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 Screenshot of website, January 4, 2021 | |
| Formation | May 3, 2004; 21 years ago (2004-05-03) |
|---|---|
| Founder | David Brock |
| Founded at | Washington, D.C., US |
| Type | 501(c)(3) nonprofit |
| 47-0928008 | |
| Purpose | "Comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media"[1] |
President | Angelo Carusone |
| Affiliations | American Bridge 21st Century Super PAC, Media Matters Action Network (501(c)(4)) |
| Revenue | $19.6 million[2] (2023) |
| Expenses | $20.8 million[2] (2023) |
| Website | www |
Media Matters for America (MMfA) is a nonprofitleft-leaningwatchdog journalism organization.[3] Founded in 2004 by journalist and political activistDavid Brock as a counterweight to the conservativeMedia Research Center,[4] it seeks to spotlight "conservativemisinformation" in American media; its methods include issuing reports and quick responses.[5][6] Two example initiatives are the "Drop Fox" campaign (2011–2013), which sought to discreditFox News's claims of producing "fair and balanced" coverage,[7][8][9] and a 2023 report aboutX (formerly Twitter) that highlightedantisemitism on the platform.
In July 2025,The New York Times reported that Media Matters was "under siege by Trump and Musk" as part oftheir retribution campaign. Having difficulty paying legal fees, the organization has scaled back criticism, reduced staff, and contemplated closing entirely.[10]
Media Matters for America was founded in May 2004 byDavid Brock,[11] a formerlyconservative journalist. Brock said that a central goal of the group would be to monitor journalists and outlets for misleading conservative claims and then flag them.[4] He argued that existing conservative-monitoring groups had been doing this and pushing mainstream journalists, the media, and American politics to the right as a result.[4] Brock founded the group with help from theCenter for American Progress.[4]
In 2004, MMfA began with the help of $2 million in donations.[4][5] That year, MMfA received the endorsement of theDemocracy Alliance, a partnership of wealthy and politically active progressive donors. The Alliance itself does not fund endorsees, but many wealthy Alliance members acted on the endorsement and donated directly to MMfA.[12][13][14] In 2010,George Soros donated $1 million to MMfA, citing concerns that the "incendiary rhetoric ofFox News hosts may incite violence."[15][16] In a 2014CNN interview, David Brock said that Soros's contributions were "less than 10 percent" of Media Matters's budget.[17][18]
John Podesta, the former chief of staff to PresidentBill Clinton, provided office space for Media Matters early in its formation at the Center for American Progress, a Democratic think tank Podesta established in 2002.[19]Hillary Clinton advised Media Matters in its early stages out of a belief that progressives should follow conservatives in forming think tanks and advocacy groups to support their political goals.[19][20] According toThe New York Times, Media Matters "helped lay the groundwork" forHillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.[21]
Media Matters has hired several of the best-known political professionals who have worked for Democratic politicians and progressive groups.[22][23] In 2004,National Review referred to MMfA staffers who had recently worked on the presidential campaigns ofJohn Edwards andWesley Clark, for CongressmanBarney Frank, and for theDemocratic Congressional Campaign Committee.[22]
Eric E. Burns served as MMfA's president until 2011.[24] Burns was succeeded by Matt Butler, and then, in 2013, by Bradley Beychok.[25] In late 2016,Angelo Carusone replaced Beychok as MMfA's president. Under Carusone, the organization's focus has shifted to thealt-right,conspiracy theories, andfake news.[26]
In 2014, the Media Matters staff voted to join theService Employees International Union (SEIU). Initially, Media Matters management declined to recognize the union through acard check process, instead exercising its right to force a union election, which delayed the process until July, when the vote favored unionization.[27][28]
In May 2024, a dozen staffers at Media Matters were laid off amid a series of lawsuits and legal investigations byElon Musk and Republicanstate attorneys general.[29][30]
Media Matters analyzes American news sources from networks and channels to websites, includingNBC,ABC,CBS,PBS, CNN,MSNBC,CNBC,One America News Network,Breitbart, and Fox News, as well asconservative talk radios. Its techniques includecontent analysis,fact checking, monitoring, and comparison of quotes or presentations from media figures to primary documents, such asUnited States Department of Defense andGovernment Accountability Office reports.[citation needed]
