationalreview.com; opinionjournal.com; weeklystandard.com; and freerepublic.com among others.

Some of them say coverage of the Iraqi war is too negative. Especially, they say, in light of the relatively easy collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime....

"I find it appalling when Ted Koppel goes on and says: 'We'll try to give you the truth,'" Graham says of the ABC Nightline correspondent.... Media Research was founded in 1987 by Brent Bozell, a self-described right-winger whose organization bills itself as the largest conservative media watchdog group in the country. It has taped and transcribed some 20,000 news reports for the purpose of issuing daily alerts "documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias."...

See story

Philadelphia Inquirer
"Fox leads cable ratings; Covering the war with an optimistic, patriotic view is winning viewers," by Larry Eichel
April 13, 2003

One night last week, Fox News Channel ran a story looking at how television news coverage of the war in Iraq differs from country to country. "Though there is only one war," concluded reporter Molly de Ramel, "people are not seeing it the same way."

That applies in this country as well. To some degree, what you've seen depends on which channel you've been watching.

And throughout this war, a lot of people have been watching Fox News. With its optimistic, patriotic, entertaining, sometimes cheeky approach -- and what's widely seen as a right-of-center tilt -- it's been winning the ratings battle with cable-news rivals CNN and MSNBC.... Brent Baker, vice president of the conservative Media Research Center in Alexandria, Va., likes Fox's conservative bent. But along with other analysts, he thinks the channel's appeal goes beyond politics.

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Baltimore Sun
"Media in Iraq dances uneasily on ever_shifting sands of battle," by David Folkenflik
April 13, 2003

Perhaps more than anything else, the coverage of the war in Iraq reflects the near-complete collapse of time. The marriage of 24-hour-a-day news channels with technology's new lightning pace has put immediacy within the media's grasp as never before....

Late last week, the conservative Media Research Center issued a release titled "Special Gloat and Quote Edition," crowing about seeming media missteps in covering the lead-up to the invasion and the war itself.

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Washington Times
"Television, newspapers wrong on war in Iraq,"
by James G. Lakely
April 13, 2003 - front page

Television screens, newspapers and magazines across the globe this week featured images of a joyously liberated Baghdad.

Iraqis danced in the streets, kissed the cheeks of coalition soldiers, threw flowers in the path of tanks and cheered as U.S. Marines helped bring down a statue of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein.

It was a scenario wholly contrary to a future many of those very same media outlets predicted just days before...

Brent Baker, vice president for research and publications for the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog group, said such analysis was rampant because reporters began to believe their own negative reporting — giving virtually no weight to explanations that a single day of battlefield difficulties did not constitute a failed plan.

"I think the news media love to see failure," said Mr. Baker. "In the months leading up to the war, liberal opponents said it would be awful, and that the Iraqis wouldn't love us, and there would be blood in the streets.

"So when the actual war started, they actually believed their own fear-mongering," he said. "When anything went even a little bit wrong, they said, 'Aha. We were right.' But that kind of negative reporting couldn't last long because reality outran it."

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New York Post
"Fury over CNN Big's Cover-Up,"
by Michael Starr and Deborah Orin
April 12, 2003

CNN exec Eason Jordan's stunning admission that he withheld information about Saddam Hussein's atrocities drew a scathing response yesterday from media watchdogs and Iraqi opposition groups.

Jordan, CNN's news chief, wrote an op-ed piece in yesterday's New York Times about horrors he learned of -- but didn't report --when he visited Baghdad "to lobby the government to keep CNN's Baghdad bureau open and to arrange interviews with Iraqi leaders."

"CNN was clearly trading truth for access and it's very improper to do that," said Brent Baker, vice president of the Media Resource [sic] Center.

See article | More on this topic and Press Release

Washington Times
"CNN chief stands by Iraq omissions," by Jennifer Harper
April 12, 2003

CNN's chief news executive Eason Jordan yesterday disclosed that his network withheld details of Saddam Hussein's brutality from its coverage to protect CNN employees. Alarming facts about secret police, abductions, beatings, dismemberment and assassinations under the Iraqi dictator were not reported to the public, Mr. Jordan wrote, "because doing so would have jeopardized Iraqis, particularly those on our Baghdad staff."

