Media Matters, the watchdog group that loves to hate Fox News

[FreeStateDemocrat]

By Paul Farhi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 2, 2010; 8:09 PM

It takes only an instant for a visitor to Media Matters for America's headquarters in downtown Washington to sense its mission, if not its methods. A few steps into its modern offices, which resemble a newspaper newsroom, a pair of prominently displayed signs spell out the basics: "Fox Keeps Fear Alive," reads one; "Restore Sanity, Fight Fox," reads its companion.

Fighting Fox is what Media Matters does, relentlessly and obsessively. In the six years since its founding, the watchdog group has evolved from an all-purpose scourge of the conservative media into Fox News Channel's veritable shadow and constant irritant. From well before sunrise to long after it each day, teams of young researchers sift through video clips and transcripts of programs hosted by Fox stars such as Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly to find dubious facts, logical contradictions and poisonous - at least to Media Matters' liberal sensibilities - rhetoric.

Media Matters watches other conservative media figures - your Rush Limbaughs and Michael Savages - but Fox has become the focus. On most days, the majority of the blog items, video excerpts and commentaries that the organization posts to its Web site concern some perceived outrage perpetrated by one of Fox's pugnacious hosts and commentators.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/02/AR2010120205779.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. At least there is ONE group that is doing that....Almost the only light at the end of a very very

long and dark tunnel.

[spanone]

2. the country owes media matters a great debt...fox is a cancer on this nation

[Demoiselle]

3. Thank goodness for Media Matters...

I gotta say there are some things in this article that sound a bit sour to me....like the idea floated that Media Matters is a George Soros tool being employed in his
"tit for tat" with Rupert Murdoch .
But then, I get annoyed whenever somebody tries to tell me that Liberalism and Progressivism are just as doctrinaire and blindly partisan as the professional right.

[JamesA1102]

4. I love Media Matters but

I wish they would spend less time on FOX and more time on the rest of the media. Most already know that FOX has no credibility and FOX viewers are too hardcore to be persuaded that FOX lies. What is more insidious is the GOP talking points that are spouted by others in the media as if they were facts. That is where MM should focus their efforts.

[emulatorloo]

5. Oh, they do their fair share of that too -- Associated Press, CNN, etc etc

[JamesA1102]

8. Sometimes but not enough

I see stuff on CBS, MSNBC and elsewhere that they should be covering but don't. Everyone but the dittoheads know that Rush is lying. MM doesn't need to point it out. But many won't question something if it comes out of Bob Scheiffer's mouth even if it is a blatent GOP talking point. MM needs to spend more time pointing that out.

[blondeatlast]

6. then apparently you don't spend much time with that which you love. They do plenty of that--

they are particularly adept at calling out the Grey Lady (NYT).

[JamesA1102]

9. They need to do more

Right now their focus is 80 to 90% on FOX and conservative talk radio. It should be more focused on the rest of the media.

[maxrandb]

7. Our "Liberal Media" at work

Me thinks that Mr. Farhi may have a little "bias" going on.

* dubious facts, logical contradictions and poisonous - at least to Media Matters' liberal sensibilities - rhetoric.


* some perceived outrage perpetrated by one of Fox's pugnacious hosts and commentators.

See, here is a perfect example of how much the current media "sucks". If Mr. Farhi were being honest, he would point out that "dubious facts", "logical contradictions" and "poisonous rhetoric" are not only offensive to "liberal sensibilities"...they are, by their very nature, offensive to "facts", "logic" and "rational/reasoned rhetoric".

Mr. Farhi also seems to not know the difference between "perceived" outrage, and just plain old "outrage". I guess Mr. Farhi thinks that Glen Beck claiming that liberals are going to break down your door, steal your guns and cook your children in a "flaky crust" is not "outrageous", it is just "perveived" to be "outrageous".

[Winterblues]

10. You will NEVER see such an article about how FOX News operates..

I wonder if it ever even dawns on them there is good reason for such obsession.

[gratuitous]

11. Meanwhile, the Post can't imagine why Media Matters does what it does

Reading the article, it's like a dog watching a card trick: Totally uncomprehending about why any of Fox News' content might be questionable, let alone objectionable.

[AndrewP]

12. Media Matters rocks