next week. on fox news watch. >> when you start to accuse fox news of being the spokesman for the republican party, and that's when it crosses the line. >> the anti-conservative organization media matter declares war against fox news and chief antagonist david brock initiating guerilla tactics, ap disrupting because for news corporation and anti-fox effort is being paid for by tax-free funding. why is the government supporting their status and why are the media ignoring the issue. michele bachmann's rising star has mainstream media poking fun and picking apart everything she says and did they do that for the

president's gaffe's. the people's princess gets a star role on the cover of newsweek and the reaction is strong. >> it's haunting and quite disturbi disturbing. >> on the panel this he can woo, writer and fox news contributor judy miller, and cal thomas, jim pinkerton, yellow and fox news contributor jehmu green. i'm jon scott, fox news watch is on right now. have you heard of media matters for america? it's an anti-conservative organization funded by a guy or founded, i should say, by a guy named david brock with this stated mission. media matters for america is a web-based not for profit 501 c3 progressive research and information center dedicated

to comprehensively mon advertising and progressive resear research-- monitoring and analyze and correcting conservative misinformation in the media. the government has strict rules about organizations like that. and the liberal advocacy group appears to be in violation of those rules. james rosen has more. >> thanks for watching-- >> perhaps fox news harshest severest critic is media matters for america. mma. a d.c. group founded in 2003 by former reporter david brock conservative turned liberal and funded in part by billionaire george soros. in documents filed that o-the group described itself as charitable and educational and counter viewpoints in the media the rights of the wealthy and christian influence ideology, unquote.

>> you may advocate a particular point of view and may do so strongly, but you can't have it just be unsubstantiated opinion and you have to be reasonably objective about the way you present your views. so excessive language would be a factor and that the internal ref few service could look at. >> in an interview in march. brock was quoted as telling politico they'd shifted from media monitoring and quote, war on fox and mma is conducting opposition research against a dozen or so mid and senior level executives and producers and it's also instigating lawsuits against fnc and starting an operation in the u.k. to focus on rupert murdoch, the fnc's parent company and trying to disrupt murdoch murdoch's-- and drop fox urge advertisers to boycott, and a sponsorship

of a boot camp for liberal pundits and the last activity is key because a federal court ruled that the irs was corre correct.... >> when you sought to declare war on a media outlet. when you start to accuse fox news of being the spokesman for the republican party, which is demonstrably false, there's no basis for that. brock, in matters, makes no effort to substantiate any of that. that's when it crosses the line. >> now, fox news obtained documents showing that multiple complaints have been filed with irs as part of an online campaign filed by some on air talent. challenging the media tax exempt status these very grounds and citing procedures declining to say what action it might be taking or whether it received the challenges to the media matters tax status for one of the challenges we

fax'd a redacted copy and withholding the information to media matters. despite receiving the tax, doug stouffer did not respond to our request to comment. >> jon: where does the group get its money. let's take a look at funding they have reported. in 2007. contributions totalled, grants and contributions i should say, totalled 8.4 million dollars for media matters and 8 million in 2008, 6.7 in 2009, and apparently, their funding sources were drying up and there may be the reason that george soros stepped in in 2010 and donated 1 million dollars for media matters and we don't yet know the total funding for that year. and then take a look at the story count. when you look at the number of stories, media matters for america, which is supposed to be, you know, taking a look at media misinformation, they

filed 2670 stories fox news, 66 regarding cnn and 48 regarding msnbc. judy, is there a little bit of a balance problem there? >> well, he think there obviously is and what's interesting is that this has been the worst kept secret in america. because ever since ben stein's article in politico appeared, with the planning membero from 2010, from david brock, which said we are going to move from an educational institution to a kind of attack fox, launch guerilla war on fox and this is fair because fox is not a news organization, it's been out there since march. and where is the rest of the heed yeah? nobody said a word. and finally, fox is starting to fight back, which is what we're seeing today. >> jehmu, where is the rest of the media on this? >> well, i think clearly, if

the rest of the media is going to focus on this conversation, it needs to be focused from a bigger standpoint, that conservative organizations and liberal organizations can be nonprofit. having run two progressives, political organizations, you can look at the heritage foundation or the american enterprise institute. like if we need to be having this conversation, it needs to be should nonprofit organizations have a political agenda. i actually think we should agree that we need this vibrant marketplace of ideas and there could be some on the left and some on the right, but this isn't just about media matters if you're looking at the specific-- >> do you see a problem with them having tax exempt status? >> i'm not a lawyer, but gray was interviewed in the sessionment and i've known about him. he was a law clerk for earl warren back in the 1960's, he was the lawyer and counsel to vice-president bush and president bush from 1981 to 1993. he's a very distinguished guy and knows his stuff. if he says this is