... Rich Noyes, director of research at the conservative Media Research Center, said that "Jordan now admits that CNN kept many of Saddam's secrets. "Have other networks also censored their own tales of Saddam's evil?" he asked. "If accurate reporting from Iraq was impossible, why was access to this dictatorship so important in the first place? And what truths about the thugs who run other totalitarian states — like North Korea, Cuba and Syria — are fearful and/or access-hungry reporters hiding from the American public?" Mr. Noyes said.

See story | More on this topic and Press Release

World Magazine
"Peter's pence; No one should be surprised at Peter Arnett's gullibility and irresponsibility," by Bob Jones 
April 12, 2003

Despite their reverence for his views, however, even some members of the mainstream media thought Mr. Arnett had gone too far this time. Left-leaning Slate magazine accused him of "advanced stupidity and gullibility," and veteran newsman Walter Cronkite called Mr. Arnett "grossly irresponsible"; moreover, said Mr. Cronkite, Mr. Arnett was perilously open to a charge of treason and, if so, he would hang "by a rope of his own weaving." ....The Media Research Center, a Washington-based press watchdog, has documented more than a decade of shoddy reporting by Mr. Arnett.

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MSNBC 
MSNBC Reports
April 11, 2003

SCARBOROUGH: This morning "The New York Times" wrote that CNN's top executive, Eason Jordan, admitted that for the past 12 years the news network concealed information about Saddam Hussein's brutality and did it in order to keep their Baghdad bureau open. Jordan thinks he made the right call but here's the real deal on CNN's bargain. Now CNN admits it had evidence of Saddam Hussein's human rights atrocities and refused to reveal it to the viewers of the world.... Rich, do you think CNN did the right thing by not telling the world what they knew about Saddam's specific torture techniques?

RICH NOYES, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, MEDIA RESEARCH CENTER: No but I think Eason Jordan did the right thing about talking about it now. CNN was not the only western news organization to have a bureau in Baghdad. So did this network and a lot of other American networks. I'd like to know what secrets Peter Arnett knew and when he knew them. I'd like to know what MSNBC's correspondent in Baghdad who had all of this access, he was Saddam's golden boy, you know why wasn't he out there reporting on this truth too?.... Don't put it all on CNN....

SCARBOROUGH: OK. You're talking about a correspondent. We're talking about CNN's executive news editor, Eason Jordan.

NOYES: I bet a lot of executive news editors all across this know a lot of things about what was going on in Iraq and Eason Jordan's just the first one to come forward and I hope they all do because I think the public has a right to know. You can't report from behind enemy lines inside [a dictatorial] regime with any degree of accuracy. The people don't speak freely. I know I think these anecdotes would have been excellent news for us to have and to talk about before we made the decision to go to war but unfortunately, the reporters, they were more hostages than reporters.

More on this topic

WTMA-Charleston, SC
April 11, 2003

National Review Online
NR Comment; The Official Word
Hall of Shame
"Media recriminations after VB Day," by NR Staff 
April 10, 2003

So many pundits, pols, and, yes, celebs, said so many wrong — and downright silly — things about the war in Iraq, prewar. We knew that back then, but now that Baghdad has effectively been liberated by the U.S.-lead Coalition, we provide a handy snapshot of what was said by some of those who should be looking down and making their apologies. Included here are Maureen Dowd, Chris Matthews, and Barry McCaffrey, the latter one of the retired-general second guessers Vice President Dick Cheney dubbed "embedded in television studios." This list is far from all-inclusive, but a taste of the shame many should be feeling today. The Media Research Center, AndrewSullivan.Com, and Corner readers were invaluable in putting this together.

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FOX News Channel
Fox & Friends
April 10, 2003

E.D. Hill: "The Media Research Center did a study and they found out that most people felt that Peter Jennings was the most glum. Of course it seemed to be that they surrounded themselves with a lot of military experts that also were that way, and Vice President Dick Cheney made mention of that yesterday when he was speaking down in New Orleans. Here's what he said:"

[clip]

Dick Cheney: "The conclusion of the war will mark one of the most extraordinary military campaigns ever conducted. It's proceeded according to a carefully drawn plan with fixed objectives and flexibility in meeting them. In the early days of the war, the plan was criticized by some retired military officers embedded in TV studios [crowd laughter]."

WPHT (Philadelphia, PA)
April 10, 2003

MRC Director of Media Analysis Tim Graham on media's coverage of the war.

