Free Republic

Picking up the Sunday paper Nov. 15 could make a reader a little airsick -- even while standing in the driveway. The Washington Post "news analysis" on the front page carried the headline "9/11 trial could become a parable of right and wrong: Before worldwide audience, both prosecution, defense seek control of narrative." Does The Washington Post really think that the death and destruction of 9/11 "could" be right, or "could" be wrong? Liberals cannot stand it when the national media won't simply declare contentious debates over and their viewpoint settled truth. Take, for example, the allegedly inevitable impending destruction...

Allison Kilkenny, a self-styled “political humorist,” ripped the Catholic Church on the Huffington Post on Thursday for threatening to pull the plug in its social services in Washington, DC if same-sex “marriage” is legalized there. Kilkenny labeled the Church the “Inexplicably Evil Organization Most Disconnected From Real People,” and bashed Pope Benedict XVI as a “decrepit former Nazi youth.” The “humorist” (pictured at right, courtesy of Wikimedia) began her screed, titled “Catholic Church Threatens to Stop Feeding Homeless Over Gay Marriage,” by comparing the Church to Goldman Sachs, and used her “evil” label only after three sentences (perhaps showing a...

Violence -- especially grotesque, gory or bloody violence -- has become a staple of network television during sweeps periods. But there's a new kind of violence surging -- violence against women. A new study by the Parents Television Council called "Women in Peril" reveals that between 2004 and 2009, CBS, NBC, and Fox (but not ABC) all green-lighted a significant increase in the incidents -- and degree -- of violence against women. On average, during the five-year span, there was a 2 percent increase in overall violence during the primetime viewing hours. But during the same time period, there was...

What do leftist documentary maker Robert Greenwald, Little Green Footballs blogger Charles Johnson, and Daily Beast contributor Max Blumenthal have in common? They all peddled malicious, false quotes attributed to Rush Limbaugh and are unrepentant about furthering false information regarding the talk show host.

Media Research Center President Reports Back on CNN, MSNBC Character Assassination of Rush Limbaugh, Issues Ultimatum to All Media Spreading Racist Lies.

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell has demanded that CNN and MSNBC prove that radio talk show king Rush Limbaugh uttered a racist quote they have attributed to him as fact after Limbaugh publicly denied having ever said, “Slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back. I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark” on his nationally syndicated airwaves.

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell today demanded that CNN and MSNBC prove that radio talk show king Rush Limbaugh uttered a racist quote they have attributed to him as fact after Limbaugh publicly denied having ever said, “Slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back. I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark” on his nationally syndicated airwaves. "CNN and MSNBC must immediately and publicly source when Limbaugh uttered this phrase. He has unequivocally denied it. Now it is up to the same news media that reported...

In yesterday's More czars on conservative hit list, the Politico's Lisa Lerer states "conservatives have accused (Mark) Lloyd, appointed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as the agency’s Chief Diversity officer in late July, of secretly wanting to reinstate the controversial Fairness Doctrine." This is not at all accurate. We at the Media Research Center broke the news of Lloyd’s FCC gig (created just for him just the way the “green jobs czar” slot was for the recently dispatched conspiracy-addled Truther-Communist Van Jones). And we specifically stated that he had "no need for the mis-named 'Fairness' Doctrine." From that essay:

Media Research Center President and NewsBusters.org Publisher Brent Bozell today issued a public statement in which he demanded that MSNBC accept responsibility and apologize for concocting a racially charged "news" story that falsely accused a supposedly white health reform protester of carrying a gun out of hatred for a black President. NewsBusters.org's Kyle Drennen initially reported on this on Tuesday, and yesterday provided an update:

There's no doubt that the NBC universe of networks were and still are the most pro Obama networks. There were the bits of anedotal evidence. For instance, there was the infamous incident in which MSNBC announcer proclaimed that listening to the candidate Obama brought a "thrill up his leg". NBC reporter Lee Cowan admitted that "it's hard to stay objective" during Obama speech. This was an admission that anchor Brian Williams called "courageous". Then, there was the scientific evidence like this Media Research Center's, a conservative Media Watch Dog Group, study, during the campaign, that showed that the most bias...

