ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Outgoing CBS Evening News Anchor Dan Rather took home top honors by winning the Quote of the Year award, headlining todays release of The Best Notable Quotables of 2004, the 17 th Annual Awards for the Years Worst Reporting . Rather was actually the big winner this year, taking home three awards in three different categories. The awards were determined by a panel of 43 judges made up of editorial writers, syndicated columnists, radio talk show hosts and political commentators. To see all the award winning quotes, visit www.mrc.org . Highlights from the Best Notable Quotables of... continue reading
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A follow-up study just released by the Media Research Centers Free Market Project, Supersized Bias II , reveals that network television news is obsessed with obesity, airing newscasts and reports laced with anti-corporate bias that is misinforming the public. The major media continue to do the general public a terrible disservice by reporting stories laden with an anti-corporate, anti-food industry bias, said Free Market Project National Chairman Herman Cain, a former chairman and CEO of the National Restaurant Association. This study shows a habit of blaming the food industry for the obesity problem instead of fully examining... continue reading
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The following is a statement from Media Research Center President Brent Bozell upon the announcement by Dan Rather that he is stepping down as the anchor of the CBS Evening News : Mr. Rathers stepping down from the anchor chair at the CBS Evening News is not going to correct the enormous credibility problems. We have always felt the liberal bias problem that permeates that network goes far beyond Mr. Rather. We have spent countless hours documenting and exposing an exhausting amount of bias by Mr. Rather and our analysis speaks for itself. Mr. Rather has many... continue reading
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The major media are running prominent stories this week about global warming, and this follows on Russias recent decision to join other countries in support of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Yet a new study released today by the Media Research Centers Free Market Project reveals the networks overwhelmingly one-sided picture of the global warming debate: that global warming is a fact ignoring scientists who dispute this and downplaying an international report this week that refutes many global warming predictions and that the U.S. must follow other countries and sign Kyoto, despite an annual price tag... continue reading
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Media Research Center President Brent Bozell today called on Newsweek magazine to issue a public apology in its next issue for misinforming the public about television ads run by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Newsweek claims in its post-election issue: When the Swift Boat vets made ads attacking Kerry with images from his 1971 testimony, they used a voice-over, an actor reading Kerry's words. (The Newsweek story was written by Evan Thomas, based on reporting from Eleanor Clift, Kevin Peraino, Jonathan Darman, Peter Goldman, Holly Bailey, Tamara Lipper and Suzanne Smalley.) We have checked with people... continue reading
The media, I think, wants Kerry to win. And I think theyre going to portray Kerry and Edwards Im talking about the establishment media, not Fox but theyre going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and dynamic and opportunistic and all. Theres going to be this glow about them thats going to be worth maybe 15 points. Newsweek Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas, Inside Washington, WUSA-TV, 7/10/04. ALEXANDRIA, Va.The Media Research Center today released a special report, The Ten Worst Media Distortions of Campaign 2004 , as compiled and ranked by MRC analysts. The liberal news media have... continue reading
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- In the latest example of how the media have become a major issue in the election campaign, the New York Times and CBS News saw what amounted to an October Surprise blow up in their faces. NBC News revealed that a cache of high explosives supposedly left unguarded by U.S. troops in Iraq was not present when U.S. troopsand the NBC News crew traveling with themarrived at the camp on April 10, 2003. The Times and CBSs big scoop was a big bust. Both the New York Times and CBS have repeatedly shown they have chosen sides... continue reading
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Media Research Center President Brent Bozell issued the following statement reacting to the statement issued by CBS News with regard to the developing document scandal which erupted after CBSs story on President Bushs National Guard service. It is good to hear Dan Rather and Andrew Heyward apologize and acknowledge this is only the first step, but CBS has a long way to go before this is put to rest. Dan Rather and CBS suggest they were misled as if they are the victims here. They were not misled. Their sources were dubious at best so much so... continue reading
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Media Research Center President Brent Bozell called on chief executives at CBS to follow the examples set by the Washington Post , CNN and the New York Times when dealing with scandal: own up to the wrongdoing and take action against those responsible no matter how high it goes. When confronted with scandal all three of these news organizations admitted the wrongdoing and took definitive action against those responsible. CBS must do the same, Bozell said. Bozell pointed out that the Washington Post fired Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Janet Cooke for fabricating her award-winning story. CNN ultimately released... continue reading
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Media Research Center President Brent Bozell today blasted CBS Evening News Anchor Dan Rather and executives at CBS News for employing old Bill Clinton tactics of denying the obvious, muddying the issue with irrelevant information, and attacking critics. Dan Rather and CBS continue to deny the documented truth: their smear attack on President Bush was based on fraudulent documents, Bozell said. They simply must stop obfuscating. Dan Rather and CBS News lose more credibility with every Clintonian denial. CBS is now clinging to a new and pathetic defense based on the opinion of an 86-year-old woman that... continue reading