Political Party Poop

Looking Back: “a liberal propaganda site, misrepresenting its purpose” Hmmmmm

Previously posted on June 30, 2006

rob of wilmington, del. said…
one problem is that you have sites like media matters pointing out use of conservative jargon, but most people only know media matters through the eyes of bill o’reilly and his ilk — trying to suggest that it’s a liberal propaganda site, misrepresenting its purpose.

unless you listen to al franken’s show on air america, you probably won’t get a fair use of (or even frequent mention of) sites like media matters.

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Soros funded ‘Media Reform’ conference
Featured charges U.S. troops targeting journalists in Iraq
Posted: May 23, 2005 - On World Daily NetTwo of the speakers at the Media Reform conference were David Brock of Media Matters and Andrew Jay Schwartzman of the Media Access Project. Together with Thomas Athans of Democracy Radio, they are backing a “Renew the Fairness Doctrine” campaign to have the FCC monitor and regulate conservative media sources.

Their website is registered to Nicco Mele, the webmaster for Howard Dean’s 2004 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Mele started the Internet strategy group EchoDitto along with several other former members of the Dean Internet team. It now is a consulting firm with close to 20 full-time employees and a variety of high-profile clients and projects.

Those projects include Air America Radio, Alliance For Security, Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate campaign, Campaign For America’s Future, Defenders of Wildlife, Democracy For America, Democracy Radio, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Miramax Books, NoIraqDraft.com, Service Employees International Union and the U.N. World Food Program.

While the Soros-funded “media reform” movement seeks to stifle or mute conservative voices, evidence has emerged that Soros is underwriting journalists who promote his own point of view on major issues.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

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David Brock Group Backpedals on Soros Funding
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
March 03, 2005(CNSNews.com) - Media Matters for America, the group headed by conservative turned liberal writer David Brock, has changed course on its stated association with billionaire liberal financier George Soros.
After initially claiming on Dec. 1, 2004 that “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,” the group is no longer disavowing any connection with groups “affiliated” with Soros.
The Media Matters shift came after Cybercast News Service questioned the group’s financial ties and demonstrated that there were numerous and extensive links between Media Matters and several Soros “affiliates” like MoveOn.org, the Center for American Progress and Soros ally Peter Lewis.
Media Matters for America (MMA) spokeswoman Sally Aman responded to Cybercast News Service’s questions with an e-mail. “In response to your query regarding donor funding Media Matters for America has never received funding directly from George Soros,” Aman stated, no longer denying any relationship with organizations affiliated with Soros.
She went on to reference the “early support from Moveon.org, and the New Democrat Network,” that Media Matters had received.
In its role as a liberal media watchdog, Media Matters for America takes on some of the biggest names in media. Brock also authored the 2002 book, “Blinded by the Right, The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative,” in which he denounced the conservative movement where he first gained fame and disclosed his homosexuality.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

THERE IS MORE…………

Established in May 2004, Media Matters for America is a “web-based, not-for-profit … progressive research and information center” seeking to “systematically monitor a cross-section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation.” But in addition to “news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable, or credible,” the organization’s concept of “misinformation” includes anything that “forwards the conservative agenda.” Thus political differences of opinion are often portrayed by Media Matters as lies or worse.Media Matters’ founder and CEO is David Brock. A reporter for the conservative magazine The American Spectator in the 1990s, Brock (in the aftermath of his biography of Hillary Clinton that brought disastrous reviews) engaged in a public self-denunciation, characterizing all his past writings critical of liberal figures as a confection of lies and slanders. In Brock’s present judgment, the mainstream media have fallen under the sway of conservative ideology. He believes that conservatives have moved the mainstream media “to the right and therefore they’ve moved American politics to the right. … I wanted to create an institution [Media Matters] to combat what they’re doing.”

Standing behind Brock was John Podesta, a former chief of staff in the Clinton administration and the head of the “progressive” Washington, DC think tank, the Center for American Progress. In 2004 Podesta provided Brock with office space for his fledgling enterprise. Soon after, Media Matters received over $2 million in seed donations from a roster of affluent donors including Leo Hindery Jr., a former cable magnate; Susie Tompkins Buell, a co-founder of the fashion company Esprit and a close ally of Senator Hillary Clinton; James Hormel, a San Francisco philanthropist who nearly served as ambassador to Luxembourg during the Clinton administration; Bren Simon, a Democratic activist and the wife of shopping-mall developer Mel Simon; and New York psychologist and philanthropist Gail Furman. Media Matters, which can accept tax-deductible contributions under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, has also benefited from the patronage of Peter Lewis, chairman of Progressive Corporation and a longtime consort of leftist financier George Soros.

