Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center has gotten a lot of mileage over the past month by embracing Ronan Farrow's account of how his story of harvey Weinstein's sexual harassment was spiked by NBC, even as NBC "Today" host Matt Lauer would eventually lose his job over similar harassment allegations. (Never mind that the MRC couldn't work hard enough to attack Farrow over his investigation into Brett Kavanaugh's past, declaring it a "questionable hit piece.")
But while the MRC has been giving heavy play to the NBC story, it's been renting its mailing list to a company whose spokesman is a disgraced sexual harasser -- Bill O'Reilly, who lost his job as a Fox News host after it was revealed that both he and the channel paid out millions of dollars in settlement money over claims of sexual harassment against him.
On Sept. 12, MRC subscribers received a message from the Oxford Group in which O'Reilly declared that "I'm the #1 best-selling nonfiction author of all time. And the top-rated cable television host in history. And I'm back in a BIG way." It was a promoting for something called the "Great American Wealth Project," which goal O'Reilly promised was "to help you achieve a seven-figure portfolio as quickly, safely and easily as possible."Viewers of O'Reilly's video would also receive a copy of O'Reilly's new book, which he boastfully claimed includes "Five interviews with the president, including one on Air Force One. Two with Don Jr. It's my best piece of writing of all time."
This was followed on Oct. 25 by another email from the Oxford Club which stated:
At the height of his hit TV show, Bill O’Reilly was reportedly making a staggering $37 million a year.
But today, something incredible has happened to his wealth.
For the first time publicly, Bill comes clean about it in this video.
It’s a stunning admission...
And one that anyone who wants to grow and protect their money in retirement needs to hear.
There's no mention of the fact that paying out millions to settle sexual harassment claims, of course. The video is another promotion for the Great American Wealth Project, featuring an interview with someone from the Oxford Club.
As we documented, the MRC was not terribly outraged by the harassment allegations against O'Reilly, serving up only perfunctory denunciations (though not so harsh that it kept MRC official Tim Graham from being a guest on the final edition of his Fox News show), suggested the charges weren't true, then gave O'Reilly a platform to let him complain that he was the victim of a "hit job"-- something the MRC would never have done for the likes of Lauer and Weinstein.
