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

Looking Back at Schorr's Goldwater-Nazi Axis CBS Evening News Hit Piece

Daniel Schorr's passing on Friday reminded me of the kind of assaults CBS News unleashed on conservatives before there were any countervailing forums available. A 2001 Weekly Standard article ...

Tapper Goes Out with a Contrarian Take on Sherrod; Donaldson Urges Obama to Exploit 'Enemy' FNC

Picking up on Shirley Sherrod's allegation Andrew Breitbart "would like to get us stuck back in the times of slavery" and "he'd like to see all black people end up again" in slavery, ABC's Jake ...

Shirley Sherrod Reminds CNN's Gergen of Nelson Mandela

Exhibiting an extreme case of the media euphoria over Shirley Sherrod's vindication, CNN senior political analyst David Gergen gushed to Rick Sanchez: "I have to tell you, Rick, I don't want to ...

Nets Which Promoted NAACP's Attack on Tea Party Treat Sherrod as Victim; NBC First to Voter Intimidation

ABC and CBS last week jumped to advance the NAACP's charge of racism within the Tea Party movement. On Tuesday night, however, the newscasts had a sudden concern for the accuracy of the racism ...

CBS's Reid Can't Resist Contrasting Obama's Vacation Time to Bush's

CBS's Chip Reid on Saturday couldn't resist defending President Obama's vacation choice by invoking an unfavorable comparison with George W. Bush, enhanced by an on-screen graphic: "Whatever ...

After Friday Sentencing, Flashback: Newspapers Painted Spies for Cuba as Endearing Elderly Couple

On Friday, Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers, who spied for Cuba, were sentenced to prison terms, an action which the Washington Post described as "a grim ending to the Myerses' idealistic embrace of ...

At End of 'Seismic Week,' Nets Relay Frustration Public Not Giving Obama Credit for 'All He's Accomplished'

"An earthquake hits Washington," fill-in ABC anchor David Muir announced Friday night as he gushed that "it comes as the President wraps up a seismic week." Muir proposed "the President marked ...

Indignant Over List of Illegals in Utah, ABC Condemns 'Campaign of Intimidation' by 'Vigilantes'

"Fear Factor," Diane Sawyer teased Thursday night in picking up a cause-celebre of the left: "Who leaked a list of people labeled illegal immigrants, naming children and pregnant women? Are these ...

CBS Uses Al Sharpton to Boost NAACP's Accusation Tea Party is 'Tolerating Bigotry'

The CBS Evening News pitched in to advance the NAACP's liberal agenda. Over "BIGOTRY ALLEGATIONS" on screen beneath a Tea Party sign, Katie Couric teased at the top of her Wednesday newscast: "The ...

ABC Hypes NAACP Indictment of Tea Party as Racist, a Smear the Network Stoked

ABC touted the NAACP's charge that the "Tea Party movement is a threat to the pursuit of human rights, justice and equality for all." Sans any ideological label, anchor Diane Sawyer set up the ...

Local CBS Staff Join Hollywood Celebs in 'The Dream Lives On' Boston Pops Tribute to Kennedys

Less than an hour before CBS's Craig Ferguson-hosted 10 PM EDT "Boston Pops Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular" national broadcast on Sunday night, local anchors Jack Williams and Lisa Hughes ...

Calls to 'Rein in the Federal Government' Are 'Not Very Rational,' Al Hunt Declares on ABC

"The side that talks about the need to rein in the federal government" is "not very rational," yet "is winning" the debate over whether to pass another "stimulus" bill, Al Hunt regretted on ...

CBS and NBC Delight in Al Franken's Sketch of Sessions: 'Suitable for Framing'

CBS and NBC took time Wednesday night to showcase Democratic Senator Al Franken's artistry - but not to scold Franken's frivolity. As CBS displayed Franken's drawing of Republican Senator Jeff ...

Networks Paint 'Trailblazer' Kagan as Hilarious Wit Who 'Can Take a Punch'

"For the first time, Americans got to see the woman President Obama called a 'trailblazer' in action," ABC anchor Diane Sawyer trumpeted Tuesday night before Jonathan Karl framed his story on ...

As Much on Byrd's Fiddle Playing as Klan Days; 'Like Constitution and Bible, Permanent Fixture of the Senate'

The networks Monday night skipped lightly over the late Senator Robert Byrd's segregationist and racist record, devoting as much time to the Democrat's fiddle-playing prowess as his years in the ...

ABC Warns G-20's Rejection of Obama-Spendanomics 'Could Plunge World Into a Second Recession'

Based on the view of a single economist, ABC portrayed the agreement by world powers, at the G-20 summit in Toronto, to pursue fiscal sanity over the accelerated government spending urged by ...

CBS's Logan Zings Hastings: He's 'Never Served His Country the Way McChrystal Has'

Lara Logan, CBS's chief foreign affairs correspondent, took to CNN's Reliable Sources on Sunday to accuse Michael Hastings of using subterfuge and Rolling Stone of pushing an agenda in their hit ...

No Palin Setback Too Small for Couric Who Skips How Palin 'Acted in Good Faith'

Demonstrating that no setback for Sarah Palin is too insignificant for Katie Couric, she made time on Thursday's CBS Evening News for a disputable technical violation of arcane law: "One little ...

NBC's Williams Blames Obama's Plummeting Approval on Getting Dragged Into Gulf Oil Leak

NBC's Brian Williams and Savannah Guthrie lamented the public's swing against Obama as Williams attributed it to how Obama "had to touch" the gulf oil leak, "he had to own it and now he's getting ...

ABC Frets Over Pickle McChrystal Has Put Obama Into: Look 'Petulant' or 'Weak'

ABC's Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos despaired over the position in which General McChrystal has put Obama. Sawyer fretted that Obama "now faces a mind-boggling choice," before ...