"Liberal Media?" Conservative Super PACs Got Over $350,000 From Media Execs, Companies in 2011

By Corbin Hiar, iWatch News

Conservative complaints about a liberal bias in the media do not hold up, at least not when it comes to the free-spending groups known as "super PACs."

News companies and their executives donated more than $350,000 to conservative super PACs in 2011, according to financial disclosure forms filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.

The donations included $100,000 from St. Paul-based Hubbard Broadcasting to the American Crossroads super PAC, which was created by Bush White House strategist Karl Rove. Hubbard is a family-owned media company with a dozen local TV stations, 21 radio stations -- including D.C.'s leading news channel WTOP -- and a national cable channel.

The broadcaster did not respond to inquiries about the donation.

This appears to be the first time Executive Chairman Stanley S. Hubbard has made a political donation directly from corporate coffers. But the 77-year-old businessman and his wife Karen have already donated $210,759 to Republican candidates, parties and political action committees this election cycle, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of FEC filings.

Super PACs are political organizations that accept unlimited amounts of money from individuals and corporations to spend on political races. These groups were made possible by the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling and another lower court decision.

The Los Angeles Times noted Tuesday that its beleaguered owner Sam Zell contributed $100,000 to Crossroads. He also chipped in another $50,000 for the Restore Our Future, a super PAC supporting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's presidential bid and $50,000 to the New Prosperity Foundation, a conservative group.

Restore Our Future scored support from at least two other notable media executives. Steven Price, the chairman and CEO of Greenwich-based Townsquare Media, a company with 176 radio stations, donated $50,000. The group also received $10,000 from Michael White, the chairman and CEO of satellite dish company DirecTV.

A quick search of FEC filings for names or organizations associated with the news media did not turn up any donations given to progressive super PACs this election cycle.

But the stereotype about big-spending "Hollywood liberals" certainly held true in 2011.

One of the biggest super PAC donations in 2011 was $2 million from Jeffrey Katzenberg, one of the co-founders DreamWorks Animation, to Priorities USA Action. Famed director Steven Spielberg also donated $100,000.

Did we miss any interesting media donors to super PACs? Search the California Watch's database and let us know what you find via email ([e-mail]) or in the comments below.  

Read more investigations at the Center for Public Integrity

 

Follow Corbin Hiar on Twitter: www.twitter.com/corbinhiar

Comments

[JoeHurley]

11:12 PM on 02/05/2012

You act as if people who believe that the media is predominantly liberal have to, somehow, prove it to liberals like you.

The perceived monolithic bias was enough to create a need in the market that Fox News was smart enough to capitalize on. The ratings say it all. There's no need to prove anything to anyone.

[AdamWest1313]

02:22 AM on 02/06/2012

Do you know what the burden of proof is? It means that people who believe that the media is predominantly liberal have to, somehow, prove it.

You can't make a claim and not prove it. Anyone who graduates High School knows that. An argument is a claim with evidence.

[JoeHurley]

11:27 AM on 02/06/2012

To whom should this be proved, and to what end?

[Big Taters]

12:23 PM on 02/04/2012

In 2008 - look at the money they spent. Any other discussion is simply partisan and does nothing to stop this outrageous process.

* Spent the most on category

Obama

Media - $425,000,000*
Travel & Salary - $120,000,000*
Campaign Events - $32,000,000*
Polling/Surveys - $28,000,000*
Misc Admin - $21,000,000*
Postage - $16,000,000
Rent - $10,000,000*

Total $652,000,000 (for selected categories)

Media - $130,000,00
Travel & Salary - $60,000,000
Campaign Events - $12,000,000
Polling/Surveys - $4,000,000
Misc Admin - $5,500,000
Postage - $19,000,000*
Rent - $8,000,000

Tota $238,000,000 (for selected categories)

http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/expend.php?cid=N00006424
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/expend.php?cid=N00009638

[Artos]

10:44 AM on 02/04/2012

As I have said repeatedly, Rich people own the media, and they aren't typically liberals.