challengeable, then i think that makes sense. it does seem intuitive to me, and judy, i think you misspoke and said it was ben smith, opposed to ben stein. >> ben smith, sorry. >> and anybody reading that store on march 26th, gee, ger rah war and sabotage, is that what charities are supposed to be doing. >> in the 1980's, there were groups going after broadcast networks and cable shows against what they thought was pornography, bad language and nudity and the response for the left, hey, this is what you pay for the healthy first amendment. if you don't like it, nobody is forcing you to watch and now we're on the flip side of it and media matters decided if they don't like what's on fox news, force people who do watch not to watch by putting this network out of business. that's censorship. >> jon: sha just jealousy? >> no, i have to take issue with what you said. i love the first amendment.

we love free speech and we encourage it, but why should it be supported by taxpayer dollars? why should a guerilla war against one network be supported by taxpayer dollars. >> this isn't just about media matters. you can look at media research center, if you compare the two organizations and missions, they're doing the same thing. >> no, they're not. >> and take off-- >> they're not-- >> and a much larger conversation, the irs said you can have a political agenda as a nonprofit. they've said that this is okay for organizations like media matters and media research center. >> we have to take a quick break, first if you'd like to see more stories like these, go to our website and watch the daily bias bash with members of our panel and see what's hot in the watch list sex. up next, more about media matters and their tax-free status. >> has david brock in his

anti-conservative media matters website failed in their mission to analyze the media and their war on fox news? plus, when it comes to political gaffes, do the mainstream media go overboard in their coverage? all next on news watch. also get a free flight. you know that comes with a private island. really? no. it comes with a hat. you see, airline credit cards promise flights for 25,00miles, but... [ man ] there's never any seats for ,000 miles. frustrating, isn't it? but that won't happen with the capital one venture card. you can book any airline anytime. hey, i just said that. after all, isn't traveling hard enough? ow. [ male announcer ] to get the flights you want, sign up for a venture card at capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? uh, it's okay. i've played a pilot before.

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icht media matters is not a med media investigation. it's a war on fox, you're allowed to do that in a democracy, nasty as you want. the only thing is don't ask for a government subsidy. nobody wants to stop them or to shut media matters down. it's a question of whether your tax money and mine ought to be supporting it. >> jon: that's syndicated columnist charles krauthammer, a fox news contributor, commenting this week about the tax-free status of media matters. take a look what the irs rules are regarding a 5013 c

organization, which is what media matters is, the rules say it may not be an action organizationment may not participate in any campaign activity. has to be referred to as a charitable organization and must not be organizationed or operated for the benefit of private interests. does it meet the smell test here, jim? >> well, i mean, again, i'm not a lawyer, but i did read and judy and i were talking about this earlier, that the irs decertified 275,000 organizations last year. 275,000. so, in other words, this is a fairly standard they think that some groups for whatever reason goes off the rails of what the law permits and is decertified aen this is the media, why should media matters be different than the other groups? >> right. well, it's interesting that the reason the irs gave for the dessertcation was that these organizations hadn't filed their 990 forms which tells you how much they pay their staff and what they do

with their money and whom this raise it from for three years, three years, after the third year the groups were out and among them, was care, which the, you know, the council on american islamic relations and which has really been a very controversial group. some people say that think of it as a group that's fighting for rights and others see it as a kind of proto tres supporting group so you can throw a group off the list for not filing a form. what about the stated purpose of your organization? >> if we're going to throw one organization under the bus we need to look at all of the organizations that need to be thrown under the bus. this is, this is not a hidden secret that there are conservative institutions and liberal institutions that have very specific ideologies that are very supportive of, you know, different leanings in d.c. if you look at the clinton years, and what the heritage

foundation did in working with media partners to really push an agenda against president clinton, this is nothing new, we have to elevate the conversation away from media matters. >> i just want all of them to not to be tax subsidized and i want anyone who has a private or ideological pont point of view to wage theirs in the free market without taxpayers paying for it. >> national endowments for the arts, a lot of conservatives and religious people were outraged that groups were getting tax breaks for so-called artistic works, submerging crucifixes in urine and we have preachers accused of endorsing candidates left and right, whether it's jeremiah wright or a tv evangelist. >> so, this million dollars that george soros gave media matters in 2010, he gets a tax

deduction for that because he's go i having to-- giving to a 5013 c organization, is that appropriate? >> i don't think that soros' agenda and making can contributions to any of the organizations is for a tax write off. that's a bigger conversation that should probably happen. so there's george soros on the left and the koch brothers on the right. we each have those that funds come from. they're not making for the tax deductions, if we take it away, we need to take it away for everyone. >> and jehmu mentioned... should read a book by matt ba b-a-i and talked about garying