Beginning in 2006, Media Matters for America has released a number of studies documenting that Republicans and conservatives outnumbered Democrats and progressives in guest appearances on television news programs.[31][better source needed]
On September 12, 2007, Media Matters released a comprehensive study of 1,377 US newspapers and the 201 syndicated political columnists the papers carry on a regular basis. Media Matters wrote, "In paper after paper, state after state, and region after region, conservative syndicated columnists get more space than their progressive counterparts."[32] John Diaz, an editor at theSan Francisco Chronicle, cautioned that small-town columnists lean significantly to the right, which he felt could explain the rightward slant in columnists even if the trend does not hold for papers with the largest readership.[33]
An annual feature on the Media Matters website is the title "Misinformer of the Year", given to the journalist, commentator, or network Media Matters contends was responsible for the most factual errors or claims. Past recipients includeRupert Murdoch,[34]Sean Hannity,[34]Glenn Beck,[34]Mark Zuckerberg,[34] andSteve Bannon.[35]
The initiative seeks to train mid-career liberal pundits in media skills like TV interviews using four-day bootcamps.[36][37]
In 2010, David Brock established Media Matters Action Network, a 501(c)(4), to track conservative politicians and organizations.[38]
In 2009, Media Matters Action Network launched the Conservative Transparency website, aimed at tracking the funding of conservative activist organizations.[39] Media Matters Action Network established the Political Correction project with the goal of holding conservative politicians and advocacy groups accountable.[40]
In December 2010, Media Matters Action Network startedEqualityMatters.org, a site "in support ofgay equality". At launch the site fully incorporated Media Matters's content onLGBTQ issues.[41] Designed to provide talking points for liberal activists and politicians, Brock set up the Message Matters project.[36] Media Matters runs the website DropFox.com and works to get advertisers to boycott Fox News. One target,Orbitz, initially called Media Matters' efforts a "smear campaign",[42] but agreed, on June 9, 2011, after a three-week effort by prominent LGBTQ organizations, to "review the policies and process used to evaluate where advertising is placed".[43] In 2015, the formal Equality Matters program was deactivated and merged with the LGBTQ program within Media Matters.[citation needed]
Brock establishedAmerican Bridge 21st Century as a superPAC focused onopposition research in 2010.[44]
On April 4, 2007, Media Matters posted a video clip ofDon Imus calling theRutgers University women's basketball team members "nappy-headed hoes" and made their discovery known in Media Matters' daily e-mailing to hundreds of journalists. According toThe Wall Street Journal, top news outlets did not mention the incident until objections made toCBS Radio by theNational Association of Black Journalists led to an on-air apology from Imus. MSNBC, calling Imus's comments "racist" and "abhorrent", suspended Imus's show, and within minutes, CBS suspended the show.The Wall Street Journal said Imus's apology "seemed to make matters worse, with critics latching on to Mr. Imus's use of the phrase 'you people.'" Among those dissatisfied with Imus's apology and suspension were the Rutgers team's coach and a group of MSNBC African-American employees. AfterProcter & Gamble pulled advertising from all of MSNBC's daytime schedule, and other advertisers, includingGeneral Motors andAmerican Express, requested that CBS cancel any upcoming advertising they had bought forImus in the Morning, MSNBC and CBS dropped Imus's show.[45]
In September 2007, Media Matters reported on conservative radio talk show hostRush Limbaugh sayingIraq War veterans opposed to the war were "the phony soldiers". Limbaugh later said he was speaking of only one soldier,Jesse Macbeth, who had falsely claimed to have been decorated for valor but had never seen combat. Limbaugh said he was the victim of a "smear" by Media Matters, which had taken his comments out of context and selectively edited them. After Limbaugh published what he said was the entire transcript of the phony soldiers discussion, Media Matters reported that over 90 seconds was omitted without "notation or ellipsis to indicate that there is, in fact, a break in the transcript."[46][47] Limbaugh toldNational Review that the gap between referring to "phony soldiers" and MacBeth was a delay because his staff printed out an ABC news story that reported on what it called "phony soldiers" and that his transcript and audio edits were "for space and relevance reasons, not to hide anything."[48]