[Artos]

10:42 AM on 02/04/2012

As I have said repeatedly, The media is owned by the rich, and the rich aren't known to be Liberals in the main.

[momoluvsu]

10:47 AM on 02/04/2012

Good Morning Artos nice to see ya!!

[Artos]

11:23 AM on 02/04/2012

Mornin' Mom, Hows things? Had your cuppa yet, I did? Nothin' like readin' the mornin' news and a cuppa Joe in the A.M..

[Brawling]

08:49 AM on 02/04/2012

As a former senior exec at one of the aforementioned companies, I can say without much fear of contradiction, that the media companies excluding Fox are not only biased to the left, they are quite proud of it. It isn't a secret and it isn't something they are ashamed of. They have specific political leanings that they move forward based on whom they hire and who moves forward. It's not a big deal but everyone seems to continue to act as though it was up for debate. On this point I would disagree, the major network "news" departments are designed to be "moderate and centrist", but they have news directors that lean far left of center.

[UnknownSolider]

09:57 AM on 02/04/2012

Whatever........... who are we supposed to believe YOU, or the reporter in the above article with cited facts on contributions to Right Wing Republicans, by executives in media companies.

[buggeroffyou666]

11:05 AM on 02/04/2012

I can say without much fear of contradict­ion, .................? Sorry this isnt fox this is the real world and when you lie you WILL be called out on it.

[magneato]

08:45 AM on 02/04/2012

There's a faulty premise that i dont buy into when it comes to the whole media bias argument.

The idea that any bias is going to change someone's core belief system is ridiculous. If you're philosophically inclined to lean one way, you're never going to be swayed to believe the other way, pure and simple.

Conservatives- if you're complaining about a pervasive, all encompassing liberal bias, and it hasn't changed how you think, then really, what the hell are you all complaining about?!
Everyone has biases, you're never going to change that.

Quit your bellyaching, and let people consume the news and media that they're inclined to.
There's plenty of conservative options for you, so enjoy! Stop trying to police the way everyone thinks.

[UnknownSolider]

10:07 AM on 02/04/2012

The media has been leaning right for about 20 to 25 years now. That does not mean that there are no left leaning members of the media, but only that they are vastly outnumbered. The bias isn't blatant in most cases, its subtle. Here is something for you to pay attention too. Whenever a minority (black or latino) has something terrible happen to a member of their family, the media will always show them in despair and grief stricken, situations that are best left behind closed doors, mothers wailing, other family members breaking down, however when it comes to how white families are depicted, you more often than not get footage of a family spokesperson, or a neighbor. The white family is given the respect to grieve privately. 

Most people form their opinions based on things they have no personal connection to on what they see and hear in the mainstream media.

[billyg223]

12:29 AM on 02/04/2012

Why not just forget about the millions of free publicity the democrats get every year from their biased reporting. When polled, the members of the newsmedia overwhelmingly declare themselves as Democrats. From their point of view, anything right of center, politically, is a far-right opinion.
BTW, $350,000 won't even buy you a 15 second spot on the Super Bowl. Talk about your strawman!

[Artos]

10:47 AM on 02/04/2012

For the last several months the media has been focusing on the Republican and their primaries and debates.They are getting all the attention they could ever want. I also suspect that perhaps they are getting more than they had hoped for, because at times when they have truly screwed up, they probably wish they'd never gotten any.

[joelparker]

08:06 PM on 02/06/2012

They consider coverage of the GOP Presidential race more comical than reporting actual world news events, which are after all pretty damn depressing. And it gets better ratings than covering whatever incumbent Obama is doing on a given day, probably b/c of that comical bufoonery aspect again..... don't take my word for it, look at the quotes from Rick Perry.

[signgrrl]

01:07 PM on 02/04/2012

the reporters may lean left, if that is even the case, but the corporations they WORK for, whole different thing. corporations pretty much by definition are NOT LIBERAL.

