If you ever look into the complaints of RW watchdogs like Accuracy in Media, it always turns out that they're the liars, not the media.
On the other hand -- if you look into the complaints of LW watchdogs like Media Matters for America -- then it turns out there's actually something to it.
Media Matters for America is a liberal media watchdog, concerned with combating conservative media bias. They famously produced the documentary Outfoxed which demonstrates the bias in Fox News.[1]
Media Matters also tracks and debunks pseudoscience favored by conservatives, including creationism,[2] global warming denialism,[3] and bogus claims about abortion.[4]
According to Bill O'Reilly, former Fox News entertainer, Media Matters is a far-left wing hate group funded by George Soros' shadow party. Although Soros donated US$1 million to Media Matters in 2010, this is his only connection to the organization.[5]
Media Matters is far from unbiased itself, as could be expected from an organization founded by David "Anita Hill is a Perjuring Lesbian" Brock.[note 1] One of their studies purportedly demonstrating conservative bias in newspapers due to conservatives dominating op-ed pages was criticized for weighting columnists syndicated in local rags the same as ones syndicated in major newspapers.[6]
In March of 2014, Media Matters launched Mythopedia, a sort of quick and dirty refutation of claims.[7]
Crankery[edit]
- AIM was one of the biggest pushers of Vince Foster conspiracy theories.[2] They launched an FOIA suit against the National Park Service in 1999, in an attempt to get hold of some pictures of Foster, and lost.[3] In a 1999 interview with Richard Mellon Scaife (who conveniently happens to be a funder of AIM[4]), Scaife pushed the Foster conspiracy theory along with the "Clinton body count list," a staple on the chain e-mail forward circuit.[5]
- They also push conspiracy theories revolving around a socialist world government, enacted through the United Nations[6] and a North American Union.[7] AIDS in Africa is apparently a "manufactured crisis" perpetuated by the UN.[8] These conspiracies also often involve George Soros, somehow.
- They promote Intelligent Design, even citing that bastion of scientific integrity the Discovery Institute.[9]
- Anti-environmentalist conspiracy theories and denialism are popular topics, including myths about DDT and Rachel Carson,[10] as well as global warming denial.[11][12]
- Anti-gay bigotry, including homosexual recruitment conspiracies.[13]
- Birtherism, of course, and they're still going at it.[14]
- Cliff Kincaid, director of their Center for Investigative Journalism, is also the president of America's Survival, another UN-conspiracy mongering organization.[15]
- Their article on CASA De Maryland[16] is illustrated with what looks like a parody of a 1960s-1970s conspiracy theorist flow chart.[17]
On the other hand -- if you look into the complaints of LW watchdogs like Media Matters for America -- then it turns out there's actually something to it.
Media Matters for America is a liberal media watchdog, concerned with combating conservative media bias. They famously produced the documentary Outfoxed which demonstrates the bias in Fox News.[1]
Media Matters also tracks and debunks pseudoscience favored by conservatives, including creationism,[2] global warming denialism,[3] and bogus claims about abortion.[4]
According to Bill O'Reilly, former Fox News entertainer, Media Matters is a far-left wing hate group funded by George Soros' shadow party. Although Soros donated US$1 million to Media Matters in 2010, this is his only connection to the organization.[5]
Media Matters is far from unbiased itself, as could be expected from an organization founded by David "Anita Hill is a Perjuring Lesbian" Brock.[note 1] One of their studies purportedly demonstrating conservative bias in newspapers due to conservatives dominating op-ed pages was criticized for weighting columnists syndicated in local rags the same as ones syndicated in major newspapers.[6]
In March of 2014, Media Matters launched Mythopedia, a sort of quick and dirty refutation of claims.[7]