First Annual 'Misinformer of the Year' Award Winner; Top 10 Outrageous Statements in Media

Media Matters for America Announces First Annual 'Misinformer of the Year' Award Winner; MMFA Also Releases 'Top 10 Most Outrageous Statements' Made by Media Figures in 2004

To: National Desk, Media Reporter

Contact: Melissa Salmanowitz of Media Matters for America, 202-756-4109 or 202-468-9629, msalmanowitz [at] mediamatters.org

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Media Matters for America, a media monitoring organization dedicated to monitoring, analyzing and correcting conservative misinformation in the media, today awarded the organization's first annual "Misinformer of the Year" title to FOX News host Bill O'Reilly and released a list of the "Top 10 Most Outrageous Statements" made by media figures over the past year.

"Our staff analyzed more than 1000 instances of conservative misinformation captured on our website and tallied the number of times members of the media espoused lies, distortions, or mischaracterizations of fact in order to further the conservative agenda" said David Brock, founder of Media Matters for America, "In the end, Mr. O'Reilly stood out from all the rest."

Since launching in May, Media Matters has identified and corrected more than 70 examples of O'Reilly lying, exaggerating, or distorting the truth (we didn't include comments by O'Reilly that were simply offensive or absurd.) Bill O'Reilly beat out media personalities Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Britt Hume, and Bob Novak for top honors this year. Among O'Reilly's most egregiously false and misleading claims were false assertions that President Bush did not oppose the 911 Commission; repeated declarations of an Iraq-Al Qaeda link; and one instance where O'Reilly fabricated a Paris newspaper to support his claim of a successful French boycott. In other instances, O'Reilly promoted falsehoods about the tax structure, economy, and the American electorate.

"When media figures promote blatant misinformation in the news media, regardless of whether they call it news or commentary, the health of our democracy is threatened," said Brock.

Media Matters for America also compiled a list of the most outrageous statements made by media figures in 2004. The list contains comments ranging from anti-Semitic slurs to attacks on women, gays and lesbians to reprehensible acceptance of the torture at Abu Ghraib. This list, and other examples of Bill O'Reilly's misinformation, are available upon request or at http://www.mediamatters.org.

Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media. Media Matters for America is the first organization to systematically monitor the media for conservative misinformation every day, in real time. For more information, visit http://www.mediamatters.org.

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