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 New York Post
Hoist on Their Own Petard (excerpt)
December 31, 2002

For 15 years, the Media Research Center has been compiling its list of "notable quotables." The quotes come from prominent members of the mainstream news media and provide a clear window into the leftist mindset that pervades most of America's large news organizations. At the end of the year, the center - helped by a panel of judges - chooses the "best" examples. Once again, this year's crop tellingly reveals the media's perennial contempt for all things conservative. Actually, the winners more or less explain themselves. (The full set of winners and finalists can be found at the center's Web site, mrc.org.)....

Politics of Meaninglessness Award

"Seven years ago, when the last referendum took place, Saddam Hussein won 99.96 percent of the vote. Of course, it is impossible to say whether that's a true measure of the Iraqi people's feelings." -- ABC's David Wright on "World News Tonight "

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Insight Magazine
"The Insider" (excerpt)
December 31, 2002

The Media Research Center has selected its Notable Quotables for 2002. Here are some of the big winners.... The award for silliest analysis goes to David Wright of ABC News for this one from World News Tonight for Oct. 15: "Seven years ago, when the last referendum took place, Saddam Hussein won 99.96 percent of the vote. Of course, it is impossible to say whether that's a true measure of the Iraqi people's feelings."

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Fox News Channel
After Hours with Cal Thomas
"Is Big Media Biased?" (excerpt)
December 28, 2002

Certain groups and individuals regularly accuse the big media of bias. Almost always the accusation is of bias in a liberal direction. "Not so," say the accused. But here's some more evidence that the accusers may be right. It's from the Media Research Center -- admittedly a conservative organization -- but the quotes speak for themselves....

Then there is retired UPI correspondent Helen Thomas -- no relation -- who appropriately gets the "Mt. St. Helen Award for Helen Thomas Eruptions." Speaking last month to students at MIT, Thomas said, "I censored myself for 50 years. Now I wake up and ask myself, 'Who do I hate today?'"

Well, guess who? She goes on to say: "I have never covered a president who actually wanted to go to war. Bush's policy of pre-emptive war is immoral." And she concludes: "Where is the outrage?" Where indeed, Helen?

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The Denver Rocky Mountain News
"The Media's 2002 Doozies," by Mike Rosen (excerpt)
December 27, 2002

Hot off the presses, the Media Research Institute's 15th annual awards for the most biased, manipulative or downright goofy quotes from liberals in the "mainstream" media..... Here are some of the highlights from among the winners and runners-up of Best Notable Quotables of 2002.... "I leave my friends behind and rush the stage to try to dance with (former Attorney General Janet) Reno, only to find myself in a small crowd of men living the same fantasy. When I finally push my way past them, she is gone."
-- Time staff writer Joel Stein recounting Reno's dance party fund-raiser for her campaign for Florida governor, July 29 issue.

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TulsaToday.com
"Liberal Bias Awards 2002," by Patrick B. McGuigan (excerpt)
December 19, 2002

It was another "good" year for those of us in the news business who regularly devote energy to watching for the most egregious, humorous, outrageous and often disturbing examples of the national news media's pervasive, repetitive and bold liberal bias. But I suppose it might depend on what your definition of the word "good" is.

Nearly half of the categories for this eventful year were dominated by quotes from stories or commentaries focused on our nation's war on terror. There are some years when the stunning anti-conservative bigotry of the dominant liberal power players is, in the end, merely amusing. Other years, I've found this annual exercise somewhat irritating, all the while appreciating the importance of the exercise.

On just a few occasions, it's been downright depressing, at times inclining one toward despair. This year's "nominees" -- compiled by the excellent staff of the Media Research Center based in the national capital area -- incline me more toward that latter set of feelings.

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World Magazine
"Closing Thoughts," by Marvin Olasky (excerpt)
December 14, 2002

Paranoia, hatred, ignorance
But what's this about a journalist wanting to dance with Janet Reno?

Sure, It's like Shooting Fish in a Barrel, but I can't resist sharing some of the extraordinary examples of liberal press bias tossed my way. Masochism to read them, perhaps, but I'm a judge for the Media Research Center's 15th annual "awards for the year's worst reporting," and I want you, dear reader, to share some of the pain.