TheAssociated Press, CNN, and ABC reported on the controversy,[49] aspolitical satirist and fictional punditStephen Colbert lampooned Limbaugh and his defenders saying: "Hey, Media Matters, you want to end offensive speech? Then stop recording it for people who would be offended."[50]
In October 2007 television and radio host and commentatorBill O'Reilly said a Media Matters headline declaring "O'Reilly surprised 'there was no difference' betweenHarlem restaurant and other New York City restaurants" took out of context comments he made about a pleasant dinner he shared withAl Sharpton at a Harlem restaurant.[51][52][53] O'Reilly said Media Matters misleadingly took comments spoken five minutes apart and presented them as one.[54] On NBC'sToday, Media Matters senior fellowPaul Waldman said Media Matters had included "the full audio, the full transcript, nothing was taken out of context".[55]
On August 12, 2010, Media Matters reported that radio hostLaura Schlessinger said the word "nigger" eleven times during a discussion with an African-American woman, though notas a slur. Schlessinger continued to use the word after the caller took offense, saying she thought the woman was being too sensitive and that a double standard was being applied to who could say the word. Schlessinger also said that those "hypersensitive" about color should not "marry outside of their race". The caller had earlier in the discussion said her husband was white.[56][57] Schlessinger apologized for the epithet the day after the broadcast. A joint statement of Media Matters and other organizations noted that although Schlessinger "attempted to apologize for using the epithet, the racist diatribe on Tuesday's show extends far beyond the use of a single word" and urged advertisers to boycott her show. After General Motors,OnStar, andMotel 6 pulled their advertising, Schlessinger said she would not renew her syndication contract set to expire in December 2010.[56][58] In January 2011, her show resumed on satellite radio.[59]
Schlessinger held Media Matters responsible for the boycott, which she called a typical tactic of the group aimed at fulfilling its "sole purpose of silencing people". She said the boycotts' "threat of attack on my advertisers and stations" had violated her First Amendment free speech rights.[60] Media Matters said that, as the boycott was not "government-sanctioned censorship", herFirst Amendment rights had not been violated.[61]
During an interview in March 2011, Brock said MMfA would focus its efforts on Fox News and select conservative websites in a new strategy that Brock described as a campaign of "guerrilla warfare and sabotage" and a "war on Fox."[7][62] MMfA said the greater attention given to Fox News was part of an initiative to educate the public about what it regarded as the distortions of conservative media, and the greater attention given to Fox News was in line with its prominence. MMfA said its Drop Fox initiative, for advertisers to boycott Fox, was also part of the organization's educational mission. MMfA said that changing Fox, not shutting it down, was its intention.[8]
In December 2013, MMfA's then-Executive Vice President Angelo Carusone said "The war on Fox is over. And it's not just that it's over, but it was very successful. To a large extent, we won," claiming to have "effectively discredited the network's desire to be seen as 'fair and balanced.'" Around that time, Glenn Beck had left the network, and Sean Hannity's time slot was moved from 9 p.m. to 10 pm.[63] Other boycotts of cable news programs continued after the campaign, withPolitiFact suggesting that the boycotts are more successful in raising awareness than having an impact on the companies' bottom line.[6]
In March 2019, MMfA released audio recordings of Fox News hostTucker Carlson in which he made remarks demeaning to women between 2006 and 2011 on the call-in show hosted by shock jockBubba the Love Sponge. Among other comments, Carlson calledrape shield laws "unfair", defendedMormon fundamentalist church leaderWarren Jeffs, who had been charged withchild sexual assault, and called women "extremely primitive". After his remarks had been widely reported, Carlson tweeted: "Media Matters caught me saying something naughty on a radio show more than a decade ago" and declined to apologize.[64] The following day, MMfA released a second set of audio recordings in which Carlson calledIraqis "semiliterate primitive monkeys" and said they "don't use toilet paper or forks." Carlson also suggested that immigrants to the U.S. should be "hot" or "really smart" and that white men "created civilization".[65]
