California Conservative

Based on what I’ve found out thus far, it’s my opinion that Media Matters is breaking the law. Here’s what Media Matters says about itself:

Media Matters for America 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.

Launched in May 2004, Media Matters for America put in place, for the first time, the means to systematically monitor a cross section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation, news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the conservative agenda, every day, in real time.

Here’s what the regulations says about exempt purposes for IRC 501(c)(3)’s:

Exempt purposes are described in IRC 501(c)(3) and the applicable regulations. Exempt purposes described in IRC 501(c)(3) are:

• Charitable
• Religious
• Educational
• Scientific
• Literary
• Testing for public safety
• Fostering national or international amateur sports competition
• Preventing cruelty to children or animals.

It also says this:

The exempt purposes described in 501(c)(3) regulations encompass the general legal definition of the term “charitable.” The regulations list the following specific charitable purposes:

• Relief of the poor, the distressed, or the underprivileged;
• Advancement of religion
• Advancement of education or science
• Erecting or maintaining public buildings, monuments, or works
• Lessening the burdens of government
• Lessening neighborhood tensions
• Eliminating prejudice and discrimination
• Defending human and civil rights secured by law
• Combating community deterioration and juvenile delinquency

Thus far, I don’t see anything listed in the IRC 501(c)(3) regulations that comes remotely close to what Media Matters does. Here’s the first question and answer in a section titled ‘Exempt Purposes: Q & A’s and Examples’:

Q1. Must an organization’s creating document contain a provision expressly limiting its purposes to one or more exempt purposes?

A1. Yes. The creating document must refer to purposes that come within those described in IRC 501(c)(3). This may be accomplished by a statement that it is formed for charitable, religious, educational, scientific, or other purposes referred to in IRC 501(c) (3) or the applicable regulations. The purposes do not have to expressly refer to IRC 501(c)(3). See Reg. 1.501(c)(3)-1(b)(1)(ii).

I haven’t seen the creating document for Media Matters so I can’t know what’s contained in it. That said, Media Matters website tells us what they’re about. This picture tells us what they’re about:

This picture is worth a thousand words because it tells us about the action alerts that are a significant function of Media Matters. This isn’t just an information center. They’re operating a political advocacy group. That runs contrary to what the IRS allows 501(c)(3)’s to do.

This picture won’t help Media Matters win any sympathy with the IRS:

Media Matters website says that their purpose is to “systematically monitor a cross section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation, news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the conservative agenda, every day, in real time.” In other words, they’re essentially the Clinton War Room on steroids.

The first Clinton War Room was all about the Clintons. This organization isn’t exclusive to the Clintons. Instead, it’s about smearing anyone that stands in the way of the Clintons or the Democratic Party. The next logical set of questions focuses on how much they coordinate their smear campaigns with the Democrats in general and with Hillary specifically. Another question I’d want answered is whether there’s coordination between Media Matters and organizations like the Center for American Progress (CAP). I ask because I noticed a few familiar names on their list of advisors.

Here are a few of the familiar names:

Oliver Willis
Eric Alterman
Duncan Black, aka Atrios
David Brock

Interestingly, Karl Frisch and Eric Burns, two other members of the staff advisors to Media Matters, are former staffers to Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) on the House Rules Committee.

David Brock has a long and indistinguished career as a political hack. he first gained notoriety for breaking Bill Clinton’s Troopergate scandal. Democrats loathed him for a long time. Then came his epiphany. Suddenly Democrats loved him, hung on his every word because he ‘confessed’ that the things that he’d written about the Clintons were lies.

The notion that Duncan Black, David Brock and Oliver Willis are suddenly interested in doing legitimate research seems a bit stretched to me. In the last 5 years, I’d be hard to convince that that trio hadn’t met a hit piece on Republicans that they didn’t like.

Based on this information, I don’t see why Media Matters’ 501(c)(3) status shouldn’t be revoked. Isn’t it time that we learned what affiliations they have with Hillary and/or the Democratic Party? Isn’t it time that this Democratic ‘PR firm’ got shut down?

Technorati Tags: Media Matters, Hillary, Charity, IRS Code, Oliver Willis, Duncan Black, David Brock, Clinton War Room, Federal Crime, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 6th, 2007 at 12:06 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Corruption, DNC, Election 2008, Hillary, Liberals, Media, Special Interests, Washington, DC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.