Media Matters Founder to Attkisson: Where’s the Evidence We Were Paid to Target You?

Former CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson said on CNN Sunday that the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters targeted her, possibly because they were paid off. Attkisson said groups like Media Matters get contributions all the time, so perhaps, she said, they may have been paid specifically to go after her.

But Media Matters, which previously said their criticism of her was only based on her “shoddy reporting,” isn’t taking this lying down. Media Matters chairman David Brock sent an e-mail to Attkisson, obtained by Talking Points Memo, challenging her to produce evidence or publicly apologize and retract her comments.

“We have never taken contributions to target you or any other reporter. And it is completely unfathomable to me why you decided to make this serious charge – which has attracted wide media attention – without a shred of evidence to back you up.

Professional journalists don’t go on national television and make up allegations, even against their critics. If you have such evidence to show that Media Matters was paid to target you. I ask that you publicly release it. If you have no evidence to back up your charge, I ask that you publicly apologize and correct your false claims against us.”

You can watch Attkisson’s remarks below (the relevant portion comes in at the 1:15 mark), via CNN:

[h/t TPM]
[photo via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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