"ABC News has more than earned the title of the All Barack Channel, they have recklessly fought to achieve it," Media Research Center President Brent Bozell stated in a press release today. The network had promised to deliver a health care presentation that would "not be ‘slanted' in any way - much less a ‘day-long infomercial' or ‘in-kind free advertising'," but not a single expert was offered to counter President Obama's plan to nationalize the nation's health care industry.

Let's face it folks, we have the liberal media on the ropes. Drive by newspapers are dying. liberal broadcasts are setting record lows. Liberal cable outlets are always claiming 2nd, 3rd, etc best to Fox. So what's the next step?

President Barack Obama has put forward policies representing the most radical government intervention in the free market in American history, with more proposals for even greater government interference on the way. But according to the Media Research Center (MRC), during Obama’s first 100 days in office the media have steadfastly refused to report this. In fact, rather than challenging the President’s radical policies, network news reporters have often celebrated Obama’s radical agenda. MRC analysts examined all 852 stories on the Obama administration from January 20 through April 15 on ABC’s World News, the CBS Evening News and the NBC Nightly...

As you can imagine, he is not impressed.

Imagine being Laura Bush and turning on the television and watching the absolute deluge of sticky-sweet syrup being poured all over Michelle Obama during her European debut as first lady. It is as if every TV reporter was handed a pamphlet of talking points and ordered to compare Mrs. Obama to Jackie Kennedy. NBC's Dawna Friesen gushed: "Though Harvard-educated Michelle Obama has substance, not just style, and that's what sets her apart." Apart from … whom? Unspoken, but unmistakeable, NBC's saying Michelle has more substance than Laura and more style than Hillary. Everyone expects the press to be polite and...

President Obama and the Democrats should wave the white flag in their strawman war on Rush Limbaugh. The Media Research Center delivered the grim casualty figures for the Democrats. Since January, the top talk show gabber's ratings have soared off the charts. Radio affiliates that carry Limbaugh's syndicated show call the ratings boost he's gotten from the Democrat's orchestrated attack on him a "dramatic surge." This writer predicted as much when President Obama cracked to Congressional Republicans in late January that they should knock off listening to Limbaugh if they expected to get anything done in Congress and with his...

There’s a huge hole in all of the public discussion about the reimposition of a “Fairness Doctrine” or a return to “localism” on the talk-radio format: What about National Public Radio? Liberals would like to “crush Rush” and his conservative compatriots by demanding each station balance its lineup ideologically. But since when has NPR ever felt any pressure to be balanced, even when a majority of taxpayers being forced to subsidize it are center-right? Why no Fairness Doctrine attention to NPR? It is because those preaching “fairness” on the radio are hypocrites. Conservatives argue that the media’s liberal bias drives...

The Media Research Center's Annual Gala and Dishonors for 2009 were held on March 19, 2009. The link above is to the inimitable Great One's presentation of the Half-Baked Alaska Award for Pummeling Palin. Mark also presented the Dan Rather Award for The Stupidest Analysis.Levin is THE bomb. God bless him. Other presentations from the event are also included HERE

Political commentator and TV host Bill Maher won “Quote of the Year” at the Media Research Center’s annual Dishonors Awards for his remarks about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential campaign. Maher – on HBO’s “Real Time” in September 2008-- questioned whether Palin’s infant son Trig was her child or that of her teenage daughter, Bristol. “I’m not that convinced that that’s her baby,” Maher said. “It’s not like they’re not willing to lie about everything else.”

"Not doing it [fighting global warming] will be catastrophic. We'll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but in 30 or 40 years, and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals. Civilization will have broken down." -- CNN founder Ted Turner on PBS's Charlie Rose, April 1, 2008. Mark Levin presents the "Dan Rather Award for Stupidest Analysis", Ted Turner wins it, Ed Meese accepts on Turner's behalf.

Some of President Obama's policies are not faring well in public opinion, but will anyone be told? On Feb. 2, a Gallup poll found that Obama's executive order "allowing U.S. funding for overseas family planning organizations that provide abortion" was decidedly unpopular: Only 35 percent approved, while 58 percent disapproved. You didn't know this? You're not alone: A Nexis survey finds none of the television networks, cable or broadcast, noticed these results, either. The Gallup survey found overwhelming approval for other Obama policies -- on higher fuel efficiency standards, on restricting lobbyists from joining his administration, on interrogating suspects according...

