When A Media Watchdog Calls Out A Fact-Checker
By: Steve Jordahl and Billy Davis
These fact checkers need to be called out and questioned on their methodology as well as their motivation and objectivity. They seem to exist to protect the mainstream media as much as to find “truth”. The fact checkers are tools of the left to try to maintain monopoly and to check the rise of alternative media. They are also pro democrat and anti Republican tools and frame their work and research in a partisan manner and disguise it as objectivity and least biased while calling their opposition questionable and conspiracy and pseudoscience. The article take down of politifact is complete and snopes plagiarizing scandal are just the beginning of the total discrediting of all the affiliated fact checkers.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
When A Media Watchdog Calls Out A Fact-Checker
A prominent media watchdog that documents left-wing propaganda is going after PolitiFact, and also its left-wing donations from billionaire megadonors, after enduring biased fact-checking for years.
Led by Media Research Center founder Brent Bozell, more than 40 conservative leaders have sent an open letter to the International Fact Checking Network (IFCN) asking it to remove PolitiFact from its list of approved fact-checkers.
Florida-based Poynter Institute launched the IFCN in 2015 as a main source for fact-checking organizations to agree to and adhere to a set of standards and principles.
PolitiFact is operated by Poynter, too, but the fact-checking website has been criticized and mocked by conservatives for fact-checking obscure Facebook posts, for example, while Democrat politicians are rarely cornered by their own fact-challenged claims.
MRC spokesman Dan Gainor says his group has been on the receiving end of numerous claims of “false” information from PolitiFact including, most recently, for using a CDC graphic to show the low number of hospitalizations in many areas of the country. For its own graphic, the CDC used the counties that comprise the Coronavirus Disease 2019-Associated Hospitalization Surveillance Network (COVID-NET), which shows fewer than 2,000 people are hospitalized in the U.S. with COVID-19. That coverage area includes about 100 counties in 10 major U.S. states.
“Basically they were saying, You didn’t include enough information ,” Gainor says of PolitiFact’s August 5 fact-check, which can be read here . “But it’s a graphic. Graphics, by definition, compress information.”
Along with the graphic, MRC included links to web pages that gave the full context of the graph.
According to the fact-check, MRC was claiming there were approximately 2,000 people hospitalized across the country, but that itself would be an odd claim to make, and an easy one to refute, since many hospitals across the country are crowded with patients.
PolitiFact, in fact, assumes in its fact-check that MRC was attempting to mislead the public rather than putting the numbers in context, which is a pretty standard tactic for the fact-checking website itself. PolitiFact then goes on to describe the number of hospitalized patients in Florida and Texas, which are incidentally “red” states that have witnessed relentless left-wing media coverage of their cases and scrutiny of their Republican leaders.
In the letter to Poynter, Bozell and the other groups listed numerous examples in which PolitiFact tip-toed around the truth when the target was a Democrat, such as White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
It is doubtful the letter will be well-received by Poynter, which is likely well-aware that MRC ripped Poynter in an August 9 article for accepting donations from George Soros’s Open Society Foundation and from the Omidyar Network, named for far-left billionaire Pierre Omidyar.
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Media Research Center (MRC)
Last updated on August 10th, 2021 at 10:34 am
RIGHT BIAS
These media sources are moderate to strongly biased toward conservative causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by appealing to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports, and omit information that may damage conservative causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy. See all Right Bias sources.
Bias Rating: RIGHT
Factual Reporting: MIXED
Country: USA (44/180 Press Freedom)
Media Type: Organization/Foundation
Traffic/Popularity: Minimal Traffic
MBFC Credibility Rating: LOW CREDIBILITY
History
The Media Research Center (MRC) is a politically conservative content analysis organization based in Reston, Virginia, founded in 1987 by activist L. Brent Bozell III. Its stated mission is to “prove—through sound scientific research—that liberal bias in the media does exist and undermines traditional American values.” According to their about page , “MRC’s sole mission is to expose and neutralize the propaganda arm of the Left: the national news media. This makes the MRC’s work unique within the conservative movement.”
Read our profile on the United States government and media.
Funded by / Ownership
The Media Research Center is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit organization. MRC is funded through donations, with some large donors including the Bradley , Scaife , Olin , Castle Rock , Carthage , and JM foundations. It also receives funding from ExxonMobil due to its skepticism on Climate Change . MRC also owns the Questionable news source CNS News as well as the factually Mixed right biased Newsbusters . T he Heritage Foundation states that Rebekah Mercer serves on the board of Media Research Center. Rebekah Mercer is the daughter of right-wing philanthropist Robert Mercer who heavily funded the Trump Campaign.
Analysis / Bias
In review, MRC does not actually produce original content but rather links to other websites such as MRCTV, Newsbusters, and CNS News. These sources frequently utilize strong loaded emotional language such as this: The Embarrassing Questions NBC’s Moderators NEVER Asked . Articles are typically properly sourced; however, they use the Questionable CNS News as a primary source. CNS News has failed numerous fact checks by IFCN fact-checkers.
The primary purpose of MRC is to expose liberal bias in the media. They often claim there is a conspiracy in the media to promote liberalism while suppressing conservatism. 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.” Essentially, MRC is a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party.
When it comes to science, MRC advocates for human-influenced climate denialism as well as creationism .
Failed Fact Checks
Overall, we rate Media Research Center strongly right biased based on advocacy for a conservative agenda and Mixed for factual reporting due to the promotion of propaganda, pseudoscience, and a poor fact check record by their primary sources. (7/19/2016) Updated (D. Van Zandt 8/10/2021)
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Oh ya, our very own leftist measuring stick!
It’s hilarious people cite media bias fact check as an objective source.
XX/HA has used it several times.
Then why do you use it?
Didn't know and not surprised
I will suggest you stop listening and start researching for your self.
Obama increased defense spending by at least 10%
Obama Increased Real Defense Spending by More Than 10 Percent | CNSNews
Oh lookie there CNS is an offshoot of L. Brent Bozell and MRC.
So is it BS or is it true????????