Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Reserach Center has long been a fan of the right-wing group Moms for Liberty. The group made it into the MRC's victim narrative in an August 2022 post after its PayPal account was briefly frozen. Catherine Salgado and Gabriela Pariseau euphemistially descried it as a "grassroots, anti-woke education group" and insisted that "This is not the first time Big Tech giants have censored Moms for Liberty." So when the Southern Poverty Law Center identified Moms for Liberty as "extremist," the MRC flew into a rage against the SPLC. Tom Olohan played the Soros card in a June 7 post:
A group funded by radical billionaire George Soros is smearing a group of concerned mothers as being somehow filled with hate and MSNBC was just tickled pink over it.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) repeated on Tuesday its pathetic tradition of smearing groups that speak out against the left's preferred narrative by placing the pro-parent education group Moms for Liberty on the same “hate map” as violent and racist groups, such as neo-Nazis and the Klu Klux Klan. MSNBC’s host Nicole Wallace invited SPLC President and CEO Margaret Huang on to the June 6 edition of Deadline: White House where Huang and Wallace both spewed propaganda at Moms for Liberty. Wallace referred to Moms for Liberty as “reactionary,” while Huang called them “right wing-ideologues.” But what was missing from MSNBC’s coverage was any mention that the leftist SPLC was connected to Soros, who has a sordid history of supporting anti-family initiatives.
The Soros-funded SPLC website claims that Moms for Liberty “spread[s] hateful imagery and rhetoric against the LGBTQ community.” The SPLC engages in guilt by association to smear Moms for Liberty, while downplaying the insane leftist political agendas the group opposes, such as critical race theory and radicalized gender ideological indoctrination of children.
Note that Olohan simply spouted right-wing talking points about what Moms for Liberty claims to do "rather than actually respond to the SPLC's claims, choosing instead to rant that the SPLC is"anti-parent and anti-family."
When a Moms for Liberty chapter was caught a couple weeks later quoting Hitler in a newsletter (which wasn't the first time), the MRC was silent. It took a couple weeks for it to even mention the incident, which came in a July 3 post by Clay Waters, who dismissed taht inconvenient fact as "opposition research":
New York Times reporter Jonathan Weisman, who has a history of sketching conservatives as racist and/or bigoted extremists, gleefully went after the newly influential Moms for Liberty, founded to oppose school closings and mask-vaccine mandates in schools and which now targets the teaching of Critical Race Theory principles in schools.
In the first paragraph of his story “Moms for Liberty’s School Board Antagonism Draws G.O.P. Heavyweights,” Weisman swerved right toward Hitler references. You have to dwell on the opposition research and find the embarrassing detail:
Waters went on to baselessly claim that the reporter "lost more credibility when he cited the discredited Southern Poverty Law Center." Waters cited an attack on the SPLC by the right-wing site the Federalist, which doesn't exactly boost Waters' credibility.
Another post by Waters the same day criticized others for criticizing Moms for Liberty:
Friday’s edition of the tax-funded PBS News Hour> took a jab at the influential new conservative parents’ rights group Moms for Liberty, which drew some Republican presidential candidates to its convention last week. Moms was founded to oppose school closings and mask-vaccine mandates in schools and which now targets the teaching of Critical Race Theory and gender identity in schools.
Online, the segment was introduced with slanted labeling: “GOP presidential candidates appear at far-right Moms for Liberty event.” This is only one of many NewsHour segments posted online including a “far right” tag. By contrast, there is not a single story in the News Hourarchive with a “far left” tag. (Coincidentally, Twitter owner Elon Musk has recently mentioned the media’s “far-right” tic.)
Host Geoff Bennett opened the show claiming "Republican presidential candidates appear at an education event run by a group with increasing ties to far-right extremists," before introducing Laura Barron-Lopez’s news report in hostile fashion.
Waters did not explain why Moms for Liberty is not "far-right."
The MRC also published a July 26 column by John Stossel attacking the SPLC for, among other things, criticizing Moms for Liberty, "calling them anti-government extremists because they oppose sexually explicit content in schools, and seek school board seats."
None of these writers mention Moms for Liberty's record of extremism in harassing school officials and secrecy about its funding.
