Media Matters for America

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Media Matters for America is a liberal media watchdog, concerned with combating conservative media bias. They famously produced the documentary Outfoxed which demonstrates the bias in Fox News.[1]

Media Matters also tracks and debunks pseudoscience favored by conservatives, including creationism,[2] global warming denialism,[3] and bogus claims about abortion.[4]

According to Bill O'Reilly, former Fox News entertainer, Media Matters is a far-left wing hate group funded by George Soros' shadow party. Although Soros donated US$1 million to Media Matters in 2010, this is his only connection to the organization.[5]

Media Matters is far from unbiased itself, as could be expected from an organization founded by David "Anita Hill is a Perjuring Lesbian" Brock.[note 1] One of their studies purportedly demonstrating conservative bias in newspapers due to conservatives dominating op-ed pages was criticized for weighting columnists syndicated in local rags the same as ones syndicated in major newspapers.[6]

In March of 2014, Media Matters launched Mythopedia, a sort of quick and dirty refutation of claims.[7]

Twitter lawsuit[edit]

In November 2023, Media Matters exposed Elon Musk's operations at social media outlet X (née Twitter). In particular, Media Matters found that major company advertisements were appearing next to content that overly promoted pro-Nazi content. This (along with some antisemitic tweets from Musk himself) in turn led to multiple advertisers suspending their Twitter ad campaigns.[8][9] Elon "free speech absolutist" Musk's reaction, predictably, was to accuse Media Matters of manufacturing this report in order to “drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp.”, and filed a lawsuit against Media Matters.[10] Separately, the asshole Texas attorney general Ken Paxton,Wikipedia at the time on trial for securities fraud[11] and fresh off being acquitted in the Texas Senate after being impeached in the Texas House on May 2023,[12][13] opened an investigation into Media Matters for "potential fraudulent activity".[14]

Legal experts found Musk's lawsuit weak, bogus, completely invalidated by the First Amendment, and above all, a textbook example of a SLAPP suit. However, they also acknowledged that the lawsuit probably would progress further than it had any right to, due to Musk filing the suit (jurisdiction be damned) with the court of Donald Trump sycophant Mark T. Pittman.Wikipedia[15] Also, experts estimate that the boycotts directed at X will cost him $75 million in advertising revenue in response to the Media Matters report.[16]

In response, Elon Musk made a PR move to travel to Israel as part of an apology tour so he can see how antisemitism gets people killed as a result of war.[17]

In December 2023, District court judge Mark Pittman, who was assigned to the Elon Musk Vs. Media Matters lawsuit, recused himself from the case.[18] The lawsuit between Elon Musk and Media Matters will have a trial in April 2025. [19]

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ↑ Brock was (in)famous for his antics during the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, but he is working for the other side now. See the Wikipedia article on Blinded by the Right.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004) at the Internet Movie Database.
  2. ↑ Evolution category
  3. ↑ Climate change category
  4. ↑ Abortion category
  5. ↑ Soros donates $1 million to Media Matters. The New York Times, 20 October 2010.
  6. ↑ Beyond the Left-Right Labels
  7. ↑ Mythopedia
  8. ↑ IBM suspends ads on X after corporate ads appeared next to pro-Nazi content. Reuters, 16 November 2023.
  9. ↑ White House blasts Musk's 'hideous' antisemitic lie, advertisers pause on X. Reuters, 17 November 2023.
  10. ↑ Musk’s X sues liberal advocacy group Media Matters over its report on ads next to hate groups’ posts. Associated Press, 21 November 2023.
  11. ↑ "Attorney General Ken Paxton’s securities fraud trial set for April 15" by Patrick Svitek, Texas Tribune, 2023 October 30
  12. ↑ "Texas AG Ken Paxton impeached, suspended from duties; will face Senate trial" by Zach Despart and James Barragan, Texas Tribune, 2023 May 27
  13. ↑ "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton acquitted on all 16 articles of impeachment" by Zach Despart, Texas Tribune, 2023 September 16
  14. ↑ "Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Pax­ton Opens Inves­ti­ga­tion into Media Mat­ters for Poten­tial Fraud­u­lent Activity" by Ken Paxton, Press Release, 2023 November 20
  15. ↑ "Legal critics blast Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Media Matters as ‘weak’ and ‘bogus’" by Brian Fung, CNN, 2023 November 21
  16. ↑ X may lose up to $75 mln by year-end on advertiser exodus - NYT, Reuters, 24 November 2023.
  17. ↑ Elon Musk visits Israel after criticism for endorsing antisemitic post, Reuters 27 November 2023.
  18. ↑ Judge recuses himself from Elon Musk’s case against Media Matters, The Hill, 28 November 2023.
  19. ↑ Elon Musk’s X lawsuit against Media Matters scheduled for trial in April, CNN, 13 June 2024.
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