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos is engaged in daily private phone briefings with Obama Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emanuel. He then presents himself as a credible journalist and nonpartisan commentator in reporting about the administration. Such a move crosses journalistic lines, is a clear conflict of interest and must be stopped immediately. The Media Research Center is calling on MRC Action Team members to email Stephanopoulos, David Westin, the President of ABC News and Westin’s boss, Anne Sweeney, Co-Chairman of Disney, and Sweeney's bosses, ABC/Disney's Board of Directors, demanding an immediate end to this obvious conflict of interest. Complete the form below to...

Last week, President Obama had a meeting with GOP leaders in which he warned them against listening to Rush Limbaugh -- “you can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done.” Don’t let them make conservative talk leaders like Rush Limbaugh “public enemy number one”. As Brent Bozell said, “There is something eerie, Big Brother-like in Obama’s actions. He will deny it, of course, but this is an attack on Limbaugh’s and all conservatives’ right to free speech. He wants to set the stage for the Fairness Doctrine. And he’s doing it through character assassination with the goal of...

The Media Research Center head reflects.

Quote of the Year Co-anchor Chris Matthews: “I have to tell you, you know, it’s part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama’s speech. My — I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often. ”Co-anchor Keith Olbermann: “Steady.”

In October 2006 the national media projected Rep. Mark Foley’s online sex chats with House pages into a disaster that would swallow the Grand Old Party whole. CBS, for example, proclaimed it the “congressional equivalent of Katrina.” In 2008, when federal investigators found Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich trying to put Barack Obama’s Senate seat on the auction block, these same “news” gatherers found a storm, to be sure, but a storm they suggested would in short order be “pushed out to sea.” With the governor caught on tape unloading obscenity after obscenity about how he expected to reap a financial...

In October 2006 the national media projected Rep. Mark Foley’s online sex chats with House pages into a disaster that would swallow the Grand Old Party whole. CBS, for example, proclaimed it the “congressional equivalent of Katrina.” In 2008, when federal investigators found Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich trying to put Barack Obama’s Senate seat on the auction block, these same “news” gatherers found a storm, to be sure, but a storm they suggested would in short order be “pushed out to sea.” With the governor caught on tape unloading obscenity after obscenity about how he expected to reap a financial...

Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., accepts the "Barack Obama Gives A Thrill Up My Leg Award" at the 2008 MRC DisHonors Awards.

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell said on "Fox & Friends" that the media reported more this year on the 2002 Enron collapse than the collapse of government-backed mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. VIDEO

Lee Cowan’s “infectious” feelings and Chris Matthews’ “thrill” helped NBC lead the way in positive coverage for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. But the other two major networks weren’t far behind in a study of 1,365 network news stories going back to May 17, 2000, the date of Obama’s first appearance on CBS Evening News, through early June 2008, when the Illinois senator secured the Democratic nomination. The study was released Wednesday by the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog and the parent organization of CNSNews.com. The study is titled, “Obama’s Margin of Victory: The Media,” pointing out that...

The “Red Army” poem goes beyond hoping for the communists to beat the Nazis in World War II and hails the Soviet revolution. It says:“Show the marveling multitudesAmericans, British, all your allied brothersHow strong you areHow great you areHow your young tree of new unityPlanted twenty-five years ago Bears today the golden fruit of victory!”

When our culture merchants calculate how to exploit societal attitudes toward the homosexual lifestyle, one factor doesn't enter into the equation. Frankly, they don't give a d--- about people who believe it's a sin against God. Those religious people with their religious hang-ups aren't likely to watch MTV, so why bother with their silly complaints? Religious concerns safely tossed aside, producers are free to explore how best to profit from pushing envelopes. They know that (most) men don't enjoy watching gay men, but enough do like to watch women flirt with lesbianism to make it a commercially viable enterprise. Enter...

