Comedy cop Alex Christy isn’t the only Media Research Center employee to lash out at Stephen Colbert. Justine Brooke Murray — who — continued the MRC’s complaining that it fell into Colbert’s narrative on his interview with Texas senatorial candidate James Talarico in a Feb. 18 TV appearance (on Fox Business, natch):
MRC Video Content Creator Justine Brooke Murray joined The Bottom Line on Fox Business Tuesday evening to deliver a blistering takedown of Stephen Colbert’s latest meltdown — one that wasn’t just sloppy comedy, but a blatant lie aired to millions of viewers.
Colbert recently claimed that CBS and the FCC blocked an interview with Texas State Rep. James Talerico, who is currently running for U.S. Senate. In reality, CBS said its lawyers provided guidance on FCC equal-time rules, which require broadcasters to offer comparable airtime to all political candidates. The FCC did not prohibit the interview from airing.
Co-host Brian Brenberg observed, “It seems like every time we hear from Colbert, it’s some political diatribe.” Murray added, “This is also the same guy who cheered when President Trump was banned from all social media platforms.”
Colbert tried to spin the story into a false narrative of government censorship, exposing a clear example of left-wing media hypocrisy. Murray said of Colbert, “He thinks he is above the law. Our left-wing journalists apparently think that if they identify as so-called journalists, they can…violate FCC law.”
In fact — as the MRC itself has admitted — there is an exception to the equal-time rule for talk shows like Colbert’s, which the FCC is thinking about voiding. Further, Colbert moving the Talarico to YouTube had the desired effect of generating millions of views, something the MRC doesn’t want to admit it was suckered into by Colbert. But Murray wasn’t done whining:
Colbert’s meltdown is just the latest example of a broader trend the Media Research Center has repeatedly documented: elitist media bias and a lack of accountability. Late-night shows increasingly put partisanship ahead of comedy. As Murray said, “Now the late shows are all therapy sessions.” Americans deserve late-night hosts who entertain, not turn current events into partisan theater over public airwaves.
Meanwhile, the MRC has never held Fox News accountable for its behavior, and it exempts Fox News late-night host Greg Gutfeld from the same scrutiny it hands out to non-right-wing hosts.
Tim Graham continued the Colbert whining in a March 15 post:
The Hollywood trade publication Variety has demonstrated a dramatic anti-Trump bias – they’d call it an anti-fascist bias. So it was shocking that they published an articleunder the headline “Stephen Colbert’s Long ‘Late Show’ Goodbye Has Gone From Resistance to Ego Trip.”
TV reviewer Daniel D’Addario — who just weeks ago trashed the new CBS Evening News anchorman Tony Dokoupil as an untalented but ambitious man with his finger in the wind — could not abide Monday’s episode, where actor John Lithgow read a Colbert-ogling poem titled “The Mighty Colbert.”
Lithgow honored the “sublime masterworks” that are Colbert’s monologues, and asked, “So why is he canceled? Why trash all that pleasure? Why yank off the air this beloved national treasure? Stephen’s tale is a lesson for all who come after: Beware of a boss with thin skin and no laughter.”
D’Addario declared “by this point in his lame-duck tenure, Colbert is likely accustomed to endless fawning from his guests!” He declared the news of his cancellation “seismic,” but added “What has ended up making it to air has been an increasingly puffy tribute to the show’s own host. The endless bouquets being tossed Colbert’s way have started to make the studio smell a bit cloying.”
Graham failed to mention that CBS itself set up this situation by canceling Colbert nearly a year in advance while CBS’ owner sought to settle a lawsuit with President Trump with a large payment of millions of dollars. CBS claims the two aren’t linked, but nobody actually believes that. Instead, Graham huffed: “Clearly, boosting Colbert as both a legend and a victim is an important part of Colbert’s next chapter.” Of course, CBS made Colbert into a victim — not that Graham will admit it, of course, since it cheered his cancellation.