Media Matters Names Glenn Beck ’2009 Misinformer of the Year’
Dec 23 2009
“The lowest form of popular culture – lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people’s lives – has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage.” – Carl Bernstein, “Guardian” (London)”, June 3, 1992
MediaMatters.org has named Fox News host their ‘Misinformer of the Year‘. Putting aside the fact that ‘Misinformer’ isn’t a real word, the article is worth a look, but also keep in mind that Media Matters is a left wing publication and very focused on Fox News. I only bring it to your attention because the article lists a good number of topics and issues that we’ve tackled on this blog this year, with an extensive list of supporting documents to support their ‘award’.
Here is the opening snippet from the article:
Glenn Beck’s well of ridiculous was deep and poisonous before he launched his Fox News show, but the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States — and the permissive cheerleading of his Fox News honchos — uncorked the former Morning Zoo shock jock’s unique brand of vitriol, stage theatrics, and hyperbolic fright, making him an easy choice for Media Matters’ 2009 Misinformer of the Year.
When he wasn’t calling the president a racist, portraying progressive leaders as vampires who can only be stopped by “driv[ing] a stake through the heart of the bloodsuckers,” or pushing the legitimacy of seceding from the country, Beck obsessively compared Democrats in Washington to Nazis and fascists and “the early days of Adolf Hitler.” He wondered, “Is this where we’re headed,” while showing images of Hitler, Stalin, and Lenin; decoded the secret language of Marxists; and compared the government to “heroin pushers” who were “using smiley-faced fascism to grow the nanny state.”
Like his predecessor, Beck spat on scruples, frequently announcing his goal to get administration officials fired. He increasingly acted not as a media figure, but as the head of a political movement, while helping to bring fringe conspiracies of a one-world government into the national discourse.
And he all too frequently helped to set the mainstream media’s agenda.
Definitely worth a read, whether you agree with Media Matters or not, or support Glenn Beck or oppose him. It is a prime example of the level of effort that is going in to fact checking these days.
I’m on the lookout for a conservative equal to this article, and will share that if one pops up. There’s no question that Media Matters is anti-conservative, as they say directly in their ‘About Us’ page:
Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.
Launched in May 2004, Media Matters for America put in place, for the first time, the means to systematically monitor a cross section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation — news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the conservative agenda — every day, in real time.
Please have a safe and merry Christmas, and we’ll see you next week.
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