“George Soros and a lot of groups connected to gun control are funding this group, and they wouldn’t be too happy that an employee of Media Matters was carrying a gun, especially when it was illegal in D.C.”
Tucker Carlson, Vince Coglianese, Alex Pappas and Will Rahn
The Daily Caller
2/12/2012
This is the first in a Daily Caller investigative series on Media Matters For America. Daily Caller reporters Alex Pappas and Will Rahn contributed to this report.
David Brock was smoking a cigarette on the roof of his Washington, D.C. office one day in the late fall of 2010 when his assistant and two bodyguards suddenly appeared and whisked him and his colleague Eric Burns down the stairs.
Brock, the head of the liberal nonprofit Media Matters for America, had told friends and co-workers that he feared he was in imminent danger from right-wing assassins and needed a security team to keep him safe.
The threat he faced while smoking on his roof? “Snipers,” a former co-worker recalled.
“He had more security than a Third World dictator,” one employee said, explaining that Brock’s bodyguards would rarely leave his side, even accompanying him to his home in an affluent Washington neighborhood each night where they “stood post” to protect him. “What movement leader has a detail?” asked someone who saw it.
Extensive interviews with a number of Brock’s current and former colleagues at Media Matters, as well as with leaders from across the spectrum of Democratic politics, reveal an organization roiled by its leader’s volatile and erratic behavior and struggles with mental illness, and an office where Brock’s executive assistant carried a handgun to public events in order to defend his boss from unseen threats.
Yet those same interviews, as well as a detailed organizational planning memo obtained by The Daily Caller, also suggest that Media Matters has to a great extent achieved its central goal of influencing the national media.
Founded by Brock in 2004 as a liberal counterweight to “conservative misinformation” in the press, Media Matters has in less than a decade become a powerful player in Democratic politics. The group operates in regular coordination with the highest levels of the Obama White House, as well as with members of Congress and progressive groups around the country. Brock, who collected over $250,000 in salary from Media Matters in 2010, has himself become a major fundraiser on the left. According to an internal memo obtained by TheDC, Media Matters intends to spend nearly $20 million in 2012 to influence news coverage.
Donors have every reason to expect success, as the group’s effect on many news organizations has already been profound. “We were pretty much writing their prime time,” a former Media Matters employee said of the cable channel MSNBC. “But then virtually all the mainstream media was using our stuff.”…
The article continues at The Daily Caller.
Update: Soros Agent of Influence David Brock Out of the Closet Again
It has been apparent for some time that ex-conservative David Brock has been masquerading as a “media critic” while at the service of the Democratic Party. But the head of Media Matters has officially dropped the mask of media critic by creating a so-called Democratic “Super PAC” devoted to re-electing President Obama, adding Democrats to the Senate Democratic majority, and taking back the House of Representatives from the Republicans.
Alluding to the Republican takeover of the House in 2010, he told the group America Votes on February 1, “As Democrats, we can’t afford a repeat of 2010.”
Brock described how his new group, American Bridge 21st Century, would serve as a “better model” for Democrats to “coordinate our strategy that will maximize Democratic resources.”…
Update 2: Dan Riehl has a good idea:
A Word On Ben Smith And The Caller Story
I like Ed Morrissey’s take on this Media Matters stuff.
The actual story here might be the reverse of how Carlson et al frame it here. This sounds as though the White House uses Brock and Media Matters to conduct a proxy war against its perceived enemies in the news media and to push its propaganda out through the MSM.
Frankly, given that the right is now in the process of building out a counterpart to both CAP and MMfA (it’s about time duh!), maybe it’s time to start beating them, instead of complaining about them? Just a thought, anyway. Also, for the record, some friends on the right can hate on me if they want, but I’ve pushed items to Ben Smith from the right and never had him turn something down over ideology. He’s published items based upon tips from me and has always treated me fairly and it’s only fair to him that I acknowledge it given some of the back and forth today.
Maybe the real point is, we have to continue to get better on the right when it comes to media? I think we are and that’s why I’m happy to be working with the Breitbart sites, for example. Opportunities like that didn’t exist in the recent past. Don’t get mad, get even fwiw.
Update 3: We don’t have John McCain to kick around any more. “…the progressive movement is in need of an enemy…”
Update 4: CBS Proudly Accepts AIM’s Award, Despite Controversy
…It turned out that only a few hours before the event took place on Thursday, Ms. Attkisson contacted us at AIM to inform us she had been called away on assignment, and was sending someone in her place to accept the award on her behalf. That person was Chris Isham, the Washington bureau chief for CBS News. Chris was very gracious in accepting the award, saying, “Thanks very much, Roger, and thanks for the plug for CBSnews.com. Sharyl was very sorry not to be here today. She is traveling out of town on assignment. I am going to accept this award on her behalf and on behalf of CBS News. Sharyl will be donating the proceeds of this award ($1,000) to the family of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry (applause). As many of you may know, this murder was connected to the Fast and Furious Operation. In fact it was Terry’s death in December of 2010 that really motivated a number of whistleblowers to come forward and talk to Sharyl and members of Congress about what was going on and really generated the story and really allowed us and congressional investigators to dig into this and drill down on this operation. Sharyl has spoken with the family of Agent Terry and let them know that they will be receiving the proceeds…
…Media Matters acted as if they thought their campaign had succeeded, in an article titled “CBS Pulls Attkisson From CPAC Award Event.” But as Big Journalism’s Dan Riehl pointed out, they offered no evidence to support their claim that this was anything other than what Attkisson and Isham said. “If Media Matters wanted to report that CBS was somehow behind Attkisson not attending in person to receive the award,” wrote Riehl, “it’s their responsibility to provide documentation of same, assuming truth matters at MMfA. As many believe, their handling of the non-event indicates truth doesn’t matter to Eric Boehlert and Media Matters at all.”
In addition, The Huffington Post and Politico wrote about the event, focusing on the fact that Attkisson didn’t attend the ceremony…
Read the whole thing.
Also, Media Matters: Hey, Let’s Investigate the Private Lives of Fox News Reporters!
…This country was built on the idea that speech can be countered by more speech. Increasingly, it seems that some take the attitude that speech you don’t like should be countered by destroying the messenger. Media Matters has fallen into this despicable category.
I don’t know that they are capable of feeling shame. But I still feel compelled to say: shame on them.
Update 5: “Vetting:” Media Matters Memo Proposed Hiring Investigators to Dig Dirt on FoxNews Employees at Ace of Spades HQ
Update 6: Stephanopolous still coordinating messaging with White House? and Tucker Carlson is interviewed by Bill O’Reilly in this video.
