Lois Lerner

Bozell on IRS Scandal: ‘Bigger Than Watergate’
By NB Staff | March 7, 2014 | 8:45 AM EST

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell appeared on Fox News’ “The Kelly File” last night and chastised the networks for skipping the substance of the latest congressional hearing on the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups. Bozell’s comments came after Lois Lerner, the IRS official at the center of the scandal, once again refused to answer questions during a congressional hearing, instead choosing to use her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Rather than discussing the merits of the latest hearing, all three networks chose instead to play up the verbal confrontation between Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD), making it 99 days since ABC, CBS and NBC have even mentioned the actual IRS scandal. “I do believe that this IRS scandal is bigger than Watergate. And I think if you look at it objectively I think you conclude that” proclaimed Bozell. [See video below.]

ABC and CBS Ignore IRS Scandal Hearing; NBC Frets Over Darrell Issa Cutting Democrat's Mic
By Matt Hadro | March 5, 2014 | 9:11 PM EST

Although President Obama's former IRS chief refused to answer questions about the IRS scandal she is at the center of, NBC's Brian Williams instead lamented the behavior of GOP congressman Darrell Issa at Wednesday's hearing.

"In Washington today, a public and startling example of the kind of behavior Congress has become known for and Congress has become gridlocked over," Williams began. NBC played a clip of the fiery exchange between Issa and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Mary.) where Cummings cried foul over the hearing followed by Issa cutting his microphone.

Fireworks at Hearing Where Lois Lerner Takes the Fifth Again, Will Networks Notice?
By Geoffrey Dickens | March 5, 2014 | 1:33 PM EST

Lois Lerner, the IRS figure at the center of the Tea Party targeting scandal, once again pleaded the Fifth on Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. In more than 20 minutes of testimony the former director of IRS exempt organizations refused to answer Committee Chairman Darrell Issa on nine different occasions. The hearing also ended with a bit of fireworks between Issa and Democratic Congressman Elijah Cummings.

So now that networks have dramatic footage of a government official repeatedly taking the Fifth and a heated clash between congressmen, will they actually report on the IRS scandal?

Bozell on IRS Targeting Conservatives: ‘Where’s The Rest Of The Press, Where’s Anyone Covering This?’
By NB Staff | February 27, 2014 | 2:03 PM EST

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell appeared on Fox News’ “The Kelly File” last night and condemned the media for its continued blackout of the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups. Bozell’s comments came after Lois Lerner, the IRS official at the center of the scandal, was recalled by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to answer questions related to her involvement in the targeting of conservative organizations.

We know that the person that was put in charge of this investigation turns out to be an Obama donor, a clear conflict of interest. And now Lois Lerner, who is at the center of all this, says she will testify if she’s given immunity from federal prosecution, and these liberals are saying there isn’t a scandal?” proclaimed Bozell. [See video below.]

Even the Left Hates the IRS's New Proposed Rules, But Nets Won't Report
By Geoffrey Dickens | February 27, 2014 | 1:50 PM EST

Even leftist groups like the ACLU and Sierra Club are worried about being crushed by the IRS, but the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) aren’t telling their viewers about it. The comment period for new IRS rules, that would regulate political speech of groups on the left and right, ends on Thursday and it turns out the left is now fearing they will join the Tea Party in being targeted out of existence by the IRS.

On Tuesday, in an opinion piece headlined Liberals vs. the IRS, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) observed that: “The media have remained quiet about the IRS targeting of conservative nonprofit groups and even quieter about the proposed IRS rule to restrict their political speech.” The editorial writers then pondered: “Maybe our colleagues will snap out of their slumber now that the objections are coming from liberals.” The resounding answer to that question from ABC, CBS and NBC is NO.

Emails Prove Lerner Helped Craft New IRS Crackdown Rules, Nets Censor
By Geoffrey Dickens | February 6, 2014 | 3:55 PM EST

On Wednesday the House Ways and Means Committee released new emails proving that former IRS executive Lois Lerner secretly helped craft, with Treasury officials, new rules that would make it easier to crack down on conservative groups like the Tea Party. These new rules were being written in 2012, at the height of the IRS’s targeting of the Tea Party.

So far the Big Three (ABC, CBS, NBC) networks have yet to mention this latest IRS scandal bombshell on their evening or morning shows.

