The Media Research Center was in the kill-the-messenger phase of the Brett Kavanaugh story when Geoffrey Dickens wrote a Sept. 26 post complaining about the “hit piece” co-written by the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer about Kavanaugh’s drunken college years replete with allegations of sexual misbehavior. Dickens huffed that “a look at her past demonstrates why her work should be taken with biggest grains of salt as she has become a go-to author for partisan attack stories,” adding that her Kavanaugh story is “just the latest in a long list of hit pieces against conservatives.”
But Dickens makes sure to leave off the list one prominent story that discredits his conspiracy theory — and one that the MRC itself touted.
As Mayer herself reminds people like Dickens who reflexively accuse her of anti-conservative bias, she co-wrote in May with Ronan Farrow (who co-wrote the Kavanaugh piece with her) an article detailing sexual misconduct by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, which caused him to resign a mere three hours after its publication.
Since Schneiderman was a Democrat who targeted President Trump’s shady business dealings, the MRC loved that story:
- Tim Graham touted “The New Yorker revelations of Schneiderman’s allegedly violent behavior toward girlfriends.”
- Kyle Drennen noted an MSNBC appearance by “Jane Mayer, who actually co-authored the article that revealed Scheiderman’s alleged abusive behavior toward women which led to his resignation.”
- Tom Blumer highlighted “Jane Mayer’s and Ronan Farrow’s bombshell New Yorker piece” that “succinctly summarized the horrors” of Schneiderman. Another Blumer piece relayed how “Now-former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s serial and often violent mistreatment of women chronicled on Monday at The New Yorker.”
Other MRC pieces referenced the Schneiderman scandal without mentioning Mayer or the New Yorker.
Nevertheless, the MRC has it in for Mayer, mostly due to its longtime obsession with Anita Hill. As Dickens writes: “Mayer first enjoyed the liberal limelight when she (along with co-author Jill Abramson) released her anti-Clarence Thomas book in 1994. The book Strange Justice: The Selling of Clarence Thomas was such a hit with the left, Mayer and company were rewarded with Showtime turning it into a 1999 movie.” Dickens offers no evidence that “Strange Justice” was “anti-Clarence Thomas”; perhaps he’s confusing being pro-truth for being anti-conservative.
The fact that the MRC loved Mayer just a few months ago but hates her now solely on the basis of who she writes about goes a long way to explaining the partisan shallowness that guides the MRC and why its “media research” shouldn’t be trusted.