Saturday, March 26, 2011

How Dare They Say The Truth?

The right is soiling itself in victimization over this Politico (natch) article portraying the "war against FOX News" by the most evil supervillain organization ever conceived: the guys pointing out that FOX is full of crap over at David Brock's Media Matters.

In an interview and a 2010 planning memo shared with POLITICO, Brock listed the fronts on which Media Matters — which he said is operating on a $10 million-plus annual budget — is working to chip away at Fox and its parent company, News Corp. They include its bread-and-butter distribution of embarrassing clips and attempts to rebut Fox points, as well as a series of under-the-radar tactics.

Media Matters, Brock said, is assembling opposition research files not only on Fox’s top executives but on a series of midlevel officials. It has hired an activist who has led a successful campaign to press advertisers to avoid Glenn Beck’s show. The group is assembling a legal team to help people who have clashed with Fox to file lawsuits for defamation, invasion of privacy or other causes. And it has hired two experienced reporters, Joe Strupp and Alexander Zaitchik, to dig into Fox’s operation to help assemble a book on the network, due out in 2012 from Vintage/Anchor. (In the interest of full disclosure, Media Matters last month also issued a report criticizing “Fox and Friends” co-host Steve Doocy’s criticism of this reporter’s blog.)

Brock said Media Matters also plans to run a broad campaign against Fox’s parent company, News Corp., an effort which most likely will involve opening a United Kingdom arm in London to attack the company’s interests there. The group hired an executive from MoveOn.org to work on developing campaigns among News Corp. shareholders and also is looking for ways to turn regulators in the U.S., U.K., and elsewhere against the network.

The group will “focus on [News Corp. CEO Rupert] Murdoch and trying to disrupt his commercial interests — whether that be here or looking at what’s going on in London right now,” Brock said, referring to News Corp.’s — apparently successful — move to take a majority stake in the satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

Now, if you think that Media Matters is somehow vastly more powerful than FOX and News Corporation, well you're reading the wrong blog anyway.  What the right is truly terrified of is Media Matters using FOX's own tactics against it, and just the thought of that has the usual suspects dragging out the specter of promised revenge.

At least one conservative is taking the long view in the wake of the NPR stings and has a light bulb moment.

The media is tasked with watching the government and our politicians for us. But this begs the old question, who will watch the watchers? If you want to be upset about anything, perhaps you should be put off that there isn’t a better organized set of similar watchdogs digging in to MSNBC as well as the major network news shops, papers and radio.

This, I can guarantee you, is coming now.  Under the cry of "Well that's what Media Matters is doing to FOX so all's fair in love and war" the dismantling of every non right wing noise machine media outlet in the country is on the agenda, and anyone left standing will soon be playing the "Some say the earth is flat but other critics differ, let's hear why there's a growing debate on this issue" game.

The "Lamestream media" just became the top target for 2012.  You will see Republican politicians running on "reigning in the liberal media".  Count on it.

[UPDATE] Oliver Willis with the win:

You can also check out the numerous conservative blogs here explaining just how irrelevant Media Matters is. Think about it.

Yep.  Methinks the wingers doth protest too much...

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