Media Research Center#NewsBusters

{{Short description|Conservative media watchdog group based in Virginia}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = Media Research Center

| formation = {{start date and age|1987|10|01}}

| logo = MRC Official Logo.png

| logo_size = 300px

| type = 501(c)(3) nonprofit

| tax_id = 54-1429009

| abbreviation = MRC

| founder = L. Brent Bozell III

| key_people = {{Ubl|Tim Graham|Rich Noyes|Brent Baker|Dan Schneider}}

| focus = educating the public on the issue of left-wing media bias

| headquarters = Herndon, Virginia, U.S.

| method = Editorials, online newsletters, reports, conservative activism, right-wing activism

| website = {{Official URL}}

| footnotes = {{cite web |title=Media Research Center, Inc. – GuideStar Profile |url=https://www.guidestar.org/profile/54-1429009 |access-date=October 9, 2018}}

}}

The Media Research Center (MRC) is an American conservative content analysis and media watchdog group based in Herndon, Virginia, and founded in 1987 by L. Brent Bozell III.{{Cite web |last1=Goldmacher |first1=Shane |last2=Alberta |first2=Tim |last3=Journal |first3=National |date=2014-12-08 |title=ForAmerica: The Right Wing's Facebook Army |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/12/the-conservative-digital-army/383526/ |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}

The nonprofit MRC has received financial support primarily from Robert Mercer,{{Cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/feb/26/robert-mercer-breitbart-war-on-media-steve-bannon-donald-trump-nigel-farage |title=Robert Mercer: the big data billionaire waging war on mainstream media |last=Cadwalladr |first=Carole |date=2017-02-26 |work=The Observer |access-date=2020-01-09 |language=en-GB |issn=0029-7712}} but with several other conservative-leaning sources, including the Bradley, Scaife, Olin, Castle Rock and JM foundations, as well as ExxonMobil. It has been described as "one of the most active and best-funded, and yet least known" arms of the modern conservative movement in the United States.{{cite web|last=Alberta|first=Tim|title=The Deep Roots of Trump's War on the Press|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/26/the-deep-roots-trumps-war-on-the-press-218105|website=Politico|access-date=26 April 2018|date=26 April 2018}}

Foundation and funding

File:Brent Bozell by Gage Skidmore.jpg founded the Media Research Center in 1987.]]

Bozell and a group of other American conservatives founded MRC on October 1, 1987. Their initial budget was at US$339,000.{{cite web|title=About the MRC|url=https://www.mrc.org/about|publisher=MRC |access-date=March 9, 2018}} Prior to founding the MRC, Bozell was the chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee; he resigned from that position a month before establishing MRC.{{cite news|title=Conservative Official Resigns|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5DC143FF932A3575AC0A961948260|work=The New York Times|agency=Associated Press|date=September 1, 1987|access-date=August 3, 2008}} A wealthy donor whose name has been kept anonymous helped set up the MRC.{{Cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/26/the-deep-roots-trumps-war-on-the-press-218105|title=The Deep Roots of Trump's War on the Press|work=Politico Magazine|access-date=2018-04-27}} The MRC has received financial support from several foundations, including the Bradley, Scaife, Olin, Castle Rock, Carthage and JM foundations.{{cite web|title=MRC funders|url=http://mediamattersaction.org/transparency/organization/Media_Research_Center/funders|work=Media Matters|access-date=November 22, 2011}} It also receives funding from ExxonMobil. The organization rejects the scientific consensus on climate change and criticizes media coverage that reflects the scientific consensus.{{cite news|title=Oil giant gave £1 million fund climate sceptics; ExxonMobil broke its pledge to halt payments Oil giant gave £1m to fund climate change sceptics|first=Ben |last=Webster|work=The Times|location=London (UK)|date=July 19, 2010|page=1|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/oil-giant-gave-pound1-million-to-fund-climate-sceptics-gtwrq8m03bl}}{{cite news|access-date=2018-03-08|title=Put a Tiger In Your Think Tank|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/05/put-tiger-your-think-tank/|newspaper=Mother Jones}}{{Cite web |date=2007-01-08 |title=Report: Big Money Confusing Public on Global Warming |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Business/story?id=2767979&page=1 |access-date=2018-08-12 |website=ABC News |language=en}}{{Failed verification|date=March 2025|reason=Sources are relevant but do not seem to directly support the claim that this org rejects the scientific consensus on climate change.}} The MRC received over $10 million from Robert Mercer, its largest single donor.

