Chris Matthews accepted hefty speaking fees from conservative groups

So much for this loser, though it doesn't come off as much of a surprise:

Report posits that Hardball's Matthews has accepted hefty speaking fees from conservative groups
RAW STORY
Published: March 9, 2006

A new report advanced to RAW STORY Thursday suggests that Chris Matthews, the star of the Sunday talk show circuit's Hardball, has accepted hefty speaking fees from an array of conservative trade associations.

Matthews has given speeches to ten major conservative trade associations since 2001. The report's author, Dave Johnson, who blogs at Seeing The Forest and is also a fellow at the progressive Commonweal Institute, could find no records indicating that Matthews has spoken before any Democratic-leaning organizations.

"Why is Matthews speaking at so many events with Republican-associated trade organizations?" Johnson asks. "What is NBC policy on speaking engagements and why does NBC keep it hidden? Are these trade associations paying Matthews to purchase influence?"

Matthews is listed at a speaking bureau known to command hefty fees. While it can't be proven whether Matthews has taken money from the groups, speaking fees are a regular practice for large trade organizations who invite big-name media stars to speak to their memberships. Such fees typically run in the five-figure range, and occasionally exceed $50,000 a pop.

Howard Kurtz reported in 2002 that NBC had banned the practice of journalists accepting speaking fees but the report's author suggests otherwise.

A call placed to Matthew's publicist was not immediately returned. An NBC spokesperson could not confirm to RAW STORY whether the network had banned the acceptance of speaking fees. It seems unlikely that Matthews would have spoken to so many groups pro bono.

http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Report_posits_that_Chris_Matthews_star_0309.html

Liberal media, my ass.

'Why is Matthews speaking at so many events with Republican-associated trade organizations?"

Because evil rich Republicans have all the money [apart from the Democrats in Congress, and George Soros], and are willing to pay 50k for a speaker!

Of course, even if Matthews is a closet conservative, the fact that one well-known talking head speaks to Republicans does not disprove the already-proved liberal bias of the mainstream media.

Oh, and change your thread title: as even the report says, there is no evidence that he has actually taken money. Sure, it's possible, even likely, I won't deny that, but as it stands, your thread title does not reflect the facts as reported in the article.

Would it be such big news if it were for Democratic/liberal organizations? Or is that the assumption, that certainly members of the media would speak for liberal orgs, and they probably wouldn't even want any money for it.

"Proved" liberal bias? Well, let's see: Fox, CNN, and NBC all lean right. ABC tends to lean left. CBS, who knows. I don't watch that station.

Someone who tries to portray himself as a moderator on a talk show shouldn't be so obviously biased.

[quote name='E-Z-B']"Proved" liberal bias? Well, let's see: Fox, CNN, and NBC all lean right. ABC tends to lean left. CBS, who knows. I don't watch that station.

Someone who tries to portray himself as a moderator on a talk show shouldn't be so obviously biased.[/QUOTE]

ummmm, why not ? He's a commentator, not a reporter. People talk to Matthews to get his opinion, they abviously don't associate him becuase of his intelligence.

His show should then be called "Hardball ... with Dems, Softball with Repubs.".

Hah, only girls play softball.

[quote name='E-Z-B']His show should then be called "Hardball ... with Dems, Softball with Repubs.".[/QUOTE]

Wow, you must never watch his show.

I don't care if a commentator or opinion journalist has and expresses that bias. That's what they're for. The issue is when allegedly neutal and unbiased 'journalists' are biased, and when that bias permeates their work. Certainly everyone has biases, but the journalists and 'newsmen' who are overwhelmingly liberal, FNC notwithstanding, don't even try to hide it, then lie about it. Or they've just been so insulated in their liberal cocoons for so long, that they can't even concieve of opinions that differ from theirs.

:lol:

[quote name='bmulligan']Wow, you must never watch his show.[/QUOTE]

They watched the show and found conservative bias......

http://mediamatters.org/items/200603080005

Employing the same methodology, Media Matters tallied all guests who appeared on Hardball during the first two months of 2006 and coded them based on party affiliation and ideology. (A list of the guests is here.) The data reflected in these charts show that the number of Republican/conservative guests has been significantly higher than the number of Democratic/progressive guests. In January, Republicans/conservatives led Democrats/progressives 55 to 38 -- a difference of 59 percent to 41 percent. By February, that advantage had increased: Republican/conservatives outnumbered Democrats/progressives 55 to 34, or 62 percent to 38 percent.

.......

Not only did the right dominate the left overall, but Republicans/conservatives also outnumbered Democrats/progressives in other key categories. During January and February, there were more Republican Party elected officials and Bush administration officials than those from the Democratic Party. In this category, Republicans outnumbered Democrats 22 to 18.

.......

In addition, conservative journalists and pundits outnumbered progressive journalists and pundits by a considerable margin. While most journalists/pundits were neutral reporters or consistently presented a centrist point of view, the data show that those who spoke from an ideological perspective were conservative far more often than progressive. Conservatives in this category outnumbered progressives 42 to 13 -- a ratio of more than 3-to-1.

.......