Let's look first at press paranoia. CNN's Judy Woodruff on May 16 talked of purported "news from the White House that President Bush knew that al-Qaeda was planning to hijack a U.S. airliner and he knew it before September the 11th." The next day on ABC's Good Morning America, Charles Gibson asked, "Was the president really surprised" by news of the 9/11 attacks?

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TownHall.com
"Shoe on the other foot?" by Mona Charen (excerpt)
December 4, 2002

The nation's two leading Democratic politicians have had public meltdowns in the past two weeks. First, Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., Senate majority leader until January, claimed that Rush Limbaugh was sending hit squads to his home. And now former Vice President Al Gore, taking a page from Hillary Clinton's playbook, has stepped forward to denounce the vast right-wing conspiracy among members of the press.....

For those who live in the real world, the merry band at the Media Research Center has compiled its annual list of outrageous quotations from members of the fourth estate. Judge for yourself whether what is revealed here supports or undermines Al Gore's case.

Writing in Time about the capture of the Washington area snipers, Karen Tumulty and Viveca Novak noted: "Gun rights advocates have been emboldened by an administration that is sympathetic to their cause. The closeness was underscored by the fact that the military-style gun used in the sniper attacks -- named, unfortunately for the White House, Bushmaster XM15 -- was manufactured by a company owned by Richard Dyke, a Bush fund-raiser."

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The Washington Times
"Inside Politics" by Greg Pierce (excerpt)
December 18, 2002

Smearing conservatives

"On Friday night, CBS' John Roberts and NBC's Norah O'Donnell smeared legitimate positions taken by many conservatives, against a Martin Luther King holiday and extending the Voting Rights Act, by offering Trent Lott's opposition to both as evidence to support the notion that he's racially intolerant," the Media Research Center's Brent Baker reports at www.mediaresearch.org.

"On the December 13 'CBS Evening News,' Roberts intoned: 'Lott had declared it was simply a poor choice of words to say the country would be better off had segregationist Strom Thurmond been elected president in 1948. But he'd said almost exactly the same thing 22 years ago, and his voting record against an extension of the Voting Rights Act, the Martin Luther King Holiday, and an African-American judge's confirmation suggested to some in his hometown a disturbing pattern.'

Said an unidentified man in the segment: "'To put it bluntly, I just think he took his hood off.'

"Roberts: 'Lott insisted tonight that though he grew up in an environment of segregation, he is no racist and will work to prove it.'

"Over on the 'NBC Nightly News,' Norah O'Donnell asserted: 'His praise of Strom Thurmond's segregationist presidential campaign has given his critics a chance to remind people that in the 1980s he voted against extending the Voting Rights Act and a federal holiday for Martin Luther King Jr.'"

Mr. Baker also noted: "A Friday front page Washington Post story impugned all conservatives as racists, or at least segregationist sympathizers. Under the headline, 'Lott Has Moved Little On Civil Rights Issues; Analysts Say Remarks, Record Consistent,' the Post recounted how Lott has failed to adopt liberal positions: 'An examination of his record shows that over the past 40 years, he has consistently taken positions at odds with those of the traditional civil rights community.' Many of those views matched most conservatives, such as opposing forced school busing. And even media hero John McCain voted against a Martin Luther King Day holiday," Mr. Baker noted.

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Lucianne.com
Short Cuts
Thursday, December 12, 2002 

CNN on Carter
MEDIA RESEARCH CENTER
Posted By: PaBoo - 12/12/2002 1:49:44 PM 
Just a few hours after Jimmy Carter accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway on Tuesday, CNN's Jonathan Mann genuflected to him: "Mr. President, you are arguably the most respected American on the planet today." 

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The Plain Dealer
"Stephanopoulos finds change comes in a hurry/First-time husband, father now host of 'This Week,'" by Bill Lubinger (excerpt)
December 8, 2002

....The biggest challenge posed by the title of objective news anchor, though, might be an unshakable connection to the Clintons. "His claim to fame wasn't just working for a president, but working for a president to spin reporters," said Rich Noyes, of the Media Research Center, a conservative journalism watchdog in Alexandria, Va. The Sunday morning news shows all tend to have a left-of-center bent, "and his is no different," Noyes said....

