MEDI M TTERS
MEDI M TTERS
FOR
MERIC
CTION
NETWORK
T BLE
OF
CONTENTS
LEDER
FROM OUR
LE DERS
2
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
4
ORGANIZATIONAL
OVERVIEW
7
LONG-TERM GOALS
lO
MEDIA
M TTERS FOR MERIC
12
MEDIA MATIERS
FOR
AMERICA S IMPACT
IN
2009 12
PROGRAM
CAPACITY/NEW
OUTPUTS
IN
2009 16
ORGANIZATIONAL
METRICS
19
MMFA
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR
GROWTH
20
Fighting Back
against
Fox News
23
Developing
Market
Expertise 30 Coordinating Grassroots Activism 32
Fox
SWAT Team 38 Opposition Research 40 Video Tracking 42 Litigation 45 Website 47 Elite Persuasion 49 Public Persuasion 51
Research Issue Pods
54
PROGRESSIVE
TALENT INITIATIVE
55
MEDIA
M TTERS CTION NETWORK
69
MEDIA
MAnERS
ACTION
NETWORK S
IMPACT
IN
2009 69
PROGRAM
CAPACITY/NEW
OUTPUTS
IN
2009 73
ORGANIZATIONAL
METRICS
74
MMAN
OPPORTUNITIES
FOR
GROWTH
74
Opposition Research 76 Video Tracking 78
Books
9
Issue Advocacy
8
Corporate Transparency
82
APPENDIX
85
A.
MMFA
COREB
UDG
ET
85
B.
MMFA
MASTER
BUDGET
(3-YEAR
PLAN)
87
C.
MMAN
B
UDGET
89
etter
rom
our eaders
Five
years
ago,
Media
atters
was founded
with
a
few
staffers dedicated
to
a singular, and daunting, goal: restoring accountability and integrity
to
American journalism after both had been systematically eroded by decades
of
conservative attacks. Until then, no progressive organization had been solely dedicated
to
this crucial task, allowing the right-wing media machine
to
run roughshod over one
of
our democracy's most vital institutions. The consequences were obvious,
as
lies, smears, and misinformation proved instrumental in electing George W.
Bush
not
once
but
twice, and in building public support
for
his
radically conservative agenda.
Since
then, our researchers have documented over 21,000 instances
of
conservative misinformation infecting all reaches
of
our national media, and are currently producing
an
average
of
over 200 new research items per week. The impact
of
their
work
has
been profound. The mere knowledge
of
a group like
Media Matters
let alone its work,
has
produced greater attention
to
detail and accuracy among mainstream journalists, and our constant fact-checks have resulted in a growing awareness
of
the true nature
of
conservative media outlets.
In
the past five years,
Media Matters
has
grown dramatically. While media criticism remains
our
core mission, we
now
engage in a broad array
of
activities and group initiatives. The work
of
our 501(c}(3}
is
now complimented by
th t
of
our 501(c}(4}, the
Media
atters
Action Network.
MMAN, re-launched in May, confronts conservative misinformation at its source, exposing the interconnected financial and political infrastructure
of
the right, and detailing the connections between the conservative media and the Republican offices and right-wing policy shops
th t
have traditionally wielded such unchecked influence in Washington. The past year
has
seen especially rapid growth
for
both groups, along
with
an
accompanying increase in our impact. We led progressive coalitions which produced advertiser boycotts
of
both
Fox s
Glenn
Beck
and
CNN s
Lou
Dobbs. Eighty corporate sponsors dropped Glenn
Beck,
costing
Fox
over $600,000 per week. And after nearly 30 years on the network,
CNN
forced
out
Lou
Dobbs, whose anti-immigrant hate-speech and conspiracy rumors will no longer
be
legitimized by the most trusted name in news.
Media
atters
was able
to
rapidly respond
to
conservative smears
of
administration officials, effectively quashing homophobic attacks against Department
of
Education official Kevin Jennings before they gained momentum. And we were the first progressive organization
to
highlight the transformation
of
Fox
News
into
a purely partisan political operation, and
to
expose its role in the promotion
of
the Astroturf
Tea
Party movement, triggering a
sea
change in the public's perception
of
both. 2009 also saw the launch
of
the Progressive Talent Initiative,
an
ambitious and unprecedented media training and booking center
th t
is
discovering and developing the next generation
of
progressive media talent. We also began engaging in a new degree
of
news creation, using video trackers
to
follow
and confront prominent conservative figures,
as
we did
with
Rupert Murdoch, catching him in a fallacious on-camera denial
fter
he had amplified Glenn Beck's charge
th t
President Obama
is
a racist.