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WOMP/WSTV (Pittsburgh, PA)
April 10, 2003

MRC Director of Media Analysis Tim Graham on media's coverage of the war.

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National Review Online
The Corner
April 9, 2003

THE WEIRDEST ANALYSIS [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

From Media Research Center: I'm a Tom Ricks fan, so I find this even more odd coming from him than some others. Of course, we have all (ok, I) have said odd things from time to time (yes, some more than others), but this is simply, well....:

KNOP (Port Angeles, WA)
April 9, 2003

MRC Director of Media Analysis Tim Graham on media's coverage of the war.

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Salon.com
The Salon Interview: Bill Moyers
By Andrew O'Hehir
April 7, 2003

You have to watch Al-Jazeera, which I do here. You have to read Romenesko and you have to read the BBC Web site and the Washington Post, all of it. It's a full-time job, editing your own virtual newspaper every day. I go to Editor& Publisher, and I find help from their coverage of the media coverage. I go to some of the committed, ideological Web sites, whether it's Brent Bozell on the right or FAIR [Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting] on the left. I compose my own front page every day, and my own arts section and my own war coverage.

See story

FOX News Channel
The O'Reilly Factor
April 7, 2003

O'REILLY: On TV, Mr. Graham.
GRAHAM: Yes. I mean, for example, Thursday and Friday night, ABC's Peter Jennings was so __ you've got to say excited that he was running an Al Jazeera report from outside the City of Mosul where the United States allegedly caused 18 civilian casualties. He ran the story on Thursday night, and then he ran it again on Friday night, just in case you missed it. So I mean the...
O'REILLY: Well, it wasn't the same story.
GRAHAM: It was the...
O'REILLY: It was a follow-up story, right?
GRAHAM: It was the same story. There was no follow-up. If you listen to what he said both nights, it's the same story, and this is -- you know, that's embarrassing.
O'REILLY: All right. I didn't see it, so I can't comment.
GRAHAM: Everybody now...
O'REILLY: All right. I mean, look, if anybody wants to -- hold it. Hold it. If anybody wants to, they can get the transcript, all right, from ABC News. They can get the transcript from Thursday -- last Thursday and last Friday.
GRAHAM: Or mrc.org.

More on this topic

The Washington Times
Tax plan revival?
By Stephen Moore, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES
April 6, 2003

News commentators around the country are celebrating the recent vote in the United States Senate to slice in half the size of President Bush's bold tax cut plan. A New York Times editorial trumpets the vote as a triumph for "fiscal sanity in the Senate." CNN [the Clinton News Network] could hardly contain its glee when it described the action in Congress as "a devastating setback for the president's tax cutting agenda."

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 Mr. 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.

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Albuquerque Tribune (NM)
"Right-Wing Media Gleefully Roast Liberal 'Enemy,'" by Michael Coleman, Journal Washington Bureau
April 6, 2003

The Media Research Center tracks and exposes what it views as the worst-of-the-worst in liberal media spin.

WASHINGTON The capital's conservative media establishment recently took a break from the gloom of war to poke some fun at their more liberal colleagues.

Nearly 1,000 conservatives descended on a swank Washington hotel late last month to watch right-leaning media stars, such as Cal Thomas, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, roast the "enemy."

The ripest targets were fairly predictable: unabashed liberal diva Barbra Streisand, former Bill Clinton spokesman-turned-ABC newsman George Stephanopoulos and PBS' Bill Moyers.

The $150-a-plate dinner, dubbed the "Dishonor Awards," was hosted by the Media Research Center, which tracks and exposes what it views as the worst-of-the-worst in liberal media spin.

Regardless of your political bent, you had to admire the production values. Huge television screens surrounded the banquet room, giving attendees larger-than-life glimpses of their media heroes. Flag-waving country music legend Charlie Daniels tore through a blistering set of patriotic tunes to close the show.

As the audience dined on filet mignon and sipped merlot, L. Brent Bozell III, the center's founder, made clear his view that there is no place for media who question the U.S. war against Iraq.

"They're aligned with the protest Army; we're aligned with the U.S. Army," he said, triggering perhaps the most enthusiastic cheers of the evening. "This is not Vietnam, and this time you're not going to undermine U.S. resolve."

