Topic: CNSNews.com
The Media Research Center, it appears, has no idea what to do with breaking news it generates.
As we've noted, the MRC let WorldNetDaily scoop it on the news that it is refusing to participate in this year's CPAC because it's not anti-gay enough. (We still haven't seen it reported on any MRC website.) Now, CNSNews.com -- which is supposed to be the MRC's "news" division -- is getting scooped on the contents of a video CNS made.
On Jan. 19, CNS posted a nearly two-hour-long video interview editor-in-chief Terry Jeffrey did with potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum. The same day, Right Wing Watch highlighted a statement Santorum made regarding President Obama and abortion: that "I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, 'Now we are going to decide who are people and who are not people.'" Right Wing Watch also made a much shorter video clip of the remark, taken from the CNS video.
On Jan. 20, the clip spread across the Web, with a focus on how Santorum injected race into the abortion issue. Strangely, CNS had done nothing with the Santorum beyond posting the mega-huge clip.
It was only after Santorum issued a statement defending his earlier claim that the MRC snapped into action. CNS belatedly put up an overly long, transcript-heavy article by Jeffrey putting his own spin on Santorum's words, and MRC chief Brent Bozell cranked out a press release in which he yet again plays the victim of a liberal conspiracy:
This has nothing to do with a supposed "race card." This isn’t even just about Rick Santorum. The media whirlwind whipped up on these accusations are nothing more than the continuation of an ugly and dishonest attempt to distort, delegitimize and damn conservative principles and conservative leaders.
Anyone who actually watched this interview can see that Santorum paralleled what many pro-life leaders have compared in the past. Just ask Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Day Gardner, Rev. Childress or any number of other black leaders who have also called abortion the civil rights issue of our day.
It’s sad that many of these same outlets also failed to report news yesterday of the Philadelphia abortionist charged with the murder of 1 woman and 7 babies born alive and then killed with scissors. It doesn't get more gruesome than that. But that story doesn’t threaten liberal ideology, so I guess it’s just not news.
Santorum does threaten liberal ideology, so they create a false controversy -- and call it news.
One: Alveda King's doctorate is honorary, therefore she has not earned the "Dr." title Bozell places in front of her name.
Two: Bozell's complaining about a "false controversy" turned into news is particularly rich given that the MRC created its own false controversy last month over a gay-themed art exhibit at a Smithsonian museum.
Three: Instead of ranting about being a victim, shouldn't Bozell be having a conversation with Jeffrey about how he got so far behind the curve on a story he generated?
Finally, Bozell refused to give credit where it's due, name-checking "numerous major news outlets including Politico, National Journal, the Wall Street Journal, and the Daily Beast" that reported the story but ignoring the originator, Right Wing Watch. Just because the MRC couldn't be bothered to report on its own story doesn't mean it should deny credit to the outlet that did.