The Issue:MOnce again, liberal leaders are pushing the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” to silence conservative leaders like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Mark Levin. Their goal is clear -- silence conservative speech over the radio airwaves. Read MRC’s Special Report: Unmasking The Fairness Doctrine (.pdf)Help Declare Radio Independence Day!The Media Research Center is leading the effort to expose and defeat these efforts. The Broadcaster Freedom Act (H.R. 2905) -- a bill in Congress that would ban permanently the so-called “Fairness Doctrine.” -- is stalled in Congress. We want to rally 100,000 signers by July 4th so we can press every member...

For conservatives who would like to think the whole government should be handed over to the liberals for a few years until the Reagan wing of the Republican Party can get its act together, a quick look at a monstrosity under consideration by Congress is in order. Liberal Democrats and "green" Republicans are proposing a massive reorganization of the American economy to fight so-called global warming. Worse yet, proponents of this bill are attempting to sell this eco-socialism as a "market-based" policy, and their allies in the national media are going along with the charade.

The following is from an MRC press release calling out the liberal mainstream media for covering up House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) recent remarks chalking up the success of the U.S. military in Iraq to the "goodwill of the Iranians." [audio of Pelosi's remarks available here] Alexandria, VA-- Last Thursday, a collection of reporters and members of the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle sat down for a nearly 80-minute interview with Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California. At the 62-minute mark, Pelosi slandered and demeaned the hard-won successes of our armed forces in...

An early review is in for HBO's upcoming movie, Recount, about the Bush-Gore battle in Florida after 2000 election. Gillian Flynn in Entertainment Weekly, which like HBO is part of the Time-Warner family, has described the film, to premiere next Sunday night, as tilted against the Republican characters. In her review in the May 23 edition of the magazine, Flynn asserted: “Recount may not be downright blue, but it's not as purply as it wants to appear.” Saying “Recount is an underdog story, and thus a Democrat story,” Flynn reported that the “Republican players here are coolly calculating -- Tom...

Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos," the effort to urge conservatives and Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton in order to prolong the Democratic nomination battle, certainly annoys MSNBC's Chris Matthews who, during primary coverage Tuesday night, denounced the "mischief-making" by "a talk jock." In the 11:30 PM EDT half hour, Matthews offered a "Keith [Olbermann]-style special comment" about how "anyone who voted to screw up the political system of this country with the purpose of mischief should carry that with them the rest their lives." He called it "a ridiculous way to use the vote for which people fought and died,"...

Outrage comes easy at the sight of 15-year-old Disney Channel billion-dollar phenomenon Miley Cyrus -- known to screaming 8-year-old girls as Hannah Montana -- appearing barebacked with a come-hither smile in a photo shoot for Vanity Fair. Did no one understand how the slinky satin-sheet photo would be greeted by the eyes of teenage boys -- or men twice her age? Parents are covering the eyes of their Disney-drenched little girls while their role model has a train wreck. Do we need another Britney Spears Show? But teenage boys are going wilder this week over a more dangerous cultural low:...

Pope Benedict XVI is in America and, like his predecessor, is about to be treated to curiously bipolar coverage at the hands of the American press. While in-country, John Paul the Great received almost universally positive treatment. But up to the point the papal wheels touched down, the media reports were consistently critical – some verging on the savage – and when it was wheels-up, the press immediately returned to their old ways. The tone this time around will not be so much “news” as the recycled template that our journalistic elite imposes on every papal visit to America in...

Click the pic. 

Just as occurred Monday night, viewers of Tuesday's ABC and NBC evening newscasts never heard the word "Democrat" applied to New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, nor did they even put a "(D)" on screen by his name as ABC did briefly Monday. CBS didn't announce his party either on Tuesday night, but Katie Couric had done so Monday night. The ABC and NBC newscasts, however, did put "(R)" on screen over soundbites from Republicans and NBC's Mike Taibbi twice referred to the reaction from "Republican" politicians. Fill-in ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas avoided any party tag: "New York's Governor, Eliot Spitzer,...