As of its 2015 reporting to the IRS, the organization had revenue approaching $15 million and expenses in excess of $15 million. Bozell's salary during this year was reported as close to $345,000, with nearly $122,000 in additional compensation from the organization and related organizations.{{cite web|date=September 5, 2013|title=Media Research Center Inc – Nonprofit Explorer|url=https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/541429009|access-date=December 1, 2021|website=ProPublica}}

Projects

=Reports on news media=

file:Media Research Center original logo.svg

From 1996 to 2009, the MRC published a daily online newsletter called CyberAlert written by editor Brent Baker. Each issue profiles what he perceives as biased or inaccurate reports about politics in the American news media.{{cite web|url=http://www.mrc.org/archive/cyber/welcome.asp|title=CyberAlert|last=Baker|first=Brent|publisher=Media Research Center|access-date=March 15, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090305130430/http://www.mrc.org/archive/cyber/welcome.asp|archive-date=March 5, 2009|url-status=dead}} Prior to CyberAlert, MRC published such reports in a monthly newsletter titled MediaWatch,{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973551,00.html |title=The Media's Wacky Watchdogs |last=Queenan |first=Joe |date=August 5, 1991 |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201134155/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C973551%2C00.html |archive-date=December 1, 2008 |page=1 |url-status=dead }} from 1988 to 1999.{{cite web|url=http://www.mediaresearch.org/archive/mediawatch/welcome.asp|title=MediaWatch|publisher=Media Research Center|access-date=March 15, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125051345/http://www.mediaresearch.org/archive/mediawatch/welcome.asp|archive-date=January 25, 2009|df=mdy-all}} Media analysis articles are now under the banner BiasAlert.{{cite web|title=BiasAlert Archive|url=http://www.mediaresearch.org/biasalert/archive.aspx|publisher=Media Research Center|access-date=June 8, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317124054/http://www.mediaresearch.org/biasalert/archive.aspx|archive-date=March 17, 2012|df=mdy-all}} Media analysis director Tim Graham and research director Rich Noyes regularly write Media Reality Check, another MRC publication documenting alleged liberal bias.{{cite web|title=Media Reality Check|url=http://mrc.org/archive/realitycheck/welcome.asp|publisher=MRC|access-date=July 26, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080726094248/http://www.mrc.org/archive/realitycheck/welcome.asp|archive-date=July 26, 2008|url-status=dead}} Notable Quotables is its "collection of the most biased quotes from journalists". In Notable Quotables, editors give honors such as the "Linda Ellerbee Awards for Distinguished Reporting" based on the former CNN commentator, who Bozell considered "a liberal blowhard who has nothing to say".{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973551,00.html |title=The Media's Wacky Watchdogs |last=Queenan |first=Joe |date=August 5, 1991 |magazine=Time |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201134155/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C973551%2C00.html |archive-date=December 1, 2008 |page= 2 |url-status=dead }} Other features on its website include the weekly syndicated news and entertainment columns written by founder Bozell.

MRC staff members have also written editorials and books about their findings of the media. Bozell has written three books about the news media: And That's the Way it Isn't: A Reference Guide to Media Bias (1990, with Brent Baker); Weapons of Mass Distortion: The Coming Meltdown of the Liberal Media (2004); and Whitewash: How The News Media Are Paving Hillary Clinton's Path to the Presidency (2007, with Tim Graham). Research director Rich Noyes has also co-authored several published books.{{cite web|title=Rich Noyes|url=http://www.mediaresearch.org/bios/noyes/noyesbio.asp|publisher=MRC|access-date=August 1, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619161123/http://www.mediaresearch.org/bios/noyes/noyesbio.asp|archive-date=June 19, 2008|df=mdy-all}}