[Bart DePalma]

08:24 PM on 02/03/2012

And the overwhelmingly hard left reporter corps donates and provides in kind campaign commercials posing as news for the Dems.

350K does not even begin to offset a single night of such in kind media propaganda.

[Traynor]

06:28 PM on 02/03/2012

Ha Ha Ha!
Finally, proof positive tha the liberal media is, um...NOT! Tweet THIS!

[GreshamGuy]

06:16 PM on 02/03/2012

Through the lens of the far right, everything, including objective reporting, has a left wing bias. It's simple geometry.

[Artos]

10:52 AM on 02/04/2012

The way I see it, this constant leveling of this same accusation, is nothing more than a strategic ploy. Reptilians use the old military strategy of "the best defense is a good offense" . By constantly throwing out this time honored baloney about the media being liberal,they can make themselves appear to the victim, always set upon and never treated fairly. Ironic since they are the ones always accusing others of being whiners and not "Maning up". The real truth is that their accusation has always been a lie. Who owns the Media, the wealthy, and they aren't known to have much sympathy for Liberals.

[GreshamGuy]

12:52 PM on 02/04/2012

You're correct, of course. It's an old, old tactic - it's better known as the Big Lie. If you repeat the lie often enough, the public will come to believe the lie, preferring it to objective truth.

[bobnels]

07:29 PM on 03/11/2012

I agree, but mostly what the charge of "liberal bias" has done is forced interviewers to not challenge repubs when they make outrageous and palpable lies. If challenged by a reporter to back up these claims, they immediately say "see its proof the media is biased".

[Ppenguinator]

05:13 PM on 02/04/2012

Exactly. See http://conservapedia.com/Main_Page for further proof.

[enochsmoky]

06:03 PM on 02/03/2012

The liberal bias in the media has very little to do with the contributions of a few of the media company owners and everything to do with the how the news is reported, edited, selected or buried by reporters, writers, editors and on air personnel. That there is a liberal bias in major magazines, network tv, big city newspapers and Hollywood is as undisputed as the fact that talk radio leans strongly to the right. Take a survey of the political beliefs and leanings of our big city media masters and the percentage of conservative voices would be embarrassingly small.

[GHY1]

07:07 PM on 02/03/2012

it is only a liberal bias if you are conservative, if you are liberal it is more of a conservative bias

[KenLowJr]

09:00 PM on 02/03/2012

Smoky, the liberal bias myth has been talked about for a long time. Believe it or not there was a time when I was a youth(a long time ago, my friend) when the media was accused of being conservative biased. This was during the forties and fifties. The sixties turned the country topsy turvy with Viet Nam and the subsequent Hippie culture that convinced most people that the country was turning so far left as to become socialist. In fact, the country was and still is where it has always been. And that is centrist. Most of the media is representative of the electorate which is moderate. Most conservatives are center/right and most liberals are center/left. When that started, I do not know. But, it was that way then and it's that way now.

[ChiBloger]

10:12 PM on 02/03/2012

How about News that’s just News? The left Right thing never became more evident until we had the rise of all these right wing propaganda stations ie Limbaug and Fox News. Before that there was News run by a news department and not an entertainment department. The Bias is decidedly right and the cause is demonstrably money and big moneyed interest.

[demisfine]

05:57 PM on 02/03/2012

How heavily invested in TV companies are the justices of the GOP?
They are profiting handsomely from their misguided Citizens United ruling.
Media corporations are swimming in SuperPAC cash.

[jhNY]

02:26 PM on 02/03/2012

Throughout our history, ownership of any large American enterprise has largely sided with those politics and politicians that might best protect their income streams as citizens and as business owners.

This article sorta characterizes the political sentiments of ownership as equivalent to its employees. If such a thing as 'liberal media bias' ever had meaning, which since the mid-70's I'd argue was a confection of conservatives, most of it might be expected to reside amongst the reporters and commentariat. The article does not address the donation of the media businesses' employees.

So the article makes no more sense than one in which the donations of the owners of automobile factories were said to reflect the political sentiments of the union members busy building the cars.