We’ve detailed how the Media Research Center has been quick to inform its readers how many questions in Republican presidential debates sponsored last year by networks such as NBC and CNN were “liberal” or “conservative” — but not for the debate sponsored by Fox News. That blind spot continues in the latest round of debates.
The MRC was quick to roll out predictable critiques of debates hosted by ABC and NBC:
- In NBC GOP Debate, Questions Hit Candidates from Left by 8 to 1 Margin
- ABC’s GOP Debate Questions 6 to 1 Liberal, 25% on Contraception, Gay Rights
But when it came to the debate Fox News hosted on Jan. 16, the MRC was, as before, not interested in breaking down the questions by ideology — even as it attacked one of the questions.
NewsBusters’ Noel Sheppard highlighted the “rather testy exchange with Fox News’s Juan Williams” over Williams’ suggestion that Gingrich was “racially insensitive” by claiming that black Americans lack a work ethic. Sheppard responded: “Despite his likely respect for his former Fox colleague, it was nice to see Gingrich do this. As NewsBusters has been reporting for months the media are going to constantly bring race into the discussion to assist Obama’s reelection.” But at no point did Sheppard attack Williams for asking a question “from the left.”
Is the MRC so afraid of Fox News that it will avoid telling the truth about Fox News out of fear of offending them? Or does the MRC simply give Fox a pass no matter how egregious the behavior?
Then again, MRC chief Brent Bozell clearly feels so comfortable on Fox that he’ll call President Obama a “skinny ghetto crackhead” without fear of retribution.