Networks Censor Disgraced IRS Hack Lerner's "Retirement"

RESTON, VA – According to an analysis from the Media Research Center, Lois Lerner – the disgraced official at the center of the IRS’s devastating Tea Party targeting scandal – retired yesterday without a whimper from ABC, CBS, or NBC on either their morning or evening news programs. Neither her announcement, nor her reported $50,000+ taxpayer-funded pension, received one single second of coverage. Lerner had been on paid leave since May.

Instead:

  • CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley highlighted the popularity of the new iPhone.
  • NBC News with Brian Williams hyped the big winners on Sunday night’s Emmy Awards.
  • ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer notified its viewers that Mick Jagger was about to become a great grandfather.

According to the MRC’s ongoing analysis of the media’s IRS scandal censorship, it’s been a whopping 90 days since ABC last mentioned the story on either their morning or evening news programs, 89 days since NBC mentioned it, and 61 days at CBS.

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell reacts:

“Disgraced IRS hack Lois Lerner is getting a taxpayer-funded golden parachute, and the Tea Party-hating liberal media are making sure their hero has a nice soft landing. The news of her retirement and her pension reportedly worth more than $50,000 was censored by ABC, CBS, and NBC.

“In spite of constantly mounting evidence to the contrary – including some of Lerner’s own emails – the media are still dismissing this major scandal as a case of bureaucratic buffoonery. This is a coordinated, politically-motivated attack by a powerful government agency on American citizens, plain and simple.

“Lerner is at the dead center of the worst scandal since Watergate, and the very people she targeted for IRS harassment are now on the hook for her pension. Few people in America today deserve more scrutiny from the press than she does. Her alleged actions, motives, and lies have rocked the American people’s faith in government, and she must be held accountable.”



To schedule an interview with MRC President Brent Bozell or another MRC spokesperson, please contact Jeremy Little - jlittle@crcpublicrelations.com (703)-683-5004