Topic: Media Research Center
In an appearance on Fox News' "Fox & Friends," Media Research Center chief Brent Bozell inveighed against NPR for firing Juan Williams: '"This is the face of the intolerant left today...these people are utterly intolerant of any position other than their radical agenda."
That's a particularly rich complaint, given that Bozell and the MRC has proven themselves to be the vanguard for the intolerant right.
The MRC has ramped up its anti-gay activism over the past several months, from gay-bashing rants at its Culture & Media Institute to manufacturing outrage over an exhibit of gay-themed art at the Smithsonian.
Most recently, as WorldNetDaily reported, the MRC has decided not to partcipate in this year Conservative Political Action Conference because of the presence there of gay conservative group GOProud. WND quoted Bozell as saying, "We've been there 25 years, since our inception. ... To bring in a 'gay' group is a direct attack on social conservatives, and I can't participate in that."
As Slate's Dave Weigel noted, the MRC "was absolutely a CPAC mainstay, with a big presence in the exhibit hall and speeches and breakout session participation from MRC staff."
As we've noted, the MRC has demonstrated a curious lack of enthusiasm about reporting this news on any of its websites, even though it operates a so-called "news' website, CNSNews.com. It's been more than two days since WND first reported it, and the MRC still hasn't touched it.
One has to wonder: What does "media research" have to do with the presence of homosexuals at a conservative conference? Nothing, of course. This is yet another piece of evidence that the MRC isn't about "media research" at all (as if its shoddy research record wasn't already an indication). It is a political action group, period.
Such an intolerant group has no standing to make credible judgments on media issues -- and even less standing to accuse others of being intolerant.