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The December 6 column, "The Rightward Press," by the Washington Post's E. J. Dionne, Jr., also appeared in the three newspapers listed below. Here's the column as originally published. Hard copies will follow.

The Beacon Journal (Akron, OH) 
The media as liberal champions? Ha! More like cowards
By E.J. Dionne, Washington Post columnist
December 8, 2002

The Buffalo News
Media bias takes a sharp right turn, by E.J. Dionne, Jr.
December 7, 2002

The Houston Chronicle
The Right got its media bias mixed up
By E.J. DIONNE JR.
December 6, 2002

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World Magazine
Closing Thoughts
"Paranoia, hatred, ignorance," by Marvin Olasky (excerpt)
December 17, 2002

But what's this about a journalist wanting to dance with Janet Reno?

Sure, it's like shooting fish in a barrel, but I can't resist sharing some of the extraordinary examples of liberal press bias tossed my way. Masochism to read them, perhaps, but I'm a judge for the Media Research Center's 15th annual "awards for the year's worst reporting," and I want you, dear reader, to share some of the pain.

See story | See last year's awards

The Washington Post
"The Rightward Press," by E. J. Dionne Jr. (excerpt)
Friday, December 6, 2002

The fat is in the fire on the issue of media bias, and that is a good thing. It's time to revisit a matter on which the conventional wisdom is, roughly, 180 degrees off.

You hear the conventional wisdom all the time from shrewd conservative commentators who understand that political pressure, relentlessly applied, usually achieves its purposes. They have sold the view that the media are dominated by liberals and that the news is skewed against conservatives....

All this constitutes a genuine triumph for conservatives. But rather than rest on their laurels, they continue to pound away at any media deviation from their version of political correctness. When Katie Couric had the nerve to ask some tough questions of EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman on Monday's "Today" show, the ever-alert conservative Media Research Center trashed Couric for bias. When the Chicago Tribune ran an unflattering picture of President Bush on its Nov. 14 front page, it was assailed for a lack of patriotism. Editors who worry about conservative criticism are not paranoid. You just wonder: Where have the liberals been?

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Media Bias Is real. These Days, However, the Conservatives are Steering," by E.J. Dionne, JR. 
December 6, 2002

The fat is in the fire on the issue of media bias, and that is a good thing. It's time to revisit a matter on which the conventional wisdom is, roughly, 180 degrees off.

You hear the conventional wisdom all the time from shrewd conservative commentators who understand that political pressure, relentlessly applied, usually achieves its purposes. They have sold the view that the media are dominated by liberals and that the news is skewed against conservatives....

All this constitutes a genuine triumph for conservatives. But rather than rest on their laurels, they continue to pound away at any media deviation from their version of political correctness. When Katie Couric had the nerve to ask some tough questions of EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman on Monday's "Today" show, the ever-alert conservative Media Research Center trashed Couric for bias. When the Chicago Tribune ran an unflattering picture of President Bush on its Nov. 14 front page, it was assailed for a lack of patriotism. Editors who worry about conservative criticism are not paranoid. You just wonder: Where have the liberals been?

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MSNBC, December 5, 2002
Buchanan & Press

MRC Director of Media Analysis Rich Noyes on The New York Times spiking sports columns which would have disagreed with the paper's editorial page crusade to get women admitted to the Augusta National Golf Club and for Tiger Woods to boycott the Masters, held at the Georgia course, until that occurs.

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The Washington Post
"N.Y. Times's Golf Handicap/Columns on Augusta Killed For Being Out of Line With Paper's Editorials," by Howard Kurtz
Thursday, December 5, 2002

The New York Times has killed two sports columns about the controversy over Augusta National Golf Club's refusal to admit women members because the writers differed with the paper's editorial page.

After a Times editorial last month urged Tiger Woods to boycott the Masters tournament over the issue, Pulitzer Prize-winning sports columnist Dave Anderson wrote a piece saying that Woods should play because the Augusta National dispute wasn't his fight. Anderson's editors spiked the piece.

"I was disappointed that they felt that way, but the editorial page is sacrosanct there," Anderson said yesterday. "I always thought you could still disagree with it. But in this case I couldn't."

....Brent Bozell, chairman of the conservative Media Research Center, said that "you would think a newspaper would encourage debate within its columns." Instead, he said, the attitude seems to be "you can have an opinion at the New York Times as long as it reflects the opinion of the editors."

