Brent Baker

the Steven P.J. Wood Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research and Publications

Brent H. Baker, the Steven P.J. Wood Senior Fellow and Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center (MRC), has been a central figure at the MRC since its 1987 founding. In 2001, Weekly Standard Executive Editor Fred Barnes dubbed Baker “the scourge of liberal bias.” In 2005, Baker spearheaded the launch of the MRC’s NewsBusters blog (his blog postings).

Follow Baker via Twitter. (Full bio) Washington Examiner's weekly "Mainstream Media Scream," with Baker's scream rating, are on NewsBusters as of January 2015. Read them here. (On MRC.org: archive of 2014; archive of June-December 2013; archive of Jan. 2012 through June 2013).

Author Articles
Media Research Center

Flashback to 1995/96: Networks Mourn Victims of Shutdown, Single Out Republicans for Blame

“After the President vetoed several spending bills, not one story blamed him for the shutdown, but nearly two dozen declared the GOP culpable. Furloughed workers and other ‘victims’ were ...
Media Research Center

CBS’s Schieffer Frets ‘Ultra-Conservatives’ Blocking Congress from ‘Addressing the Country’s Problems’

Resurrecting an ideological tag from the 1980s media era, on Monday’s CBS Evening News, the network’s chief Washington correspondent, Bob Schieffer, fretted over how “ultra-conservatives” in ...
Media Research Center

CBS’s Bob Schieffer Falsely Claims ‘Polls Say That Most People Favor’ ObamaCare

In defiance of reality illustrated in numerous polls, on Sunday’s Face the Nation, host Bob Schieffer scolded Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn when she correctly asserted “there is ...
Media Research Center

MRC's ‘DisHonors Awards’ Event Held Thursday Night

Senator Mike Lee, Steve Hayes, Monica Crowley, Jim DeMint, Cal Thomas and Charles Krauthammer highlighted the MRC’s “2013 Gala featuring the DisHonors Awards: Roasting the Most Outrageously Biased ...
Media Research Center

Smiley Takes to NBC to Deride ‘American Exceptionalism,’ Government Shutdown the End of Democracy

PBS put its late-night leftism on display on Meet the Press when PBS host Tavis Smiley used his slot, on the Sunday morning NBC News show’s panel, to regret President Barack Obama’s supposed ...
Media Research Center

Stephanopoulos Rationalizes Obama’s Economic Failures: ‘It’s Bigger than Washington’

Imagine a major news network anchor, in 1985, telling President Reagan that five years into his presidency rising income inequality wasn’t his fault. Ludicrous, given how the media used the ...
Media Research Center

Stephanopoulos Misquotes Obama, Leaves Off ‘Just’ in Claim Congressional Approval Not ‘a Political Ploy’

Friday in Russia, President Obama let slip that putting Congress on the hook, or in a political bind, was part of his calculus in asking for their approval for an attack on Syria, but twice on ...
Media Research Center

PBS NewsHour Paints Obama as Victim of ‘Racial Gridlock,’ Hails: ‘You’ve Been Able to Help the Country in Many Ways’

PBS’s Judy Woodruff and Gwen Ifill provided a tag team of Obama idolatry in their interview with President Barack Obama at the White House following Wednesday’s March on Washington anniversary ...
Media Research Center

Stephanopoulos and Crowley Skip IRS Scandal with Lew, Gregory Cues Up Talking Points; Only Wallace Pursues

Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew, who oversees the IRS, made the rounds of four Sunday morning TV talk shows (all but CBS’s Face the Nation) to promote President Obama’s latest “pivot” to ...
Media Research Center

NBC Uses Unlabeled Ex-Obama Operative to Regurgitate Charge Tea Party Motivated by Anti-Obama Racism

Once again obscuring any line between MSNBC and NBC News, Brian Williams brought frequent MSNBC contributor Joy-Ann Reid aboard Friday’s NBC Nightly News to praise President Obama’s comments ...
Media Research Center

Washington Examiner’s ‘Mainstream Media Scream’ with the MRC’s Assessment (Jan 2012-June 2013)

The Washington Examiner’s weekly “Mainstream Media Scream” feature in Paul Bedard's “Washington Secrets” column. For each pick, the MRC provide an explanation and recommend a “scream” rating.
Media Research Center

Top NY Times Editor Rejects ‘Atmosphere of Scandal,’ Claims Public Wants to Give Obama Credit for Improving Economy

See no scandal, report no scandal. Jill Abramson, Executive Editor of the New York Times, came down to DC on Sunday to defend President Obama on the scandals and the economy, stressing the ...
Media Research Center

Gregory Frets Obama Losing ‘Scope’ to ‘Usher in Economic Restoration,’ Friedman Sees ‘Tragedy’

Pivoting to the downside for President Obama of the swirling scandals, Meet the Press host David Gregory fretted over “a bigger issue that the President faces, which is where is his agenda left in ...
Media Research Center

Maher Calls Bike Ride with Wounded Warriors ‘Nauseating,’ Compares Bush to Cleveland Kidnaper

Though he had no idea what it was, the annual “Bush Center Warrior 100K” mountain bike ride, which took place over the Memorial Day weekend, upset Bill Maher. “I guess they walked or ran or ...
Media Research Center

NBC’s Brian Williams Trumpets Bob Dole’s Criticism of GOP as Too Conservative

Once again demonstrating the NBC Nightly News is the broadcast arm of MSNBC, anchor Brian Williams – matching what has animated MSNBC hosts – devoted a segment to former Senator Bob Dole ...
Media Research Center

Evening Newscasts an Obama Scandal-Free Zone; ABC Touts Obama as ‘Consoler-in-Chief’

Not a syllable Friday or Saturday night on ABC, CBS or NBC about any of the several Obama scandals, but on Saturday night ABC’s World News trumpeted President Obama’s role as “consoler-in-chief.” ...
Media Research Center

Taranto: ‘Obama Presidency Has Given Liberal Media Bias a New and Dangerous Form’

“Liberal media bias is an old complaint,” the Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto noted in his “Best of the Web Today” column this past Monday on responses to the Obama scandals, before ...
Media Research Center

Only CBS Notes IRS Official’s Leave, Yet ABC and NBC Have Time to Show Obama’s Prom Photo with ‘Foxy’ Friend

Already moving on from the IRS scandal? On Thursday night, only the CBS Evening News of the broadcast network evening newscasts bothered to note how Lois Lerner, the IRS official in charge of ...
Media Research Center

CBS Highlights Ex-IRS Staffer Who Declares There Were No Politics at Cincinnati Office

Monday’s CBS Evening News took one break from Oklahoma tornado coverage – to run a piece on how an IRS manager who recently retired from the Cincinnati office, where 501 (c)(4) applications ...
Media Research Center

TimesWatch Shutting Down

This Friday, May 17, will be the final day for TimesWatch posts. The Media Research Center will be consolidating products and, as a result, TimesWatch posts and the TimesWatch Tracker will be ...