Another area in which the right dominated on Hardball was the coveted solo interview. During January and February, Hardball featured 24 solo interviews with Democrats/progressives, while Republicans/conservatives had nearly twice as many: 44 solo interviews. In addition, eight of the twelve guests who were given the honor of multiple solo interviews during this time period were Republican officials. Only one Democrat, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-DE), appeared in multiple solo interviews. The other centrist/neutral guests who were given multiple solo interviews on Hardball were Dick Sauber, attorney for Time magazine White House correspondent Matthew Cooper; Charlie Cook of The Cook Political Report; and New York Times reporter James Risen.

dennis_t has proven he's only interested in debating and participating in this forum if it appears his side can win and his opinion will be vindicated by political results. I think someone referred to it as "jumping on the winning bandwagon".

So I believe actually taking his posts seriously, like this one, should be a great reminder that liberal thought and ideals lead to electoral defeat. Typical of this outcome dennis_t runs away for 9 months to lick his wounds, hide in shame and avoid general embarrassment of being made an ass of again.

So Paddy, when Rick Santorum gets his ass handed to him this fall, will that be the fault of the never can win Democrats?

[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']dennis_t has proven he's only interested in debating and participating in this forum if it appears his side can win and his opinion will be vindicated by political results. I think someone referred to it as "jumping on the winning bandwagon".

So I believe actually taking his posts seriously, like this one, should be a great reminder that liberal thought and ideals lead to electoral defeat. Typical of this outcome dennis_t runs away for 9 months to lick his wounds, hide in shame and avoid general embarrassment of being made an ass of again.[/QUOTE]

http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86484&page=2

"Actually it's like a field trip for me dennis.

I get to come see all the kooks in one place. I can point and laugh at them or pound on the glass, as it were, to make them crazy, spook them and watch them flail about in the confines of their captivity.

It truly is for my own amusement that I come and laugh at the likes of you.

I'm sure though that you have a far more noble purpose of visiting online message boards such as this. I'm next to certain you're putting together a doctoral dissortation of some sort or another and this is merely the forum in which you are pusuing your academic and world changing work."

[quote name='dennis_t']They watched the show and found conservative bias......

http://mediamatters.org/items/200603080005

Employing the same methodology, Media Matters tallied all guests who appeared on Hardball during the first two months of 2006 and coded them based on party affiliation and ideology. (A list of the guests is here.) The data reflected in these charts show that the number of Republican/conservative guests has been significantly higher than the number of Democratic/progressive guests. In January, Republicans/conservatives led Democrats/progressives 55 to 38 -- a difference of 59 percent to 41 percent. By February, that advantage had increased: Republican/conservatives outnumbered Democrats/progressives 55 to 34, or 62 percent to 38 percent.

.......

Not only did the right dominate the left overall, but Republicans/conservatives also outnumbered Democrats/progressives in other key categories. During January and February, there were more Republican Party elected officials and Bush administration officials than those from the Democratic Party. In this category, Republicans outnumbered Democrats 22 to 18.

.......

In addition, conservative journalists and pundits outnumbered progressive journalists and pundits by a considerable margin. While most journalists/pundits were neutral reporters or consistently presented a centrist point of view, the data show that those who spoke from an ideological perspective were conservative far more often than progressive. Conservatives in this category outnumbered progressives 42 to 13 -- a ratio of more than 3-to-1.

.......

Another area in which the right dominated on Hardball was the coveted solo interview. During January and February, Hardball featured 24 solo interviews with Democrats/progressives, while Republicans/conservatives had nearly twice as many: 44 solo interviews. In addition, eight of the twelve guests who were given the honor of multiple solo interviews during this time period were Republican officials. Only one Democrat, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-DE), appeared in multiple solo interviews. The other centrist/neutral guests who were given multiple solo interviews on Hardball were Dick Sauber, attorney for Time magazine White House correspondent Matthew Cooper; Charlie Cook of The Cook Political Report; and New York Times reporter James Risen.[/QUOTE]

So he had more conservative guests and interviews, so what? Do you ever WATCH his show and LISTEN to the comments coming from MATTHEWS mouth? Apparently not. The tally of liberal to conservative guests has nothing to do with the viewpoint and biased opinion of the host. But, then again, it's typical of you to completely misunderstand a premise and come up with a completely unrelated rationale to back your ignorance.

Have you seen the show? Matthews has a hard on for the President. Every time Bush comes up he talks about how much he loves the guy.

MATTHEWS: I like him. Everybody sort of likes the president, except for the real whack-jobs, maybe on the left -- I mean -- like him personally.

MATTHEWS: (Bush on the aircraft carrier) Look at this guy! I love this guy! He's a real man!

This week he's at the Republican Southern whatachamacallit and the they're calling the whole thing "Choosing our next president" week. His Hardball Hotshots segment on Fridays is: Tucker Carlson (ultra conservative), Rita Cosby (Fox expat), and exGOP congressman Joe Scarborough (who mercilessly berated a shivering 17 year old girl two nights ago, class.) And they get on and talk about how much of a harpy Hillary is and how stupid the Democrats are, it's pretty much the PAD show.

The thing about him is that he does seem to have some conscience. He spent weeks on the Scooter Libby case, going so far as to spend a considerable amount of time on Cheney's connection. But then last week he goes on a conservative talk show in Philly and talks up Joe McCarthy. His Sunday morning show tends to be a little more balanced, but Hardball is a wash. While he's not the worst offender he is a pretty decent example for the "What liberal media?" tagline.

This is by far the most important thing of this thread. The Narrator's Apprentice makes an appearance!