The Media Research Center doesn’t really believe in media research; its goal is to track right-wing talking points (or the lack of them) in the media.
An excellent example of how this works is a June 10 “Media Reality Check” by Tim Graham, in which he complains that “the network news bosses at ABC, CBS, and NBC” have not referenced a ginned-up “scandal” in which Obama administration officials allegedly offered Joe Sestak a job as encouragement to quit his challenge of Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic primary.
Graham howled that Graham “kept any mention of this possible quid pro quo off the airwaves of their morning and evening news programs for more than three months.” But there’s no depth whatsoever to his analysis. There’s no mention of the fact that the Bush and Reagan administrations also made offers to prospective candidates to keep them out of races, let alone any examination of how the media covered those accusations.
Graham tries to deflect such criticism by claiming that the Obama administration is unlike other administrations: “The networks cannot plausibly claim that this job-dangling is not a news story because it’s a commonly sleazy practice – not after years of claiming the choice of Obama was so idealistic and inspiring.” That’s a cop-out — Graham is not only trying to justify his laziness, he’s tacitly admitting the Republican administrations he’s so fond of are so corrupt that such actions were not newsworthy when committed by them.
It’s the ultimate double standard — actions deemed scandalous when conducted by a Democrat are not worthy of mention when conducted by Republicans.
That shallow and craven commentary is what passes for “media criticism” at the MRC.