Topic: Media Research Center
Apparently, right-wingers expect the mainstream media to be well-versed on every simgle one of their hateful obsessions during the Obama years, no matter how minor.
A Feb. 20 Media Research Center post by Curtis Houck was outraged that NBC's Katy Tur -- whom the MRC appears to have helped President Trump attack during the election -- failed to recall a five-year-old anecdote involving Obama:
On Monday, our friend SooperMexican at The Right Scoop caught this embarrassing exchange on MSNBC as Katy Tur admitted to her guest that she was couldn’t recall President Barack Obama being caught on a hot mic in 2012 saying he’d have “more flexibility” to work with Russia after his reelection.
Tur was speaking to Republican Congressman Francis Rooney (Fla.) and pressing him about the Trump administration’s hopes to work better with Russia when Rooney brought up Obama’s remark in South Korea.
While he was incorrect about who Obama was speaking to (Dmitry Medvedev and not Vladimir Putin), Rooney noted: “Well, I think it was Obama that leaned over to Putin and said, I'll have a little more flexibility to give you what you want after the re-election.”
For a brief moment, there was silence before Tur blurted out: “I'm sorry, I don't know what you're referring to, Congressman.”
In another example of the WorldNetDaily-ization of the MRC, WND's Chelsea Schilling joined in the attack on Tur the same day:
NBC reporter and MSNBC host Katy Tur – who accused President Trump’s advisers of having close ties to Russia – appeared to draw a total blank when a Republican congressman pointed out that former President Obama was caught on a hot mic pledging to give the Russian president more “flexibility” after the 2012 election.
“I see a lot of folks within Donald Trump’s administration who have a friendlier view of Russia than maybe past administrations did,” Tur said during an interview with U.S. Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla.
Responding to her claim concerning previous administrations, Rooney attempted to remind her about Obama’s famous promise to Russia.
“Well, I think it was Obama that leaned over to Putin and said, ‘I’ll have a little more flexibility to give you what you want after the re-election,'” Rooney said.
After a pause, the 33-year-old host replied, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re referring to, Congressman.”[...]
The moment was so widely reported, then-GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney raised the subject during a presidential debate.
But as Mediaite reported -- but neither Houck nor Schilling could be bothered to mention -- Tur later pointed out that she was a local reporter in New York City during the 2012 election and was not covering politics. She also noted that she researched the issue after she got off the air and discussed it in more depth in a later MSNBC appearance. Houck noted the later Tur appearance but complained she "never mentioned that she was caught off guard" earlier in the day.
