CHICAGO, February 19, 2012—Media Matters for America received a broadside hit last week from The Daily Caller.
The Daily Caller ran a series of reports using information gleaned from various sources close to Media Matters their own research, and a Media Matters memo.
The 89-page 2009 Media Matters memo outlines a campaign to destroy Fox News, Republican politicians, and conservative pundits. The 2009 memo also contains a list of enemies to be targeted for political destruction.
It was a pile-on of new accusations against Media Matters and its tax-exempt status.
One of the most damning allegations is a purported coordinated partnership between Media Matters, its founder, David Brock, and the White House. According to the article there is close coordination between Media Matters and high-level White House staff members.
The article reports Media Matters is going to spend 20 million dollars to take down conservative media, specifically targeting Fox News and Roger Ailes.
Last year Brock told Politico that the liberal group Media Matters has quietly transformed itself in preparation for what Politico says Brock described in an interview as an all-out campaign of “guerrilla warfare and sabotage” aimed at the Fox News Channel.
The Daily Caller portrays Media Maters as a propaganda operation disguised as a media watch dog. The perception is one of political operatives masquerading as journalists, butchers performing thoracic surgery.
It seems that the normal rules of journalism do not apply to David Brock. They never have. In his world rules are superseded by money and power, of which he has both.
When writing for conservative publications such as American Spectator and in his book, Blinded by Right the Conscious of an Ex-Conservative, he claims he used his status as a journalist to trash Anita Hill and the Clintons including within his Hillary Clinton, The Seduction of Hillary Rodham.
Since walking over to the progressive side of the media fence, Brock could be found recanting his written words.
Jason Laskin of Frontpagemagazine.com writes (2005):
The June 1997 issue of Esquire magazine featured Brock’s mea ex-culpa: “Confessions of a Right-Wing Hit Man,” in which Brock accounted for his “fall from grace” by claiming that conservatives were punishing him for his independence of thought in refusing to vilify Hillary Clinton. A color photo of a half-naked Brock tied to a tree in martyr position accompanied the story. In framing his alibi, Brock counted on his readers’ to forget that pro-Hillary Newsweek had panned his story and withdrawn the most important publicity venue the book had obtained. Sighed the self-pitying Brock: “there is no place for someone who steps out of bounds.” Brock echoed the same martyrdom theme in interviews about the book, insisting that a commitment to truth, was responsible for the disaster rather than his failures as a journalist – in particular to produce the book he had promised (and obviously lied about) to his publishers. “I knew it wouldn’t please a lot of people who have this image of Hillary as a demon,” Brock told Salon magazine, in one of his many exercises in self-exculpation.
He’s now writing in support of a more progressive platform and his new target is Fox News, Roger Ailes, and any Republican candidate.
Brock’s admitted career as a liar should have destroyed his so-called journalistic reputation and career, rendering his opinion worthless. Others have disappeared from the world of journalism for far less serious activities.
David Brock has politically reinvented himself. He is now following the money and power found on the progressive side after being shunned by Newsweek. He recanted instead of repented. Instead of being reviled, he is given high level credibility and respect.
In certain circles, Brock is well lauded and well funded. The funding Media Matters enjoys says something about progressives and the progressive organizations that donate to the group and in that they are comfortable giving tens of millions of dollars to a political mercenary, a man that appears to be lacking in ethics, morals, shame, or decency.
Media Matters for America’s purported mission is to correct perceived media inaccuracies while holding so-called conservative media accountable, whatever that means.
If the Daily Caller article is accurate, Media Matters is so much more.
The series paints a damning picture of massive, well funded, propaganda, intelligence, guerrilla-warfare, and sabotage operation. It is a political and character assassination organization; hit men for the Democratic Party, the Obama administration, and the progressive movement. It uses media as a weapon of mass destruction.
The blog The Foxhole reprinted part of the report in Media Matters Memos Reveal a Circus of Conspiracy, Collusion With MSM, and David Brock’s Meltdowns
There have been David Brocks on both sides of the political spectrum for decades. David Brock is just very high profile while most people in this line of work proudly toil in anonymity.
In some of his own rarified circles Brock has been accused of being a megalomaniac, his braggadocio doing more harm than good.
In another example of Media Matters bias, Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz called on the Democrats and the White House to disavow David Brock and Media Matters.
“Well, I think if swing voters in the pro-Israel community had any idea how extreme Media Matters was on issues of Israel and supporters of Israel, they would regard Media Matters as another, you know, Rev. Wright,” Dershowitz told The Daily Caller.
What should interest taxpayers is that Media Matters for America is a tax-exempt business. The Daily Caller questions its tax-exempt status due to its highly partisan nature, practices, and operations. But according to various legal experts interviewed during the week by the media, the tax laws and regulations covering non-profits can be murky.
What is apparent is that Media Matters and David Brock are very powerful within the Democratic Party, the media, and the progressive movement. There appears to be no sense of higher purpose except maintaining that power, and profits.
If the allegations made by the Daily Caller are true, Media Matters is an out of control organization led by a dangerously paranoid ego-driven professional prevaricator. Unlike its conservative competition at AIM and Media Research Council, David Brock is open and notorious about his intentions.
He wants people, organizations, and companies destroyed.
As a practitioner of asymmetrical political warfare Media Matters appears to be a political operation, not a media news source or critic.
It appears that Media Matters for America is the leader of the progressive propaganda machine, part of Team Obama, and a purely political arm of the Democratic Party.
It should be noted Media Matters for America and David Brock have not refuted, denied, or defended themselves against the allegations made by the Daily Caller.
They just merrily stepped up their attacks on Fox News.
Peter V. Bella is a retired Chicago Police Officer, freelance writer and photographer, cook, and raconteur. He likes to be the sharp stick that pokes, prods, and annoys. His opinions are his and his alone.
This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. REPRINTING TWTC CONTENT WITHOUT PERMISSION AND/OR PAYMENT IS THEFT AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW.