=MRC Business=

In 1992, the MRC created the Free Market Project to promote the culture of free enterprise and combat what it believes is media spin on business and economic news. That division recently{{when|date=February 2019}} changed its name to the Business & Media Institute (www.businessandmedia.org) and later to MRC Business and is now focused on "Advancing the culture of free enterprise in America." BMI's advisory board included such well-known individuals as economists Walter Williams and Bruce Bartlett, as well as former CNN anchor David Goodnow. BMI is led by career journalist Dan Gainor, a former managing editor at CQ.com, the website for Congressional Quarterly. It released a research report in June 2006 covering the portrayal of business on prime-time entertainment television during the May and November "sweeps" periods from 2005. The report concluded that the programs, among them the long running NBC legal drama Law & Order, were biased against business.{{cite news|last=Ahrens|first=Frank|title=On TV, There's a Killer Corporate Image Problem|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062201786.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=June 23, 2006|page=D1}} Another report of the BMI accused the networks of bias in favor of the Gardasil vaccine, a vaccine intended to prevent cervical cancer.

=CNSNews=

Bozell founded CNSNews (formerly Cybercast News Service) in 1998 to cover stories he believes are ignored by mainstream news organizations.{{cite news|last=Hafner|first=Katie|title=New Conservative News Site Will Fill a Void, Founder Says|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E6DF1E3DF93BA25755C0A96E958260|work=The New York Times|date=June 18, 1998|access-date=July 28, 2008}} CNSNews.com provides news articles for Townhall.com and other websites for a subscription fee. Its leadership consists of president Brent Bozell and editor Terry Jeffrey. Under editor David Thibault, CNSNews.com questioned the validity of the circumstances in which Democratic Rep. John Murtha received his Purple Hearts as a response to Murtha's criticisms of the U.S. War in Iraq. The Washington Post and Nancy Pelosi have commented that this approach is similar to the tactics of the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, which opposed John Kerry's candidacy in the 2004 election.{{cite news|last1=Kurtz|first1=Howard|last2=Murray|first2=Shailagh|title=Web Site Attacks Critic of War|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/13/AR2006011301736.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 14, 2006|page=A5}}

=NewsBusters=

In the summer of 2005, Media Research Center launched NewsBusters, a website "dedicated to exposing & combating liberal media bias," in cooperation with Matthew Sheffield, a now-former conservative blogger (who now works at Salon.com) involved in the CBS Killian documents story. NewsBusters is styled as a rapid-response blog site that contains posts by MRC editors to selected stories in mass media.{{cite web|url=http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2005/newsbust.html|title=NewsBusted|last=Krepel|first=Terry|date=September 22, 2005|work=ConWebWatch|access-date=March 15, 2009}} Although the site is advertised chiefly as a conservative site, it frequently defends neoconservatives as well.{{cite web|last=Finkelstein |first=Mark |url=http://newsbusters.org/node/6494 |title=Take the Anti-Neo-Con Test: Who Said It – Matthews or Buchanan? |publisher=NewsBusters.org |date=July 19, 2006 |access-date=August 13, 2010}} The site highlights journalists and non-journalists (writers, musicians, producers, scientists, etc.) perceived as having liberal viewpoints.{{cite web |last=Meister |first=Pam |url=http://newsbusters.org/blogs/pam-meister/2009/07/10/leftist-rocker-john-mellencamp-first-amendment-more-collective-thing |title=Leftist Rocker John Mellencamp: First Amendment More of a 'Collective' Thing |publisher=NewsBusters.org |date=October 29, 2009 |access-date=August 13, 2010 |archive-date=January 23, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123092831/http://newsbusters.org/blogs/pam-meister/2009/07/10/leftist-rocker-john-mellencamp-first-amendment-more-collective-thing |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://newsbusters.org/people/political-figures/george-soros |title=George Soros |publisher=NewsBusters.org |access-date=August 13, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100815010821/http://newsbusters.org/people/political-figures/george-soros |archive-date=August 15, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}{{cite web |last=Sheffield |first=Greg |date=October 29, 2009 |title=Barbara Streisand: Psychoanalyst Extraordinaire |url=http://newsbusters.org/node/4863 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060912091939/http://newsbusters.org/node/4863 |archive-date=September 12, 2006 |access-date=August 13, 2010 |website=NewsBusters.org}}{{cite web |last=Shepherd |first=Ken |url=http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2009/05/07/ted-turner-chinas-population-control-scheme-not-draconian |title=Ted Turner: China's Population Control Scheme Is Not 'Draconian' |publisher=NewsBusters.org |date=October 29, 2009 |access-date=August 13, 2010 |archive-date=January 1, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100101041353/http://newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2009/05/07/ted-turner-chinas-population-control-scheme-not-draconian |url-status=dead }}

