Topic: Media Research Center
Joining NewsBusters' Matthew Sheffield in going into Clinton Equivocation mode on the ties between Rudy Giuliani and Rupert Murdoch -- as detailed in a New York Times article -- is TimesWatch's Clay Waters, who echoed the lament that Bill Clinton's ties to Rick Kaplan are much more important and to downplay the Giuliani-Murdoch link.
Waters was quick to dismiss Giuliani's disproportionate airtime on Fox News: "Since Giuliani has been leading the Republican field in almost all the polls taken so far, it's hardly a surprise that he would also lead in coverage at Fox News. And it's not exactly out of character for Sean Hannity, who is after all paid to have opinions, to favor a particular Republican candidate." Don't expect anyone at the MRC to avoid criticizing, say, Keith Olbermann because he "is after all paid to have opinions."
Waters glossed over Giuliani's efforts to have Time Warner, the cable TV company in New York City, to carry Fox News, saying only that "Giuliani tried (and failed) to convince Time Warner to add the then-fledgling cable channel." In fact, as the Times article noted, the Giuliani administration announced plans to broadcast Fox News on a municipal-run station, an action a federal judge blocked after calling it "special advocacy" to "reward a friend and to further a particular viewpoint."
A blurb currently on the Media Research Center's front page linking to Waters' item carries the headline, "A Double Standard on Media Conflicts." Isn't the real double standard the MRC's refusal to condemn a "media conflict" among conservatives that it purports to find offensive when liberals are involved?