"The Ozzy Osbourne Award" for the "Wackiest Comment of the Year" went to ABC correspondent David Wright, who questioned the legitimacy of an Iraqi election seven years ago in which Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein "won" 99.6 percent of the vote.

"It's impossible to say whether that's a true measure of the Iraqi people's feeling," Wright said.

Meanwhile, the "I'm Not a Geopolitical Genius But I Play One on T.V." award went to actress Jessica Lange.

Lange, during an interview at a film festival in Spain, said, "It's an embarrassing time to be an American. It really is. It's humiliating," adding that she "despised" President Bush.

The "Quote of the Year" award went to Moyers, who said, in part, "the entire federal government the Congress, the executive, the courts is united behind a right-wing agenda for which George W. Bush believes he now has a mandate."

None of the award recipients, of course, was on hand to bask in the honors.

And not all of the arrows hit their mark. My entire table groaned when Ann Coulter, the conservative media's designated sex symbol, tossed a grenade at C-SPAN. She said the cable network has failed to reflect all sides of the public debate on the war in Iraq, choosing to focus instead on "homeless" protesters.

Maybe she wasn't aware that C-SPAN, which has a deserved reputation for providing the most unvarnished coverage of Washington politics, was actually taping the award ceremony and planned to air it at a later date.

"Damn it, Ann," a publicist for the event muttered, shaking her head.

"You can't knock C-SPAN," another guy at the table said.

Of course, there are other views about the true influence of liberal media. FOX News is now at least as influential as CNN, and conservative ranters dominate the talk-radio airwaves.

In a new book titled "What Liberal Media?: The Truth About Bias and the News," Eric Alterman, a columnist for The Nation, argues that conservatives have leveled the playing field through well-funded, well-organized media channels.

"Unbeknownst to millions of Americans who continue to believe that the media are genuinely liberal or that conservatives and liberals are engaged in a fair fight of relative equality liberals are fighting a near-hopeless battle in which they are enormously outmatched," Alterman wrote.

For a full list of the Dishonor Awards and the comments that precipitated them, visit the Media Research Center's website at www.mrc.org.

CNBC Tim Russert 
April 5, 2003

Tim Russert: "As we speak on this day, Tom Ricks, what's the latest? What, where are we in this operation?"

Tom Ricks, Washington Post: "We're in Baghdad. It's really striking when you see that, this U.S. Army move last night, daytime their time, where they did basically what armored guys call a 'Thunder Run.' They just went hell, hellbent for leather straight into downtown Baghdad. And it reminded me of that old gay slogan. I mean no disrespect here. 'We're here. We're queer. Get used to it.' It's, 'We're here. We're the U.S. military. Get used to it.' And no matter what that information minister may be telling you, you can't deny the sound of tank treads coming through downtown Baghdad."

St. John's Telegram
(CanWest News Service, Canada)
"Siege on hearts and minds: Does Tv's gruesome imagery have the power to change public opinion about the war?"
by David Staples
April 5, 2003

Keeping watch for left-wing bias in the American media is the right-wing Media Research Center (MRC) from Alexandria, Va. that produces reports of alleged left-wing bias. Recently the MRC scolded ABC's anchor Peter Jennings for focusing on "U.S. failures, enemy propaganda and how the war has hurt Iraqi civilians." It labeled Bob Simon of CBS as "snide" for pointing out "the most remarkable achievement of the Bush administration so far has been creating quite a bit of worldwide sympathy for Saddam Hussein."

More on this topic

American Journalism Review
"Free Press: Journalism vs. Jingoism," by Jacqueline E. Sharkey 
April, 2003

When a Tucson country-western radio station invited listeners to comment on the interview that CBS newsman Dan Rather conducted with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in February, the response was intense. People criticized Rather for interviewing a U.S. enemy and lambasted CBS for not allowing a White House spokesperson to appear when the interview was broadcast on "60 Minutes II."

....Criticism that the interview was propagandistic involved complex issues. The Media Research Center, which says it tracks liberal media bias, wrote on its Web site that CBS provided Hussein with "a conduit to the American people for his propaganda."

RushLimbaugh.com (member portion)
Rush's Total Stack of Stuff... 
Friday April 4, 2003...

Read the wide array of articles that the EIB staff puts together and that El Rushbo reads for show prep. Note: some websites change or deactivate stories after we link them here. Plus, news outlet name and cover pictures link to homepages.

