Brent Bozell’s Nov. 9 column is dedicated to his “old friend” T. Boone Pickens, with whom Bozell spent time in his skybox at his alma mater, Oklahoma State University, to which Pickens has given hundreds of millions of dollars. Bozell touts Pickens’ other acts of philanthropy as well, mainly as a way to bash critics of the rich: “Think about this charity, you Occupied Do-Nothings, the next time you bash the 1 percent that have been so instrumental in helping you in more ways than you’ll ever know – or appreciate.”
Bozell curiously doesn’t mention, though, how much of Pickens’ largesse has made its way to the organization he runs, the Media Research Center.
And he has donated a lot. Most notably, as detailed in the MRC’s 2007 annual report, Pickens gave a $1.5 million challenge grant to the MRC for the creation of its Business & Media Institute. As a result of that donation, MRC vice president Dan Gainor — last seen obsessing over the philanthropy of George Soros — holds the title of T. Boone Pickens Fellow.
You’d think that Bozell, who loves to pass judgment on the journalistic sins of others, would want to fully disclose his financial interests in what he writes about. Then again, Bozell has been loath to disclose that he’s a personal friend of Herman Cain, the man the MRC has been directed to defend to the point of sliming Cain’s sexual harassment victims.