Media Matters, which describes itself on its web site as a, “progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media,” has taken aim at MSNBC’s Chris Matthews for what it says is a trend of “sexist displays.”
Media Matters has started a “take action” campaign, urging readers to contact MSNBC and express their disapproval of Matthews current attacks on Sen. Hillary Clinton and past comments.
Karl Frisch, Media Matters spokesperson, tells TVNewser, “We encourage people to take action for a variety of reasons — being able to point to a clear trend in coverage is obviously helpful, as is the case with our current Matthews effort.”
Recent “actions” have been led against Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly, and the last MSNBC action was against Tucker Carlson in August 2007. The Matthews campaign may come as somewhat of a surprise for an organization looking for specifically “conservative misinformation.” Frisch disagrees. “It isn’t about the pundit or the personality, it’s about the content,” he said.
Interestingly, there are a litany of articles quoting FNC personalities on the site, including O’Reilly, in favor of Media Matters and against Matthews recent comments. “Sometimes even Fox personalities point out these types of issues,” Frisch said. “We’re not going to hold them to a different standard than anyone else.”