=Research on entertainment=

The MRC has produced research and analysis on the entertainment industry, as well. In May 1989, the MRC began publishing the newsletter TV, etc. Its mission, said Bozell in a 1992 lecture at The Heritage Foundation, was to "document the left-wing antics within the entertainment industry".{{cite web |last=Bozell |first=L. Brent III |author-link=L. Brent Bozell III |date=January 21, 1992 |title=Why Conservatives Should Be Optimistic About the Media |url=https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/why-conservatives-should-be-optimistic-about-the-media |url-status=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090315015903/http://www.heritage.org/Research/PoliticalPhilosophy/HL380.cfm |archivedate=March 15, 2009 |accessdate=May 21, 2024 |website=The Heritage Foundation}} TV, etc. attracted immediate attention in entertainment circles. As noted by Broadcasting magazine, the debut issue of TV, etc. was critical of primetime TV shows like The Golden Girls, Head of the Class, and thirtysomething for containing storylines or dialogue believed to be hostile to conservatives.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1989/BC-1989-06-05.pdf|title=Keeping an eye on the left|magazine=Broadcasting|page=73|date=June 5, 1989|volume=116|issue=23|accessdate=May 21, 2024|via=World Radio History}} Then at its annual convention in July 1989, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists passed a resolution criticizing the MRC's newsletter.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1989/BC-1989-10-16.pdf|title=AFTRA, SAG blast conservative newsletter |magazine=Broadcasting|date=October 16, 1989|page=88|volume=117|issue=16|accessdate=May 21, 2024|via=World Radio History}}

A 1990 issue of TV, etc. published lyrics to the Todd Rundgren song "Jesse" that attacked Jesse Helms, Tipper Gore, and Pope John Paul II; Bozell also wrote to Warner Bros. Records urging the label not to include the song in Rundgren's upcoming album.{{cite web|url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1990/10/09/insulting-song-lyrics-targeted/|title=Insulting song lyrics targeted|work=St. Petersburg Times|date=October 9, 1990|accessdate=May 21, 2024}}

TV, etc. also released annual lists of programs it deemed the "most biased". For the 1991–92 season, The Trials of Rosie O'Neill made the top of that list; other shows ranked included Captain Planet and the Planeteers, L.A. Law, and The Simpsons.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-09-ca-2532-story.html|title=The Exhilarating Dawn of Talk-Back Campaigns|last=Du Brow|first=Rick|work=Los Angeles Times|date=July 9, 1992|accessdate=May 21, 2024|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20240521221932/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-07-09-ca-2532-story.html|archivedate=May 21, 2024|url-status=live|url-access=limited}}

In 1993, Bozell wrote a letter to NBC in support of its show Against the Grain as the show was struggling in ratings. Bozell praised Against the Grain for "staunch advocacy of education and gentle, respectful treatment of family life."{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/1993/tv/news/watchdog-likes-grain-115782/|title=Watchdog likes 'Grain'|work=Variety|date=November 11, 1993|accessdate=May 21, 2024}}