It’s ok for “transsexual” men to use the ladies’ room? A mother should accept her daughter making a living by running porn sites? America should embrace same-sex “marriage?” Dear Abby, what have you come to? For more than 50 years, Dear Abby has been counseling people on how to live their lives. People usually associate Abby with common sense, but in reality she’s an unsung warrior in the sexual revolution—firmly on the side of Playboy, NARAL, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Dear Abby consistently steers people into the arms of Planned Parenthood, homosexual activist groups, and the...

The winning quotes in the MRC's "Best Notable Quotables of 2007: The Twentieth Annual Awards for the Year's Worst Reporting." As noted in previous CyberAlerts, the awards issue was posted, with videos, on Monday, December 17, but following tradition, today, Friday and Monday -- the last weekdays of the year -- CyberAlert will run the winning quotes followed on succeeding days by the runners-up. The Media Research Center's annual awards issue provides a compilation of the most outrageous and/or humorous news media quotes from 2007 (December 2006 through November 2007). To determine this year's winners, a panel of 53 radio...

A recent study, "Good News = Less News on Iraq War," by Media Research Center, NB's parent organization, revealed that coverage of Iraq by the big three evening newscasts has declined as the news from Iraq has improved. Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace highlighted the MRC study during his interview of General David Petraeus, Commanding General, Multi-National Force - Iraq . CHRIS WALLACE: It seemed to us that you hadn't been in the news much recently, which probably is a good thing from your point of view, since you came back from Washington in September. But we decided to...

Howie made his grand return to radio on Nov. 18. In this weekly thread we follow his show plus I'll post interesting columns by him, etc. There are usually daily pings Mon.-Fri. and Sun with his column.

Appearing on the September 13 edition of "Fox News Live," MRC president and NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell questioned the deep 60 percent discount that liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org received for its infamous "Betray Us" ad attacking the honor of Gen. David Petraeus. Bozell noted that "unless the New York Times can explain itself away and show how this was some incredible coincidence" that the paper is in effect "a co-sponsor of that despicable ad." Video (2:10): Real and Windows, plus MP3 audio. Below is a transcript of the interview: BRENT BOZELL, President of the Media Research Center: Well, let's start...

A media watchdog organization says after a year in the anchor chair at CBS, Katie Couric's liberal approach has perpetuated the network's bias problem. The Media Research Center (MRC) says for 15 years, Couric put her liberal fingerprints all over the Today Show. And after one year on the job at CBS, MRC spokesman Tim Graham says Couric has carried on the liberal tradition of Dan Rather. "Katie Couric has been at it for a year at CBS. She's still a ratings disaster, and she's still channeling all the liberal bias, all the puff jobs for Hillary Clinton and Michael...

C-SPAN2 Today Will Air the MRC's 20th Anniversary Gala with 'DisHonors' and Limbaugh Posted by NB Staff on July 4, 2007 - 02:36. Today, Wednesday, July 4 at 3:21pm EDT (2:21pm CDT, 1:21pm MDT, 12:21pm PDT), C-SPAN2 is scheduled to carry the MRC's March 29 "2007 DisHonors Awards: Roasting the Most Outrageously Biased Liberal Reporters of 2006" -- the showcase of the MRC's 20th Anniversary Gala -- which was followed by Rush Limbaugh accepting the MRC's first annual "William F. Buckley Award for Media Excellence." A rundown of the evening's events and winners, with a lot of pictures, as well...

Most Americans think culture is becoming more immoral, and they view the media -- both entertainment and news -- as prime culprits, according to a new survey.     If the media continue to "singularly promote" secular values while undermining orthodox faith and values, it will be very difficult to reverse America's moral decline, said the National Cultural Values Survey, released yesterday by the Culture and Media Institute (CMI) of the Media Research Center.     "Americans who care about the nation's moral condition should insist that the media strive to more fairly represent all views, including those of the orthodox," the report stated....

Six silent television screens are tuned to six different channels on the third-floor offices of the Media Research Center in Alexandria, producing a discordant TV tableau. On a recent afternoon, one screen shows a woman crying on the "Dr. Phil" show, while on another screen, director James Cameron is promoting a documentary that purports to show the tomb of Jesus.     It's all in a day's work for the center, whose red-bearded founder, L. Brent Bozell III, chuckles cheerfully as he guides a visitor on a tour.     In a nearby room, he points to row upon row of archived video recordings...