Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center's Geoffrey Dickens waxes indignant in an Oct. 24 post:
Democratic Governor Terry McAullife’s PAC donated almost $500,000 to the wife of an FBI agent leading the probe into Hillary Clinton’s e-mail scandal.
This stunning revelation, despite being reported in a front page story in Monday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, didn’t receive any time on the Big Three network (ABC, CBS, NBC) morning shows.[...]
The questionable donation, so far, has yet to be reported on the Big Three networks but was covered on Fox News Channel (FNC) and Fox Business Network (FBN).
The MRC's Nicholas Fondacaro huffed that "The “Big Three” networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) put their undying loyalty to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on full display Monday evening, as they completely blacked out two news stories with explosive consequences for the campaign," including the one about how "a long time Clinton confidant and Virginia Governor, Terry McAuliffe, gifted almost half a million dollars to the wife of an FBI agent leading the Clinton e-mail investigation." Fox News' Bret Baier reported it, Fondacaro proudly added.
MRC chief Brent Bozell followed up, as it so happens, in a Fox Business appearance, ranting of the donation: "This is called bribery. This is bribery of the FBI and it’s not even covered. This is astounding. So, the bottom line is Donald Trump is 100 percent correct that this is a rigged media against him."
But the MRC is censoring a very important part of the story -- one that clears everyone involved.
As Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler explains, the donations by McAuliffe's PAC to Jill McCabe in thte 2015 Virginia legislative election were made well before her husband was named to an FBI team proving Clinton's emails -- three months after McCabe lost her election, in fact. Kessler adds -- and the MRC fails to mention -- that there was no way "McAuliffe would know that the husband of someone he was supporting in a Virginia legislative race was going to be promoted months later."
In other words, there is no bribery or any other crime. Don't expect Bozell or the MRC to apologize for lying to their readers and listeners -- they don't do that.
Kessler also notes that Donald Trump is promoting an even more bogus version of this story. Which means the only reason the MRC is pushing this bogus story is for Trump's benefit -- or because it's following orders from the Trump campaign.