Following the 1994–95 television season, TV, etc. named the NBC made-for-TV movie Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story the most biased program of the season; others included Roseanne and The X-Files.{{cite web|title=A Liberal Bent?: The conservative Media Research Center lists the top 10 shows it says are "most guilty of pushing a liberal agenda." |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-06-27-ca-17577-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=June 27, 1995|accessdate=May 21, 2024|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20240520225050/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-06-27-ca-17577-story.html|archivedate=May 20, 2024|url-status=live|url-access=limited}} Then in 1995, Bozell founded the Parents Television Council, with a focus on combatting indecency on television.{{cite magazine|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/printout/0,8816,1039700,00.html|title=The Decency Police|last=Poniewozik|first=James|magazine=Time|date=March 20, 2005|accessdate=May 21, 2024|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090921040750/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1039700,00.html|archivedate=September 21, 2009|url-status=live}}

In October 2006, the MRC created the Culture and Media Institute, the mission of which is "to advance, preserve, and help restore America's culture, character, traditional values, and morals against the assault of the liberal media."{{cite web|url=http://www.mrc.org/press/2006/press20061018.asp|title=MRC Launches Culture & Media Institute|website=MRC.org|access-date=January 21, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522125331/http://www.mrc.org/press/2006/press20061018.asp|archive-date=May 22, 2008|url-status=dead}} Robert H. Knight was the institute's first director. MRC VP Dan Gainor is now in charge of that department.

The CMI promoted its mission through editorials and research reports. In March 2007, the CMI published a "National Cultural Values Survey" and concluded from its results that most Americans perceived a decline in moral values.{{cite news|last=Wetzstein|first=Cheryl|title=Americans see media aiding moral decline|url=http://washingtontimes.com/news/2007/mar/08/20070308-123726-1902r/|work=The Washington Times|date=March 8, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310180108/http://washingtontimes.com:80/national/20070308-123726-1902r.htm|archive-date=March 10, 2007|url-status=dead}} One study released by the organization in June 2007 claimed that television viewing time correlated directly with one's liberal attitude, even possibly degrading to moral attitudes.{{cite news|last=Fitzpatrick|first=Brian|title=Does Watching TV Damage Character?|url=http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=21069|work=Human Events|date=June 12, 2007|access-date=November 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613015557/http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=21069|archive-date=June 13, 2007}} In 2008, it published a report detailing its opposition to reinstatement of the FCC fairness doctrine, a policy requiring broadcasters to present differing views on controversial issues of public import. The MRC claims the rule had been politically weaponized by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations to suppress conservative radio, before being abolished by a bipartisan FCC in 1987.{{cite press release|title=Report: Unmasking the Myths Behind the Fairness Doctrine|url=http://www.mediaresearch.org/press/2008/press20080610.asp|publisher=Media Research Center|date=2008-06-10|url-status=dead|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20081024233146/http://www.mediaresearch.org/press/2008/press20080610.asp|archive-date=2008-10-24}}

The CBS crime drama Cold Case has been twice criticized by the CMI for alleged anti-Christian prejudice in two episodes.{{cite news|last=De Leon|first=Kris|title='Cold Case' Upsets Conservative Group|url=http://www.buddytv.com/articles/cold-case/cold-case-upsets-conservative-12692.aspx|work=BuddyTV.com|date=2007-10-21|access-date=2008-06-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410202818/http://www.buddytv.com/articles/cold-case/cold-case-upsets-conservative-12692.aspx|archive-date=2008-04-10|url-status=dead}} In May 2008, CMI released another report, one that claimed a moral decline in "Dear Abby" columns.{{cite news|last=Widhalm|first=Shelley|title=Two faces of Abby|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/may/01/two-faces-of-abby/|work=The Washington Times|date=May 1, 2008|access-date=November 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506103048/http://www.washingtontimes.com:80/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080501/FAMILY/135829732/wt.test@yahoo.com&template=printart|archive-date=May 6, 2008}}{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080502055155/http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/01/right-wing-attacks-dear-abby/|archive-date=May 2, 2008|title=Right wing attacks 'Dear Abby.'|url=http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/01/right-wing-attacks-dear-abby/|last=Terkel|first=Amanda|work=Think Progress|date=May 2, 2008|access-date=November 7, 2021|url-status=dead}} The CMI website remained online through the end of 2010,{{Cite web|url=http://cultureandmediainstitute.org/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019140735/http://cultureandmediainstitute.org/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2010-10-19|title=Welcome to the Culture and Media Institute}} before it was folded in the Media Research Center website in 2011.{{cite web |url=http://www.mrc.org/cmi/static/About_Us.html |title=About Us |website=www.mrc.org |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119060051/http://www.mrc.org/cmi/static/About_Us.html |archive-date=19 January 2011 |url-status=dead}} In November 2014, the MRC renamed the institute MRC Culture.{{cite web |url=http://mrc.org:80/cmi |title=Media Research Center |website=mrc.org:80 |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141105234545/http://mrc.org:80/cmi |archive-date=5 November 2014 |url-status=dead}}

