I’ve been blogging about politics and media bias since 2003, and I can honestly say that Media Matters is one of the worst websites on the left when it comes to making false or distorted claims about things Republicans say – even when video evidence proves them wrong.
On their about page, they note their mission is to provide “activists, journalists, pundits, and the general public … the resources to rebut false claims and to take direct action against offending media institutions.”
They left out the part about how their mission also apparently involves trying to smear Republicans with deliberately erroneous claims in hopes of canceling their legitimate contributions to current debates and destroying their political futures.
Worse still is how the mainstream media and Democratic politicians and candidates often promote and amplify their claims without bothering to check their validity.
The latest example of Media Matters’ blatant dishonesty involves the way they “reported” on comments former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley made during a recent interview with Glenn Beck in which they talked about some of the things she wrote in her new book.
Under discussion was the Confederate flag in the context of the June 17, 2015 mass murders of nine African American churchgoers at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC. Three otphers survived.
After photos surfaced showing the killer holding up a Confederate flag, the voices of those who had long wanted it removed grew louder. Haley was governor at the time, and after three weeks of debate, the state legislature approved the removal of the flag, which Haley had pushed for in the aftermath of the shootings.
Of the flag, Haley told Beck this during the interview:
“Here is this guy that comes out with his manifesto, holding the Confederate flag. And had just hijacked everything that people thought of .. and we don’t have hateful people in South Carolina. There’s always the small minority that’s always gonna be there. But people saw [the flag] as service and sacrifice and heritage. But once he did that, there was no way to overcome it.”
Clearly she was talking about what she thinks other people saw the flag as a symbol of, but here’s how Media Matters propagandist Jason Campbell “reported” her comments – by way of sharing a video clip that actually proved his claim wrong:
Not only did liberal commentators and columnists for news outlets like CNN and the Washington Post run with Campbell’s lie, but mainstream media journalists from websites like Axios and WaPo also joined in – all based on Campbell’s tweet (keep in mind that his clip was the only one widely available and circulating at the time):
Washington Post national correspondent Philip Bump also ran with the Media Matters interpretation but deleted the tweet, though his defenses of what he tweeted are still up:
The Hill’s headline reads “Haley: Dylann Roof ‘hijacked’ Confederate flag”, and the opening paragraph to their story was not any better:
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) says that Dylann Roof, who shot and killed nine black Americans in a Charleston church in 2015, “hijacked” the meaning of the Confederate flag.
“Nikki Haley” trended on Twitter for a good part of the day Friday.
Twitter conservatives were quick to correct the record, and slammed Campbell, MMFA, the Democrat commentators, and media outlets who parroted the false quote:
Comfortably Smug is even having a Google spreadsheet set up for people to document instances of the MSM/left wing journos/Democratic officials uncritically sharing MMFA talking points:
Haley defended herself on Twitter Sunday morning:
That the MSM and Media Matters work together is not new news, but this was one of the more notable instances where they were caught on social media doing it in real time.
In addition to Media Matters, national news outlets have also used distorted “reports” from the now-defunct Think Progress in order to smear Republicans in the past.
With Haley in particular, what this is all about is pretty straightforward: Democrats and the mainstream media are scared of her because she represents the type of GOP diversity the left claims doesn’t exist. Plus, they believe she’s angling for a future presidential nomination.
There’s no question that the media/left’s coordinated campaign to nuke her reputation in advance of 2024 is officially underway.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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