Yet these groups often present data that contradict each other's claims and whether they are really looking out for public interest or their own political ambitions is highly questionable.
With all watchdogs, especially the well-known large U.S. watchdogs, it seems they inevitably are branded as either liberal or conservative. Yet whether conservative or liberal, media watchdog groups are all doing the same type of work: monitoring the mainstream media for what they perceive to be bias, which can be displayed through a lack of balance, failing to report at all, or misleading or inaccurate reporting.
Media Watch Groups Have Multiplied
The plethora of media watch groups continues to grow, as well as groups working on media reform issues. Arguably, the four most prominent of the media watchdogs are Fairness and Accuracy in Media (FAIR), Media Matters for America, Media Research Centre (MRC) and Accuracy in Media (AIM). FAIR and Media Matters are categorized as liberal, while MRC and AIM are clearly in the conservative category.
Fairness and Accuracy in Media
According to FAIR’s web site, the organization scrutinizes media practices that marginalize public interest and provides criticism of media bias and censorship. FAIR calls for greater diversity in the press and the inclusion of minority and dissenting viewpoints. The organization aims to expose neglected stories and defend censored journalists.
FAIR produces a considerable amount of its own media as well. Extra! is the organization’s bimonthly magazine of media criticism that has been in existence since 1987. Articles in Extra! examine topics such as media mergers, biased reporting, censored news, relationships between the media and government, the power of corporate owners and advertisers, and the exclusion of progressive voices from the media. Extra! depends entirely on subscribers for its existence, receiving no funding from advertisers or corporate sponsors.
FAIR also produces the weekly radio program CounterSpin, which is available on more than 125 non-commercial stations in North America. The radio show aims to provide a critical examination of the major stories each week and expose what the mainstream media might have missed out in their coverage. The program also includes discussion of topics such as discrimination in the news, attacks on free speech, and the power of corporate influence.
Media MattersMedia Matters is a web-based organization that disseminates research and information on conservative bias in the media. Their web page features rapid-response items, as well as longer research and analytical items documenting conservative misinformation throughout the media. According to the Media Matters web site, the organization works daily to notify journalists, activists, pundits and the general public of misinformation in the media and provides them with the resources to make a rebuttal against the false claims and take direction action against offending media institutions.
Accuracy in Media
Founded in 1969 by Reed Irvine (1922-2004), AIM is the oldest non-profit media watchdog group in America. Irvine’s original strategy for AIM began with writing letters to the editors, but when this yield few results, Irvine started purchasing advertising space for his rejected letters. AIM however has lost a lot of credibility over the years by spending much of its time pursuing conspiracy theories instead of focusing on media criticism.
Media Research Centre
The Media Research Centre (MRC) is the most vocal critic of the media’s perceived liberal bias in the United States and the largest of all the media watchdogs. L. Brent Bozell founded MRC 1987, in many ways to continue the work of AIM. MRC’s main publication is the monthly MediaWatch. MRC tracks media bias daily and publishes the compiled evidence in its biweekly publication, Notable Quotables, which is a compilation of quotes from the liberal media that MRC finds particularly outrageous or humourous, as well as daily through the CyberAlert report online.
Critiquing Media or Self-Serving Analysis?
In the case of Media Matters, MRC and AIM, it often seems that these organizations are simply used by the men who founded them to voice their own personal criticism of the media, based on their respective ideologies. This casts doubt on the organizations as providing legitimate forms of media criticism, as they appear to mainly be driven by political ideologies more than quest for truth or accuracy.
While FAIR sets itself apart by not falling victim to this downfall as the other three media watchdogs mentioned here do, FAIR is also unique in the fact that it makes structural reform part of its mandate. The right-wing organizations in particular do not suggest any changes to the current media structure, other than a neo-liberal approach to further loosen restrictions on ownership and content. It is essential that media watchdog groups themselves view the public as citizens and not just consumers of products and political ideologies.
Additional Resources:
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
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