Media Matters has not always been forthcoming about its high-profile backers. In particular, the group has long labored to obscure any financial ties to George Soros. But in March 2003, the Cybercast News Service (CNS) detailed the copious links between Media Matters and several Soros “affiliates”—among them MoveOn.org, the Center for American Progress, and Peter Lewis. Confronted with this story, a spokesman for the organization explained that “Media Matters for America has never received funding directly from George Soros” (emphasis added), a transparent evasion.

Nor were groups cited by CNS the only connection between Media Matters and Soros. As investigative journalist Byron York has noted, another Soros affiliate that bankrolled Media Matters was the New Democratic Network. In addition, Soros is reported to be involved in the newly formed Democracy Alliance, a partnership of some 80 affluent financiers who each have vowed to contribute $1 million or more in order to build up an ideological infrastructure of leftist thinks tanks and advocacy groups. News reports list Media Matters as a main beneficiary of the Alliance’s funding. By August of 2004, Media Matters’ operating budget had already doubled to $4 million.

Prior to founding Media Matters, David Brock met with a number of leading Democratic Party figures, including Senator Hillary Clinton, former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, and former Vice President Al Gore. Today, more than a few of the organization’s roughly 30 staff members are Democratic operatives. Among these are Media Matters’ chief communications strategist Dennis Yedwab, who is also the Director of Strategic Resources at Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Brock’s personal assistant, Mandy Vlasz, is a Democratic pollster and a veteran consultant to Democratic campaigns, including the 2000 Gore/Lieberman campaign. Katie Barge, the Director of Research at Media Matters, formerly presided over opposition research for Senator John Edwards‘ unsuccessful 2004 presidential campaign.

In 2004 Media Matters reported that its website had elicited some 150,000 comments in its discussion forums and that over 22,000 subscribers had registered to receive its e-mail alerts. Brock has also become a regular feature on leftist radio stations like Air America.

Media Matters receives financial support from the Tides Foundation, the Arca Foundation, the Peninsula Community Foundation, and the San Francisco Foundation.

Even more here from the blog: Sweetness & Light

Soros/Media Matters Wants Censorship Of Airwaves

Drudge Report:

DAVID BROCK WAS COMMITTED TO MENTAL WARD; BESTSELLING AUTHOR SUFFERED BREAKDOWN WHILE WRITING TELL-ALL, SAY SOURCES

Tuesday May 21, 2002

Controversial author David Brock suffered a breakdown last summer and was committed to the psychiatric ward of Sibley Hospital in Northwest Washington, sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT.

The breakdown came just months before Brock finalized production of his bestselling book BLINDED BY THE RIGHT — a book that has been widely challenged on points of accuracy!

“He had delusions, he thought people were trying to kill him,” reveals a source who befriended Brock last July at the hospital.

Brock told fellow patients that he did not feel safe — even inside of the hospital’s secure medical setting!

“He spent time in the ”The Quiet Room’, there was just a mattress on the floor, and he had some books. He was so tired and stressed.”

Reached by phone in Washington late Tuesday Brock strongly denied the hospitalization and breakdown in any way affected his ability to recall events depicted in BLINDED BY THE RIGHT. Brock strongly denied that any portion of the book was written at the hospital while he was under medical treatments, as is claimed by one source.

Publisher CROWN could not be reached late Tuesday.

Brock’s book of personal observations and first-hand accounts involving various Clinton scandals and scandal players generated divided opinion.

Former President Clinton chatted up Brock’s effort in Los Angeles last weekend.

“Clinton, who seems to have practically committed passages to memory, told his former aides that whenever they feel down, they should read Brock’s book to illuminate anew what they were all fighting against for eight years, and as a reminder of what ‘unhappy’ people their counterparts on the right truly are,” the LOS ANGELES TIMES reported.

But one source familiar with Brock’s breakdown questioned: “With all of this, how can he be considered credible?”

Brock said by phone, “I am not going to comment on private medical matters.”

So it would seem that the gentleman who once famously called Anita Hill “a little bit nutty and a little bit slutty” might share some of those characteristics.