=Others=

MRC sponsors MRCTV (formerly Eyeblast),{{cite web|url=http://www.eyeblast.tv/site/about|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217105253/http://www.eyeblast.tv/site/about|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 17, 2009|title=About Eyeblast|website=Eyeblast.tv|access-date=January 21, 2018}} a conservative-leaning YouTube-like video-hosting site.[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/world/americas/29iht-campaign.1.14068306.html On a shoestring, Web videos reshaping race], Jim Rutenberg, The New York Times, June 30, 2008.

In 2018, the MRC started a new project in the Culture Department to monitor online censorship of conservatives called MRC TechWatch.

Brent Bozell ghostwriting

In February 2014, former employees of the Media Research Center alleged that the center's founder L. Brent Bozell III does not write his own columns or books and instead has used a ghostwriter, Tim Graham, for years.{{cite news|last=Jacobs|first=Ben|title=Ex-Employees of Conservative Figure L. Brent Bozell Say He Didn't Write His Books or Columns |date=February 13, 2014|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/13/ex-employees-of-conservative-figure-l-brent-bozell-say-he-didn-t-write-his-books-or-columns.html|work=The Daily Beast|access-date=February 14, 2014}}

"Employees at the MRC were never under any illusion that Bozell had been writing his own copy. 'It's an open secret at the office that Graham writes Bozell's columns, and has done so for years,' said one former employee. In fact, a former MRC employee went so far as to tell The Daily Beast, 'I know for a fact that Bozell didn't even read any of the drafts of his latest book until after it had been sent to the publishers,' The Daily Beast reported."[https://www.thedailybeast.com/ex-employees-of-conservative-figure-l-brent-bozell-say-he-didnt-write-his-books-or-columns "Ex-employees of conservative figure L. Brent Bozell say he didn't write his books or columns,"] The Daily Beast, February 13, 2014 (updated April 14, 2017)

One newspaper, the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa, dropped Bozell's column as a result, saying, "Bozell may have been comfortable representing others' work as his own. We're not. The latest disclosure convinces us Bozell has no place on our print or web pages."{{cite web |url= http://qctimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/wanted-a-replacement-for-brent-bozell/article_bfe80d4b-d749-5841-ba55-f0b0f95013f9.html |title= WANTED: A replacement for Brent Bozell |work= Quad-City Times |date= February 15, 2014 }}

Viewpoints

In 2018, the Media Research Center criticized journalist Katy Tur for introducing the issue of climate change into reporting on Hurricane Florence, while its director of media analysis bemoaned what he described as the use of "spin" to politicize media coverage of natural disasters.{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/f57d7ecaf5bc48b4b29914d364265357|title=Florence shows how storm coverage is politicized|last=Bauder|first=David|date=2018-09-19|website=AP News|access-date=2019-04-23}} In 2017, MRC sponsored a conference by the Heartland Institute, an organization known for its effort to cast doubt about the scientific consensus on climate change.{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-mercers-trump-mega-donors-back-group-that-casts-doubt-on-climate-science/2017/03/26/dc1fde86-109b-11e7-9b0d-d27c98455440_story.html|title=The Mercers, Trump mega-donors, back group that casts doubt on climate science|date=2017|newspaper=The Washington Post}} In November 2021, a study by the Center for Countering Digital Hate described Media Research Center as being among "ten fringe publishers" that together were responsible for nearly 70 percent of Facebook user interactions with content that denied climate change. Facebook disputed the study's methodology.{{cite web|last=Porterfield|first=Carlie|date=November 2, 2021|title=Breitbart Leads Climate Change Misinformation On Facebook, Study Says|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/11/02/breitbart-leads-climate-change-misinformation-on-facebook-study-says/|access-date=November 3, 2021|website=Forbes}}{{cite web | date=November 2, 2021 | title=The Toxic Ten: How ten fringe publishers fuel 69% of digital climate change denial | publisher=Center for Countering Digital Hate | url=https://www.counterhate.com/toxicten | access-date=November 3, 2021 }}

