Media Matters Remains Ever Watchful: Baltimore Sun [Thumbs-Up] And Fox News [Thumbs-Down]

During the course of my political traipsing around cyberspace, I came across a couple of really interesting Media Matters pieces. The topic will not “blow-you-away.” Yet, you might find them both reinforcing evidence of a deteriorating American experience or you might simply find them tragic.

“Tragic” is not a word that regularly emanates from my cognitive processes. As I consider the second Media Matters “deck“ (below), I was unable to reach into my ready to use lexicon for a better more descriptive word than “tragic.”. 

 

As you read through the second piece, recognize the extreme exercise of over-the-top white privilege and elitism shrouded in bigotry and propaganda. One last point related to O’Reilly and the very accommodating Bernard Goldberg.  Let’s hold that last point until you get to the second Media Matters “deck.”  

First, kudos to the Baltimore Sun.

 

Media Matters March 10th, 2014.

Baltimore Sun Cuts Ties With Conservative Blog Over Ethical Conflict

SALVATORE COLLELUORI & JOE STRUPP

The Baltimore Sun cut ties with their conservative blog after learning of the blog’s potential unethical behavior, a Sun spokesperson said Monday. 

“The Baltimore Sun’s editorial independence is among our most fundamental values and we have a strict separation between advertising and the content we produce,” Sun Director of Marketing Renee Mutchnik told Media Matters in a statement explaining the paper’s separation from the bloggers.

Read More (Title above) 

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And, the previously alluded to “point” is…..

Tea Party Celebrity Foiled By Plagiarism: Part Deux!

Brent Bozell

mediamatters.org

Do you know this man?  

Since, we assume you are not a Fox News viewer, he may be an anomaly to you.  If you are a Fox News viewer, you know him as a frequent guest and firebrand of far Right oratory. In fact, if you are a Fox News viewer, you probably have embraced Bozell’s rhetoric with a degree of endearment.  

Herewith is an example of what you may have found a true American conservative who frequent Hannity’s show. 

YouTube

Published on Jun 19, 2013
MRC’s Brent Bozell Speaks to the Tea Party 6-19-2013

http://youtu.be/1b2Tgzy4M_U

If you are a Fox News viewer, do you recall that non-Fox video segment? Do you believe what you just viewed was “educational” and based on “research?”  

How about a bit of a biography on Bozell and his organization, “Media Research Center?”

Bozell’s Column  

Founder and President of the Media Research Center, L. Brent Bozell III runs the largest media watchdog organization in America. Established in 1987, the MRC has made “media bias” a household term, tracking it and printing the compiled evidence daily. Mr. Bozell is a nationally syndicated writer to more than 50 newspapers around the country, whose work appears in publications such as Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The New York Post, The L.A. Times and National Review.

Compelling bio, eh? I wonder if the bio serves as a condensed version of Bozell’s representation of his organization to secure the following; read closely and carefully.

MRC TV is brought to you by the Media Research Center, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit research and education organization. The MRC is located at: 1900 Campus Commons Drive, Reston, VA 20194. For information about the MRC, please visit www.MRC.org.

In case you missed the salient point above, here it is:  “…..Media Research Center, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit research and education organization.”

While I am very biased, I do not find anything in the 1:55 minute video that appeared based in research nor delivered in any way from an educational perspective. If you are not a member of the audience or sympathizer you may have found Bozell’s address (to the crowd) nothing shy of ‘firebrand’ far Right oratory. What we have is an archetypal example of for Far-right demagogue neatly shrouded by manipulation of tax law (non-profit equals not taxed).  

If you are Fox News viewer do you recall the alleged “IRS Scandal?” Intriguing!

Well, the latest on Bozell is current cancellation of contracts associated with his column. 

writingisfun-damental.com

Apparently, we have another ‘tea party’ celebrity who has issues with plagiarism.  Before moving to a Raw Story piece join my in contemplating a pattern: Tea party celebrities and plagiarism.   Why?

Could the dynamic a corollary from……

• lack of intellect, 
• lack of ability to voice one’s positions, 
• operating without conviction or position while borrowing that which reads well or sounds good, 
• laziness, 
• lack of ethics.

I posit, all of the above.

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The Raw Story 

Papers dropping Brent Bozell after conservative media critic admits he didn’t write his columns (via Raw Story )

A longtime arch conservative crusader against feminism, secularism, marriage equality and other LGBT rights has been exposed as a figurehead whose books and columns were all written by an uncredited underling. According to Talking Points Memo, one widely…