Most newspapers do not have such policies -- at least not explicitly stated -- although sensitive columns are sometimes killed when they touch on internal matters or a paper's corporate interests.

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The Washington Times
"Media shoe on other foot," by Mona Charen (excerpt)
December 5, 2002

The nation's two leading Democratic politicians have had public meltdowns in the past two weeks. First, Sen. Tom Daschle, South Dakota Democrat, Senate majority leader until January, claimed Rush Limbaugh was sending hit squads to his home. And now former Vice President Al Gore, taking a page from Hillary Clinton's playbook, has stepped forward to denounce the vast right_wing conspiracy among members of the press.

The press? He's kidding, right?

....For those who live in the real world, the merry band at the Media Research Center has compiled its annual list of outrageous quotations from members of the fourth estate. Judge for yourself whether what is revealed here supports or undermines Al Gore's case.

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Washingtonpost.com
On Politics
Talking Points
"Left, Right? Debate Over Media Bias Continues; Clinton Joins Growing List of Democrats Bashing 'Conservative' Press," by Terry M. Neal (excerpt)
December 5, 2002

... In recent weeks, former vice president Al Gore and soon-to-be Sen. Minority Leader Tom Daschle have both attacked the conservative media. Former president Bill Clinton was the latest to do so in a speech sponsored by the centrist Democratic Leadership Council at New York University on Tuesday....

The conservative Media Research Center, run by L. Brent Bozell III, had this to say: "But while the liberal media have been quick to condemn officials ranging from John Ashcroft to Ari Fleischer for statements that reporters suspect might have a ‘chilling effect’ on the First Amendment right to complain and criticize freely, there has been no hue and cry about a top Senate leader’s seeming attempt to muzzle a critic by falsely linking him with threats of physical harm. Former Clinton aides and CNN Crossfire hosts Paul Begala and James Carville can be pretty "shrill" -- does Daschle also see them as threats to public safety?"

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The Washington Times
"Inside Politics," by Greg Pierce (excerpt)
December 4, 2002

Couric vs. Whitman
"'Today' co-host Katie Couric on Monday took advantage of EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman's appearance to talk about 'Energy Star' compliant holiday gifts to lecture her about how disappointing she has been to environmentalists for not blocking Bush policies," the Media Research Center's Brent Baker writes.

"MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens caught how Couric badgered her on the December 2 NBC show about being beaten by 'right-wing conservatives.' Naturally, Couric never tagged any environmentalists as liberal, nor Sen. Joe Lieberman or New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, whom she cited as experts on Whitman's misguided ways," Mr. Baker said at www.mediaresearch.org....

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Quotes from Katie Couric, gathered to commemorate her decade at Today

TownHall.com
"Shoe on the other foot?" by Mona Charen (excerpt)
December 4, 2002

The nation's two leading Democratic politicians have had public meltdowns in the past two weeks. First, Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., Senate majority leader until January, claimed that Rush Limbaugh was sending hit squads to his home. And now former Vice President Al Gore, taking a page from Hillary Clinton's playbook, has stepped forward to denounce the vast right-wing conspiracy among members of the press.

The press? He's kidding, right? Apparently not. ...

For those who live in the real world, the merry band at the Media Research Center has compiled its annual list of outrageous quotations from members of the fourth estate. Judge for yourself whether what is revealed here supports or undermines Al Gore's case.

See story

National Review Online
The Corner
December 3, 2003 (excerpt)\

THEY NEVER LEARN [Rod Dreher]
Despite New York Times staffers complaining (anonymously, to Newsweek) about the credibility-wasting agenda driving the paper's coverage of the Augusta National Golf Club, Howell Raines is unperturbed. This is the first paragraph of a front page account today: "A longtime member of Augusta National Golf Club said he had resigned from the club to protest its refusal to admit a woman as a member. He is the only one of Augusta's 300 or so members to have resigned over the issue." (The front page notice directs the reader to the sports pages for the full story). Notice something? Two hundred and ninety-nine members -- 99.6 percent of the membership -- have not resigned. Yet the Times makes a front-page issue of it. Brent Bozell, Bernard Goldberg and Reed Irvine couldn't make this stuff up on their best day.

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2002 Archive