Media Research Center
(Poll: Pew Shows that All Polls Find Public Backs War Overwhelmingly)
(ABC Paints Iraqi Support for U.S. as Reluctant and Novel) 
(Williams Realizes Bombing of Baghdad Not Like Dresden )

Editor's note: of the 23 sources Rush used for "show prep" today, MRC was listed sixth.

CNN
Crossfire
April 4, 2003

BEGALA: In fact, Tim, let me ask you about one of those. Geraldo Rivera, a veteran correspondent, he's covered many wars, but allegedly -- not allegedly -- according to Pentagon spokesmen, he gave away crucial details of where our troops are located, where the 101st Airborne was going. Why hasn't Fox, the right-wing network which flaunts its phony patriotism, fired this guy?

TIM GRAHAM, MEDIA RESEARCH CENTER: I don't think it's a firing offense.

BEGALA: Putting in danger American troops in a war is not a firing offense? What is?

GRAHAM: They removed him from the theater of operations. That's good enough for me. Look, what Peter Arnett did was much worse.

BEGALA: He endangered lives?

GRAHAM: Yes he did, because he prolonged the war by going to the enemy's propaganda channel and saying, hey, keep fighting, guys. Go ahead, you can win. You get enough protests in the American streets and you can win this thing.

MSNBC
Joe Scarborough Show
April 2, 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

National Review Online
The Corner
April 2, 2003

TV GUIDE'S BAD TIMING [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
From Media Research Center: 
Talk about bad timing. The headline over a story in the new TV Guide arriving in homes this week: "At 68, Arnett is the Comeback Kid in Iraq." Apparently, TV Guide is a bit embarrassed by the story penned by Max Robins since they have removed it from their Web site. Robins admired Arnett's "redemption" and raved that "for Arnett, the Iraq war is nothing short of a professional resurrection."

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Associated Press
Pentagon seeks to oust Rivera for allegedly disclosing unauthorized information about troops
By David Bauder
April 2, 2003

On Monday, military officials accused Rivera of disclosing unauthorized military movements after a report in which he squatted in the desert and outlined military movements in the dirt. The Pentagon said Tuesday that Fox had agreed to remove Rivera from his posting with U.S troops in Iraq. ...

Tim Graham, a spokesman for the conservative watchdog organization, the Media Research Center, said he considered Rivera a grandstander and wished Fox News Channel hadn't hired him. "I'm not sure what he did was a firing offense," Graham said. "The issue becomes, if they assent to him being removed from the war zone, will he accept that, or will he quit?"

More on this topic
See Stories:
The Arizona Republic | Buffalo News (NY) | Contra Costa Times (CA) | The Commercial Appeal (TN) | The Hartford Courant (CT) |
San Francisco Chronicle | The State (SC)

Bob Dornan Show (nationally syndicated)
April 2, 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

WCRA-Dayton, OH
April 2, 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

BBC Radio
April 1, 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

WBT (Charlotte, NC)
April 1, 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

WLIE (Long Island, NY)
April 1, 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

The Washington Times
"NBC fires reporter Arnett after interview on Iraqi TV," by James G. Lakely (excerpt)
April 1, 2003

Brent Baker, vice president for research and publications at the conservative Media Research Center, said Mr. Arnett "aided the enemy's propaganda and boosted the morale of the army by telling them that they are winning."

Mr. Baker was also not surprised that Mr. Arnett didn't fear that he'd share the fate of the missing journalists. "Why would they ever want to do anything to Peter Arnett?" Mr. Baker asked. "He's their dream reporter."

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The Washington Times
"Dishonor for liberal media" (excerpt)
April 1, 2002

Conservatives surveyed a "target-rich environment" last week at the Media Research Council's annual Dishonor Awards, roasting liberal bias in the press with verbal equivalents of bunker busters.

Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter and other right-of-center superstars took turns bashing the likes of Barbara Walters, Helen Thomas and Bill Moyers at Thursday's dinner at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

Media Research Council founder L. Brent Bozell III, whose group keeps tabs on journalists by spotlighting items dripping with liberal spin, beamed as he addressed the ideological faithful.

"They're aligned with the protest army, we're aligned with the U.S. Army," he said to massive applause.

See story | More on this topic

National Review Online
No Honest Eyewitness; There’s little truth coming out of Baghdad.
By Tim Graham
April 1, 2003

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2003 Archive