soros and others, media is one. and jewish social justice is another and all of the other groups, it puts context on it. it's part of an overall effort. i'm not saying there's not one on right similar, but the question in all cases are they obeying the law. >> you mentioned the two organizations and glenn beck has been the favorite topic of media meters for america and had his last regular program on fox this week and media matters joined with color of change, an organization you know something about, and jewish funds for justice, and purchase taking credit for the ending of beck's show. now, it turns out that the co-founder of color of change, james rucker, served as director of grass roots mobilization for the george soros founded moveon.org and he was also part of democracy alliance, which is quote, a network of investors building progressive change. that was launched by george soros. isn't that something that the media should be looking at? >> well, i think, again, you

have to look at what are the different institutions on the left and right and the democracy lines on the left that came out of all of the efforts in 2004 and the efforts against gary and progressive donors said we're fot going to stop by and take it and that's the infrastructure that they built and we have the same on the right. like, clearly, this has to be a bigger conversation about from an economic standpoint do we have the funds to be taking away some of the revenue that some of the nonprofits could bring in. but it's not just media matters. >> it's not just media matters. we should at this point, we're searching for federal dollars and source of revenue, and raised some questions about whether or not this isn't a pretty obvious one. >> they are celebrating in d.c. this week, color change, media matters, i did see at that they said they had a party and uns had of people showed up. they are absolutely celebrating and trying to take credit. for this-- >> and the taxpayer dollars helped pay for that. >> hopefully not for the party. >> all right.

>> the money is fungible. >> time for another break. up next, should the media give candidates a break when they misspeak? >> when it comes to political missteps, when is a gaffe really a gaffe? and when it comes to media coverage, who gets a pass and who gets hammered, plus, princess diana makes the cover of newsweek. is this a little too creepy? details next on news watch. ♪ [ male announcer ] and just like that, it's here. a new chance for all of us: people, companies, communities to face the challenges yesterday left behind and the ones tomorrow will bring. prudential. bring your challenges.

flubs got more press. >> let me see. of course, candidate barack obama said he had been to 57 states and he only had one or two more to go. look, here is the template here. if you're republican, if you're conservative and especially if you're christian, by definition, the media definition, you are a moron. and so any mistake you make reinforces that stereo type. on the other hand, if you're a liberal democrat secularist and make a mistake, yuck, yuck, yuck, that's part of being tired on the campaign trail or tying to save america. >> jon: jehmu, you seem to disagree. >> i think it's clearly more about are you gaffe prone. if you get labeled being gaffe prone like joe biden, like harry reid, then they're going to look for those instances and that's just not barack obama. he's not a dan quayle. it's less than a liberal or

conservative, it's are you gaffe prone. and unfortunately for congresswoman bachmann. she's taken advantage of it. all of this attention has helped name recognition and doing better than people expected her to do. the comparisons that we've seen though from some who have written, comparing her to bloomberg and to donald trump where it gets ridiculous. >> jon: she has better hair than donald trump. we've talked about joe biden before and doozies, but usually seems to get a pass. >> the biden list is long list. and i agree with what jehmu says, certain candidates get certain reputations and the media gave them that reputation, it would be hard to statistically figure out who made the most gaffes, if you're on the trail all the time, you will make mistakes, either party, both parties and just the media pick on some and not others.

>> i think, you know, thinking about those two examples there, judy, the family of john waip, i think, is probably not terribly upset she may have misidentified the place of his birth. but the family of jared monty and the president thinks he pinned a medal on this man's chest, and when in fact he came home in a coffin, is a big deal. >> it is, but the parents accepted his apology and the fact that barack obama didn't know how old his daughter was strikes me as an interesting flub. >> he's not home that often, he's out playing golf. >> what struck me about the coverage of michele bachmann, she's gone from being an idiot and religious zealot and people called her in the press, to being amazing, twitter candidate, great. and you know, somewhere in between is michele bachmann. >> jon: we have to take one more break. when we come back, newsweek

coverage gets strong reaction. >> the people's princess is back in the news making the cover of news week. did they go too far this time? that's next on news watch. ...

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i think they want to remember their mother in fond memories. she is not here anymore. >> that is the butler reacting to the news week showing a photo shop version of the late princess walking with kate middleton. she would have turned 50 years on friday. tina brown thought it might be a good idea to sell magazines. they posted what the people's princess facebook page might have looked like, one of her friends, camilla, unlikely. from the times from london, as ton sticker, why didn't they ex human and grab the rot ted corpse? and the cover story featuring a creepy montage of the princess of wales standing by kate middleton is disgrace. what inspired