In 2002, MRC said CNN was "[Fidel] Castro's megaphone".{{cite web|title=Megaphone for a Dictator|url=http://www.mediaresearch.org/specialreports/2002/sum/exec20020509.asp |publisher=MRC|date=May 9, 2002|access-date=August 1, 2008|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516235809/http://www.mediaresearch.org/specialreports/2002/sum/exec20020509.asp|archive-date=May 16, 2008|df=mdy-all}} In 1999, the MRC said that network news programs on ABC, CBS, and NBC largely ignored Chinese espionage in the United States during the Clinton administration.{{cite news|last=Sperry|first=Paul|title=TV's blackout on China spying|url=http://www.investors.com/stories/IF/1999/May/10/17.html|newspaper=Investor's Business Daily|date=May 10, 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991109064006/http://www.investors.com/stories/IF/1999/May/10/17.html|archive-date=November 9, 1999}}

In MRC reports released from 1993 to 1995, it was claimed that such programs made more references to religion each later year, most of which became more favorable.{{harvnb|Suman|1997|p=119}} In 2003, the MRC urged advertisers to pull sponsorship from The Reagans, a miniseries about President Ronald Reagan to be shown on CBS. The network later moved the program to its co-owned premium cable network Showtime.{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/04/cbs.reagans.ap/|title=CBS pulls Reagan miniseries|date=November 5, 2003|publisher=CNN|agency=Associated Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619075056/http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/04/cbs.reagans.ap/|archive-date=June 19, 2008}}

The MRC has been a critic of the video game industry, arguing that there is a link between violent videogames and real-world violence; in this capacity, they (along with the Parents Television Council, a subsidiary) were invited to President Donald Trump's 2018 summit on video games and gun violence.{{cite news|first=Dawnthea|last=Price|access-date=2018-03-08|title=Trump's Video Game Summit Looks Like a Farce Before It's Even Happened|url=https://slate.com/technology/2018/03/trumps-video-game-summit-is-a-farce.html|newspaper=Slate Magazine}}{{cite web|first=Sabrina|last=Siddiqui|access-date=2018-03-08|title=Culture crusaders: who's who in Trump's gun violence roundtable|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/08/trump-round-table-meeting-will-blame-gun-violence-on-video-games-and-tv|date=8 March 2018|website=The Guardian}}

MRC released a report in 2007 claiming that the network morning shows devoted more airtime to covering Democratic presidential candidates than Republican ones for the 2008 election. Producers for such shows criticized the MRC's methodology as flawed.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/29/AR2007082901780.html|title=Study: Democrats Get More A.M. Airtime|last=Bauder|first=Davis|date=August 29, 2007|agency=Associated Press|access-date=March 15, 2009 | work=The San Francisco Chronicle}} During the 2008 US presidential election, MRC claimed that the vast majority of news stories about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama had a positive slant.{{cite news|last=Kurtz|first=Howard|title=Conservative Group Finds Networks Positive on Obama|url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/08/20/conservative_group_finds_netwo.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080909234947/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/08/20/conservative_group_finds_netwo.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 9, 2008|work=The Trail|date=August 20, 2008|access-date=September 10, 2008}} MRC president Bozell praised MSNBC for having David Gregory replace Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann as political coverage anchor beginning September 8, 2008, but MSNBC president Phil Griffin disputed the statements by Bozell and others who have accused the network of liberal bias.{{cite news|title=MSNBC shifts Matthews, Olbermann|url=http://www.today.com/id/26610314|publisher=Today.com|date=September 8, 2008|access-date=September 10, 2008|archive-date=April 3, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403143551/http://www.today.com/id/26610314|url-status=dead}}