The Daily Caller, which Carlson co-founded, responded by resurfacing blog posts made by Carusone. The posts included derogatory comments abouttransvestites, Jews, and people from Japan andBangladesh. Carusone responded that the posts were supposed to be a "caricature of what a right wing blowhard would sound like if he was living my life" and apologized for the "gross" remarks.[66][67][68][69]
Media Matters analyzedDonald Trump's Facebook posts from 2020 and early 2021 and flagged 1/4 of them as containing misinformation or extremist rhetoric.[70][71]
In November 2023, Media Matters published an analysis indicating that advertisements of major firms such asIBM were being displayed on the social media platformX (formerly Twitter) next to user posts containing antisemitic content, including praise forAdolf Hitler andNazis. Several prominent companies suspended their advertising on the platform in reaction to the study and to some of Musk's recent posts.[72][73][74]
On November 20, 2023,X Corp. ownerElon Musk filed suit in a Texas court alleging Media Matters defamed the platform with the intention of hurting its advertising revenues. According to the lawsuit, Media Matters had "manufactured side-by-side images depicting advertisers' posts on X Corp's social media platform beside Neo-Nazi and white-nationalist fringe content", falsely portraying the juxtaposition as a routine occurrence on X.[75] Media Matters called the complaint frivolous and an attempt to silence their reporting.[76][77][78] Legal experts criticized Musk's lawsuit as "frivolous" or "bogus" and said it contradicts the First Amendment.[79] JudgeReed O'Connor, as of October 2024, has refused calls by some legal experts torecuse himself from the case for owningTesla stock, disputing that the ruling would significantly impact Tesla's share price.[80] X has been described asjudge shopping by seeking to settle all litigation in O'Connor's district.[80]
On the same day that the X lawsuit was filed,Texas Attorney GeneralKen Paxton opened an investigation into Media Matters for "potentially fraudulent activity", saying his goal was "to ensure that the public has not been deceived by the schemes of radical left-wing organizations".[81][82] He also urged other state attorneys general to investigate the group.[83] Media Matters sued Paxton in federal court days later, alleging he had violated theFirst Amendment to chill the group's work and engaged in unlawful retaliation to punish the group.[84][85] In April 2024, JudgeAmit Mehta issued a preliminary injunction against Paxton's demand for internal documents from the group.[83]
In December 2023,Missouri Attorney GeneralAndrew Bailey opened a similar investigation into Media Matters.[86][87] In August 2024, a federal judge granted an injunction to halt the Missouri investigation, saying the suit was "using law enforcement machinery for political ends" against Media Matters, running contrary to the organization's First Amendment rights.[88]
In June 2025, Media Matters sued theFederal Trade Commission, alleging that the FTC's ongoing investigation into Media Matters was in retaliation for Media Matter's scrutiny of Trump administration allies including X Corp., and that the investigation violated Media Matters' First Amendment rights.[89]
In July 2025,The New York Times reported that Media Matters was "under siege by Trump and Musk" as part oftheir retribution campaign. Having trouble paying legal fees, it scaled back criticism, reduced staff, and was contemplating closing entirely.[10]
Columnists and writers such asPaul Krugman andMolly Ivins cited Media Matters or identified it as a helpful source.[90][91]
In 2008, columnistJacques Steinberg ofThe New York Times quotedDavid Folkenflik ofNational Public Radio as telling him that although Media Matters has a partisan slant it was still a useful source for leads, partly due to its broad research. Steinberg said the right already had similar outlets looking for stories and feeding them to reporters, and that Media Matters has effectively filled a void on the left. He notes that some journalists likeStuart Rothenberg prefer nonpartisan sources.[5] A 2010 opinion piece by "M. S." on the blog ofThe Economist magazine argued that it carries no weight with conservatives due to its mostly critiquing conservative outlets.[92]
Some object to the organization focusing its efforts to fact-check conservatives more than liberal commentators.[93][94][95] Media Matters also received some criticism as being too supportive of Hillary Clinton before and during her 2016 presidential bid.[96][97][98][99]
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