CNSNews.com is not the only part of the Media Research Center empire that treats right-wing radio host Mark Levin like a god whose words demand slavish transcription for hungry readers. CNS has devoted 17 articles dutifully transcribing Levin in the first two months of 2018 alone.
Levin swooned at the Media Research Center’s ridiculous awards gala last fall that “I rely on” the MRC and leader Brent Bozell. (He didn’t mention that the two have had, and may still have, a cross-promotion deal.) That’s enough for the MRC to do some bonus stenography on his behalf at NewsBusters that’s beyond what it already does at CNS:
- No less than Tim Graham did the honors in a March 9 post transcribing how Levin “grew angry at how the ‘Praetorian guard media’ are protecting the Obama team from the emerging story of how they unmasked Trump campaign officials — as well as Blackwater founder Erik Prince, he charged — and leaked word of their meetings with Russians to their media buddies.”
- Randy Hall was on stenography duty in a March 15 post stating that “During an interview you would not see on CNN or MSNBC, radio host Mark Levin slammed Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff (Calif.) while the conservative activist was a guest on Wednesday evening’s edition of Fox News Channel’s Hannity.” The reason that interview would not happen on CNN or MSNBC, of course, is that Levin does not want to appear on a media outlet that would not fawn over every word he says.
The MRC also goes into full-on defense mode for Levin, even when the target is obscure or irrelevant. In a March 10 post, Graham ranted about a newspaper in Israel calling Levin “controversial” and a “shock jock,” huffing that “Other countries have the same liberal bias as America does.” (Actually, the Times of Israel is independent, but to Graham and the MRC, any media outlet that does not blindly repeat right-wing orthodoxy is “liberal.”)
Graham also huffed that “There was nothing in this article that would explain how Levin is not a ‘shock jock’ like Howard Stern.” Apparently, Levin sneering about Jon Stewart that “I don’t trust Jews who changes their names” was not a shocking statement to Graham even though obsessing over Jews who change their names is a pastime Levin shares with the neo-Nazis at Stormfront.
And then, returning to lackey mode, Graham quotes Levin’s rant about the “shock jock” label, including the pithy retort “If I had a bird, I wouldn’t even want to use your paper at the bottom of my birdcage…I wouldn’t want to poison the bird.” In fact, the Times of Israel is an online-only publication, so that would be impossible to do. Not that Graham would ever deign to fact-check his idol, of course.