ThoughtCo named MRC one of the top 15 conservatives to follow on Twitter.{{cite web|url=http://usconservatives.about.com/od/gettinginvolved/tp/Top-Conservatives-on-Twitter.htm|title=Top Conservatives to Follow on Twitter|website=About.com|access-date=January 21, 2018|archive-date=December 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230113142/http://usconservatives.about.com/od/gettinginvolved/tp/Top-Conservatives-on-Twitter.htm|url-status=dead}}

Bozell was an outspoken critic of Donald Trump during the 2016 Republican primaries, describing him as "the greatest charlatan of them all", "a "huckster" and "shameless self-promoter". He said, "God help this country if this man were president." After Trump clinched the Republican nomination, Bozell attacked the media for their "hatred" of Trump. Politico noted, "The paradox here is that Bozell was once more antagonistic toward the president than any journalist." Bozell singled out Jake Tapper for being "one of the worst offenders" in coverage of Trump. However, several senior MRC staff told Politico that they considered Tapper a model of fairness, although that viewpoint has since changed.

Criticism

Extra!, the magazine of the progressive media watch group FAIR, criticized the MRC in 1998 for selective use of evidence. MRC had said that there was more coverage of government death squads in right-wing El Salvador than in left-wing Nicaragua in the 1980s, when Amnesty International stated El Salvador was worse than Nicaragua when it came to extrajudicial killings. Extra! also likened a defunct MRC newsletter, TV etc., which tracked the off-screen political comments of actors, to "Red Channels, the McCarthy Era blacklisting journal."{{cite web|url=http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1972|title=Meet the Myth-Makers|work=Extra!|publisher=FAIR|date=July–August 1998}}

Journalist Brian Montopoli of Columbia Journalism Review in 2005 labeled MRC "just one part of a wider movement by the far right to demonize corporate media", rather than "make the media better."{{cite web|last=Montopoli|first=Brian|title=Propaganda Clothed as Critique|url=https://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/propaganda_clothed_as_critique.php?page=all|work=Columbia Journalism Review|access-date=July 15, 2011|date=March 23, 2005|quote=False equivalence is at the very root of MRC's beliefs.}}

On December 22, 2011, Media Research Center president Bozell appeared on Fox News and suggested U.S. president Barack Obama looked like a "skinny ghetto crackhead".{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUS419531945820111223|title=Barack Obama: Now He's a Skinny, Ghetto Crackhead?|last=Shaw|first=Lucas|date=December 23, 2011|work=Reuters|access-date=December 23, 2011}}

The Media Research Center has also faced scrutiny over the group's $350,000 purchase in 2012 of a Pennsylvania house that a top executive had been trying to sell for several years.{{cite news|last=Jacobs|first=Ben|title=The Media Research Center's Strange Investment|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/02/the-media-research-center-s-strange-investment.html|website=The Daily Beast|date=October 2, 2013|access-date=March 21, 2015}}

In 2013, Media Research Center president Bozell appeared on Fox News to defend a Fox interview in which Fox journalists conducted almost no research into the background of Reza Aslan to prepare for its interview with him, and its putative biases.{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/07/31/fox_news_brent_bozell_fox_news_defends_lauren_green_s_reza_aslan_interview.html|title=Fox News Thinks Fox News Did a Great Job With That Reza Aslan Interview|work=Slate|date=July 31, 2013|access-date=July 31, 2013}}

When the Media Research Center bestowed an award named for William F. Buckley to Sean Hannity, Bret Stephens, a neoconservative columnist for The New York Times, wrote an editorial in which he lamented, "And so we reach the Idiot stage of the conservative cycle, in which a Buckley Award for Sean Hannity suggests nothing ironic, much less Orwellian, to those bestowing it, applauding it, or even shrugging it off. The award itself is trivial, but it's a fresh reminder of who now holds the commanding heights of conservative life, and what it is that they think."{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/opinion/conservatives-media.html|title=Conservatives Go Third 'I' Blind.|last=Stephens|first=Bret|date=July 6, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=July 6, 2017}}