Media Matters for America describes itself as follows. It is a….
“Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.”
Sounds innocuous enough. It’s just an innocent liberal group that wants to correct the record with all that “conservative misinformation in the U.S. media” floating around and polluting the American political environment.
Yet back in 2012 the Daily Caller got its hands on an internal MMFA memo that revealed that innocent self-description is an outright lie. In fact the group is about targeting those it sees as its political enemies. Specifically, the DC reported:
“An internal Media Matters For America memo obtained by The Daily Caller reveals that the left-wing media watchdog group employs an “opposition research team” to target its political enemies. Included in the list of targets are right-leaning websites, conservative think tanks, prominent financiers and donors, and more than a dozen specific Fox News Channel and News Corporation employees.
‘We will conduct extensive public records searches and compile opposition books on individuals,’ declares the memo, likely written in late 2009. Investigations, it says, ‘will focus on the backgrounds, connections, operations and political and financial activities of the individuals.’”
In other words this was not a group that wanted to correct “conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.” In fact, the DC found that it had selected 40 specific targets – by name – who would be targeted thusly.
“We will conduct extensive public records searches and compile opposition books on individuals” declares the memo, likely written in late 2009. Investigations, it says, “will focus on the backgrounds, connections, operations and political and financial activities of the individuals.”
In other words, the real reason – the stated reason – for the entire existence of Media Matters for America is to target those it sees as political enemies and destroy them. Destroy their careers, finances and reputations.
Which is to say: Media Matters is nothing more than a lie. And it raises the obvious question: Where in the tax code does it provide for describing yourself to the IRS in one way – when in fact you are something else entirely? One would think at a minimum the IRS would be curious.
Very curious.