David Brock, chairman and chief executive of Media Matters for America, told a news website earlier this year that his nonprofit is now moving to “sabotage” FOX News because it says the network is now the “de facto head of the GOP,” among other things.
Anchors and guests appearing on FOX News have said because of such statements, the nonprofit is violating U.S. tax law.
There is no indication the IRS is auditing or probing Media Matters for these alleged violations.
However, interviews with current and former IRS officials, tax lawyers and tax experts, as well as a review of Media Matters’ IRS documents and its activities indicate the nonprofit has put its tax-exempt status in jeopardy for reasons beyond those allegations.
But these charges are serious. Given that Media Matters is a tax-free nonprofit, the government is effectively supporting its efforts to disrupt the commercial enterprises of a taxpaying business. The government is also effectively supporting its partisan activities that the nonprofit was ostensibly created to monitor in the first place, a problem also at right-wing nonprofits.
Taxpayers have effectively been supporting Media Matters in its campaign to get advertisers to “Drop Fox,”–words billboarded on its website along with “NewsCorpwatch” that link viewers to form letters to send to advertisers to get them to stop advertising on the network.
The U.S. government is also effectively supporting the website’s attacks on News Corp’s attempt to buy Great Britain’s BSkyB, a satellite broadcaster. And taxpayers are effectively supporting the nonprofit’s demands to Congress to investigate News Corp. and its head, Rupert Murdoch.
Also, the U.S. government now effectively supports the nonprofit’s purchase of a full-page ad in the International Herald Tribune urging James Murdoch to use his “power” to “usher in a new era for News Corp.”
And Brock is reportedly working behind the scenes to get disgruntled ex-employees to file suit against FOX News. He has also reportedly hired a political activist to pressure investors to divest their holdings in News Corp., including Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal Alsaud.
The nonprofit failed to report all of these activities to the IRS on its tax returns. While nonprofits often declare free speech rights when they push the code, as Media Matters likely will here, former IRS officials and tax lawyers say speech is one thing–urging action is another. Such activities are nowhere to be found within the scope of U.S. tax law covering nonprofits.
I’m guessing any chance of the Obama administration investigating this issue will go on the list of, “If they are on my side, don’t investigate.” The list of things not to investigate is a long one. Obama is too busy suing people, towns, counties, and states that are just trying to enforce EXISTING FEDERAL REGULATIONS for him to have time to go after ACTUAL law breakers. If he did that, his whole administration and most of congress would wind up in prison.
If we retake the Senate we’d better see investigations and not business as usual.
@Hard Right: #2
The only problem with your idea is that if the republicans start to investigate what the democrats have done, the democrats will say, “If you are going to investage us, you had better investigate yourself too!” If the republicans would do an HONEST investigation, there would be a lot of politicians from both parties going to prison. A lot of them should be in prison, but it’s like the lousy drunk driving laws most states have: Politicians ain’t going to pass laws that could put them in jail.