Topic: Media Research Center
If there's one thing the Media Research Center really can't abide, it's unflattering articles about conservative icons. So when Vanity Fair published an article depicting Sarah Palin as the center of "a place of fear, anger, and illusion, which has swallowed up the engaging, small-town hockey mom and her family," the MRC swiftly went into defense mode.
First up was the MRC Culture & Media Institute's Nathan Burchfiel, who dismissed the article as "a list of ill-sourced, hearsay attacks on Palin designed to depict her as a raging psychopath" and "managed to cite just one person to criticize Palin on the record." Burchfiel claimed the article "fits right in with previous coverage of Palin," citing a CMI study as evidence. But as we detailed, the study confuses negative coverage with bias and had a severly limited scope of a time in the 2008 campaign in which Palin very much earned the negative coverage she received.
Next was Noel Sheppard, who touted at NewsBusters how Palin "went after impotent, limp, gutless reporters that quote anonymous sources to attack her" in a sycophantic interview with Sean Hannity.
He was followed by Kyle Drennen, who was annoyed that CBS' "The Early Show" had on the author of the Vanity Fair "article slamming Sarah Palin with outlandish accusations."
The CMI's Burchfiel returned to scowl at the author's appearance on "Morning Joe" talking abouthow he "depicts Palin as a volatile, vengeful, mean-spirited figure." Burchfiel portrayed the writer as an "antagonist" who may not be telling the truth when he claimed that "he set out to defend the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, but that the resulting article 'was forced on me by the facts.'"
Tim Graham then chimed in, complaining that "Morning Joe" covered "anonymously sourced hit jobs against alleged serial liar Sarah Palin in Vanity Fair.
That's the MRC's job -- attack the messenger and not once challenge the facts.
