MediaMatters

See also: David Brock

Media Matters for America' is a progressive-identified not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) interest group and think tank, formed in 2004, with a goal of "monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media." Its publication is Web-based.

David Brock, a former conservative, is chief executive officer.

It received substantial start-up funding from Democratic advocates, and, along with the questions on Brock, has had its neutrality challenged. Other media monitoring services, less subject to ideological challenge, say it fills a niche and is reasonably accurae.

Role and neutrality

The Providence Phoenix pointed out that political media monitoring has been more the province of the Right, as with groups such as Accuracy in Media (AIM) and Media Research Center (MRC). Organized liberal media criticism had been largely the domain of only one group: the 20-year-old Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). This article raised some concerns from the relatively small number of non-ideological media monitoring groups, such as Bryan Keefer, of CJRDaily.org, an online media-monitoring site created by the Columbia Journalism Review: "In terms of accuracy, they’re generally pretty good as far as they go,...But they are "self-consciously lefty.... They’re really only looking for things where liberals have been treated unfairly or where conservatives have gotten away with things." Some right-wing media-monitoring groups are more aggressive, such as Discover the Networks from the David Horowitz Freedom Center and JihadWatch from Robert Spencer.

"I looked around, and aside from FAIR and blogs, it was a pretty empty space," says Brock. FAIR senior analyst Steve Rendall says he welcomed the new entry, noting that FAIR concentrates largely on reporting issues in the mainstream media while Media Matters focuses "on right-wing commentators most of the time." Brock said that he is in a niche, and not trying to do extensive content analyses and monitor standards and practices. "We have a more narrow mission," he says. "To work against undue conservative influence in the media."

The Phoenix stated the challenge, "Given his own history, Brock knows plenty about conservative pressure. But he’s also aware that questions continue to dog him in his new incarnation. Who is the real David Brock, and why should we trust him?"

More vexing for Brock is the cloud of suspicion that continues to hang over his work, in light of his ideological journey and confessed unethical behavior. "Once somebody has demonstrated himself to be an utterly untrustworthy liar," asks Rosenstiel of the Washington, DC–based Project for Excellence in Journalism, "why in the world would anybody think he has credibility now that he has switched teams?" Brock responded, " "If people don’t know me it can be difficult and it’s a totally legitimate and understandable question. In the history of ideological conversions, I’m not really aware of any that have changed twice."