‘Your Turn, President Obama,’ Tweeters Demand After Christie Fires Aide
By Randy Hall | January 10, 2014 | 3:17 PM EST

Mere minutes after New Jersey governor Chris Christie said during a press conference on Thursday that he was firing deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly for lying about her role in closing lanes of the George Washington Bridge, many online posters compared the Republican official's swift action with the utter lack of movement by president Barack Obama, who has yet to terminate anyone in his administration, even if that person is embroiled in scandal.

Several comments included barbs aimed at the “mainstream media” for reporters' wall-to-wall coverage of the Christie scandal while allowing Obama officials to avoid any punishment. “To confused journalists, what @GovChristie is doing right now is called 'leadership,'” noted @derekahunter. “Google it, then look at the White House & feel shame.”

Newly Obtained E-Mails Show Lerner Gave Tea Party Tax Info to FEC, Big Three Networks Censor
By Geoffrey Dickens | November 4, 2013 | 4:00 PM EST

On October 31 the Washington Examiner’s Paul Bedard reported the following: “The Internal Revenue Service shared highly confidential tax information of several Tea Party groups in the IRS scandal with the Federal Election Commission, a clear violation of federal law, according to newly obtained emails. The public watchdog group Judicial Watch told Secrets Thursday that it was former scandal boss Lois Lerner who shared the information on groups including the American Future Fund and the American Issues Project.’”

So far none of the Big Three (ABC, NBC, CBS) networks have reported the latest IRS scandal finding. In fact, they’ve stopped reporting on the IRS scandal altogether.

AP Tries to Impress Readers With IRS's Cooperation, But Docs Provided to Issa's Committee Are Only 10% of Total Requested
By Tom Blumer | September 24, 2013 | 11:30 PM EDT

As Brent Bozell at NewsBusters noted earlier today, news of the forced retirement of the IRS's Lois Lerner, the agency's chief orchestrator of the campaign which targeted tea party and other conservative groups for extra scrutiny in their applications for not-for-profit status, "was censored by ABC, CBS, and NBC."

In what may surprise some, that lack of coverage didn't occur because of the Associated Press. Stephen Ohlemacher's story was mostly well-done, with two significant exceptions.

Lois Lerner Retires From IRS, Big Three Networks Censor
By Geoffrey Dickens | September 24, 2013 | 10:44 AM EDT

The censorship of the IRS scandal by ABC, CBS and NBC has reached a new low. Not even the news of Lois Lerner’s retirement, the official at the center of the IRS Tea Party targeting scandal, could break the Big Three networks’ months-long streak of no scandal coverage.

The Drudge Report splashed the news on the top of its site on Monday but not a single network bothered to report the stunning news that night or Tuesday morning that Lerner, as the Washington Times reported, “retired from the agency Monday morning after an internal investigation found she was guilty of ‘neglect of duties’ and was going to call for her ouster, according to congressional staff.”

Bozell, Varney Discuss Networks' Nearly 3-Month Blackout of Damning Revelations in IRS Scandal
By Ken Shepherd | September 23, 2013 | 2:50 PM EDT

An incredulous Stuart Varney brought NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell on his Varney & Co. program this morning to discuss how  "[t]he mainstream media [have been] completely ignoring one the the biggest news stories of the year," by devoting zero news stories to the IRS scandal since July.

"Is that accurate, they haven't even mentioned it since those dates we put up on the screen?!" Varney asked Bozell at the segment. "It's fascinating and so troubling" because we have "one of the greatest abuses in my lifetime, the greatest abuse of federal power ever, where you're using the most-feared arm of government  against the people and you're seeing one revelation after another" which the networks simply refuse to cover. The Media Research Center founder and president rattled off just a few [LISTEN to mp3 audio here; WATCH the video below the page break]:

As Government’s Power Grabs Grow, Media’s Coverage Diminishes
By Seton Motley | July 1, 2013 | 9:11 AM EDT

The Barack Obama Administration has been on a five-plus-year-long Collect-As-Much-Information-On-Us-As-Possible spree.

With Tens of Millions of Phone Records Grabbed – It’s the Government, Stupid

‘Thousands of NSA Analysts Can Listen to Domestic Phone Calls,’ Read Emails, Texts, IMs

Latest Big Government Data Grab: Justice Sues to Get It Without a Warrant

IRS Tea Party Scandal Shows Government Should Be Kept Away From Our Data

IRS-Conservatives, Justice-AP, Benghazi, Fast and Furious, HHS, EPA – This is Big Government

These incredible, all-encompassing violations of our Constitutional rights actually drew (shocker) some negative coverage from the usually sycophantic White House Stenographer (Press) Pool.