Rush Limbaugh is the next target of Media Matters for America.
Chicago Tribune reporter Christi Parsons wrote a piece for the Sunday, May 6 edition titled, “Parody targets role of race in Obama candidacy.” Parsons wrote, “Weeks after radio personality Rush Limbaugh began airing a parody titled Barack the Magic Negro, the song about African-American Senator Barack Obama's popularity with many white voters is drawing fire from critics who say it is racist. The audio clip features a comedian imitating the singing voice of Rev. Al Sharpton, bemoaning Obama's popularity with whites who will, the lyrics predict, “vote for him and not for me 'cause he's not from da hood.”’
The column continues, “Obama's campaign called the song 'dumb,' although a spokesman said the campaign doesn't think anyone is taking the song seriously . . . But Limbaugh's critics say the song goes too far — particularly because the piece is spreading on the Internet at a time when Obama faces security concerns fueled in part by racist remarks and threats directed at him.”
So who are these critics? From the tone of the Tribune articles one would think that there were several impartial, nonpartisan people, or organizations, concerned with civility and eliminating racism and hate speech in the media, who were aghast about Limbaugh’s parody.
Right.
Parsons quoted only one critic – Media Matters for America (MMA), which she described as “a nonprofit media watchdog group.” Karl Frisch, a “spokesman” for MMA, was quoted saying, “We take these things seriously because there's a consistent pattern of them making their way into the mainstream media and then the mainstream consciousness . . . It's important to shoot these things down.”
MMA is not an impartial group. Indeed, they are unabashed about their bias. Their website clearly states their mission is “to systematically monitor a cross-section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation — news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the conservative agenda . . .”
“Systematically monitor?” Big Brother is here and it is not the PATRIOT Act.
According to a 4-13-07 article by Brad Kava in the San Jose Mercury News, “While radio shock jock Don Imus was hanging up his cowboy hat and getting canned Wednesday from his MSNBC TV show and then Thursday from CBS . . . Media Matters for America was scratching a notch on its belt . . . 'We were the first to draw attention to the comments a week ago,' said Jamison Foser . . . a former Democratic Party worker who organized Media Matters with the better-known founder David Brock . . ..”
While MMA is dedicated to “systematically” monitoring what conservatives say for accuracy and vitriol, it seems they are having some problems of their own with accuracy and vitriol.
For example, the December 1, 2004 MMA website contained an article titled, “Proven liar Horowitz said Media Matters ignores the facts.” This was about Frontpagemag.com’s publisher, and noted liberal gadfly, David Horowitz. MMA claimed a December 1 FrontPageMag.com column by Horowitz, "opened with an outright falsehood: Horowitz asserted that Media Matters has received funding from billionaire philanthropist George Soros."
The author of the article emphatically pronounced that, “To date (12-1-04), neither Media Matters nor its president and CEO David Brock has received any money from Soros or from any organization with which he is affiliated.”
Whoever the ace reporter for MMA was who wrote this, he obviously did not walk across the hall and check with the MMA fiscal department. MoveOn.org’s 2003 IRS Form 990, which is the return filed by tax exempt groups, lists as a “donee” Media Matters for America. It received $50,000 from MoveOn.org.
MoveOn.org is a Soros-affiliated organization. According to a November 11, 2003 Washington Post article, “Soros, who has financed efforts to promote open societies in more than 50 countries around the world, is bringing the fight home, he said. On Monday, he and a partner committed up to $5 million to MoveOn.org, a liberal activist group . . ..”
There was some very poor factchecking by the MMA factcheckers. So why should Americans believe without question what MMA says?
Everybody makes mistakes in reporting. Yet, I have yet to see where MMA retracted their claim that Horowitz lied or that they have received funds from groups affiliated with Soros.
MMA’s obsession with racism is ironic: according to a May 3, 2007 Human Events article, by Catherine Moy, “Media Matters stars, including Brock, Eric Alterman and Ryan Chiachiere, are hypocrites who have used the very sexist, bigoted and racist language for which they crucify others, including Imus.”
Moy quoted from a Nov. 9, 2000, issue of The Nation, in which Alterman wrote, “I got a call one day from a Republican Party functionary telling me that Hillary Clinton supported a Palestinian state and took money from groups that supported terrorist organizations 'like the one that just blew up the USS Cole.' I told the sorry sonofabitch that like Israel's Prime Minister, I, too, support a Palestinian state. And, if there was any justice in the world, Hillary's 'terrorist' friends would blow up Republican headquarters while we were still on the phone, so I could enjoy hearing the explosion . . ..”
She also provides an example of ethnic slurs. Moy wrote, “The cub reporter who busted Imus, Chiachiere, cohosts a website that exploits the worst stereotypes of Jews and Italians: 'Republicans . . . or the Mafia: Helping you make sense of today’s GOP.' On the left side of the site is a picture of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in a fedora. Opposite is a shot of the fictional Mafia Don Corleone with a similar hat.”
MMA is the paradigm of the “glass house” aphorism.
Some have speculated that MMA is now hunting Rush Limbaugh to be the next “notch on its belt,” as the San Jose Mercury termed it. If they succeed, it would be an impressive notch.
It may be a suicide mission though. The stones MMA throws at Limbaugh may be thrown back at their glass house.
elfegobaca@comcast.net
http://home.comcast.net/~elfegobaca/index.htm
Read more articles by Michael P. Tremoglie
