Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss: Brent Bozell Supplants Jeff Gannon As Man Most Likely to Be Accused of Involvement in Bush Propaganda Scheme

By ADVOCATE STAFF

In 1996, Brent Bozell founded the Conservative Communications Center, or "C3."

In 1998, Brent Bozell founded the current news service for GOPUSA.com, Cybercast News Service (CNS).

At the time Bozell founded C3 in 1996, he was the Chairman (and indeed founder) of The Media Research Center, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.

[As noted at the bottom of their website: "Founded in 1987, the MRC is a 501 (c)(3) non profit research and education foundation"].

To qualify as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, an organization must, according to the Internal Revenue Service website,

be organized and operated exclusively for one or more of the purposes set forth in IRC Section 501(c)(3), and none of the earnings of the organization may inure to any private shareholder or individual. In addition, it may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate at all in campaign activity for or against political candidates.

The organizations described in IRC Section 501(c)(3) are commonly referred to under the general heading of "charitable organizations." Organizations described in IRC Section 501(c)(3), other than testing for public safety organizations, are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions in accordance with IRC Section 170.

The exempt purposes set forth in IRC Section 501(c)(3) are charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, and the prevention of cruelty to children or animals. The term charitable is used in its generally accepted legal sense and includes relief of the poor, the distressed, or the underprivileged; advancement of religion; advancement of education or science; erection or maintenance of public buildings, monuments, or works; lessening the burdens of government; lessening of neighborhood tensions; elimination of prejudice and discrimination; defense of human and civil rights secured by law; and combating community deterioration and juvenile delinquency.

The Advocate does not know, but presumes, that the Media Research Center was founded under the "educational" exception to 501(c)(3). Only a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request could determine this conclusively, as it would enable a citizen to review the organization's application for 501(c)(3) status.

IRS Publication 557 lists "schools" and "alumni associations" as examples of organizations which might deserve an "educational" exemption under 501(c)(3). The form also notes, in addressing prospective 501(c)(3) entities, that "if any of the activities (whether or not substantial) of your organization consist of participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office, your organization will not qualify for tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3). Such participation or intervention includes the publishing or distributing of statements. Whether your organization is participating or intervening, directly or indirectly, in any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office depends upon all of the facts and circumstances of each case. Certain voter education activities or public forums conducted in a non-partisan manner may not be prohibited political activity under section 501(c)(3), while other so-called voter education activities may be prohibited."

A document put out by the Public Counsel Law Center states that "educational purposes" include

instruction of the public on subjects useful to individuals for the benefit of the community and for self-development.

The IRS allows a curriculum to present particular viewpoints if there "is sufficiently full and fair exposition of pertinent facts to permit an individual or the public to form an independent opinion or conclusion." However, mere presentation of unsupported opinion is not considered educational.

Some examples of educational purposes include: publishing public interest educational materials that do not conflict with the requirement above; conducting public discussion groups, forums, panels, lecturers, or workshops; offering a correspondence course or one that uses other media such as television or radio; operating a museum, zoo, planetarium, symphony orchestra, or other performance group; serving an educational institution, such as a college bookstore, alumni association, or athletic organization; and publishing educational newsletters, pamphlets, books, or other material.

According to the IRS, "the articles of [an] organization must limit the organization's purposes to one or more of those described at the beginning of this chapter and must not expressly empower it to engage, other than as an insubstantial part of its activities, in activities which do not further one or more of those purposes....[if] an organization, by the terms of its articles, is formed to engage in research without any further description or limitation, the organization will not be properly limited as to its purposes since all research is not scientific."

The IRS presently describes Bozell's Media Research Center as "a public charity with a 50% deductibility limitation."

In contrast to a 501(c)(3) organization, a 527 is described by the IRS, in part, as

[a] political organization...a party, committee, association, fund, or other organization (whether or not incorporated) organized and operated primarily for the purpose of directly or indirectly accepting contributions or making expenditures, or both, for an exempt function. The exempt function of a political organization is influencing or attempting to influence the selection, nomination, election or appointment of an individual to a federal, state, or local public office or office in a political organization.

The IRS recently conducted a full review of its procedures for alleging that an organization has fraudulently filed for 501(c)(3) protection, despite engaging in, as the IRS describes it, "political campaign intervention."

[A brief diversion. Readers of The Advocate will recall accusations by Media Matters of America that Talon News had made up, in February of 2004, a "news story" which claimed that a former intern of Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry, Alexandra Polier, had accused Kerry of having an extra-martial affair with her, and had "taped an interview with one of the major television networks at Christmas [2003] substantiating the alleged affair." The story turned out not to be true, as Polier had, in fact, already denied the affair and would indeed go on to do so publicly to numerous news outlets. GOPUSA.com, which carried the story at the time--a story many felt was intended to influence the presidential election--does not appear to be a 501(c)(3) organization, nor has it claimed to be, to the knowledge of The Advocate. Nor did its news service at that point, Talon News, claim 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Of course, its new news service, Cybercast News Service, is a division of a 501(c)(3) entity--the aforementioned Media Research Center, run by Brent Bozell. Bozell is the head of CNS as well. As stated here, "CNSNews.com is a division of the Media Research Center, a not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization"].

So, to summarize what we've learned thus far: Brent Bozell is the head of The Media Research Center (MRC), a 501(c)(3) organization. Cybercast News Service (CNS) is a division of the tax-exempt MRC. CNS--again, a recognized division of a tax-exempt organization--has just signed up to provide news for GOPUSA (identified as a partisan website by the U.S. Senate and U.S. House in documents pertaining to Talon News's application for White House access). Brent Bozell is also the head of the Conservative Communications Center, or C3, which runs the so-called Applied Public Relations School in conjunction with a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization called the Leadership Institute.

That's the same Leadership Institute that gave Jeff Gannon a $50 journalism degree in 2001.

The same Leadership Institute whose website bills it as "a non-profit, non-partisan, educational organization," yet sells, also on its website (and prominently, too) a documentary it has produced entitled The Roots of the Ultra Left. That little piece of G.O.P. propaganda includes, as just one snapshot of its priceless voiceovers, the lines

[a]round the world, there's been ample evidence: free enterprise means prosperity. And free enterprise is driven by the possibility of profit. Just don't try to explain that to the young and dumb at a leftist rally.

So, that gives you a sense of the Leadership Institute's tax-exempt, "non-partisan" side.

Back to the so-called Applied Public Relations School, run by the "non-partisan" Leadership Institute and Brent Bozell's C3.

According to its website, the School is designed "to provide the conservative movement with the marketing and communications skills and vehicles to deliver their vision and ideas, undistorted, to the American people."

Hmm.

Let's try that again.

The purpose of Brent Bozell's C3 Applied Public Relations School is to "provide the conservative movement with the...vehicles to deliver their vision...to the American people."

Would those "vehicles" for the conservative movement include, say, Talon News? Or perhaps the newest news service client of GOPUSA, Cybercast News Service? Does "deliver[ing] the[] [conservative] vision" make any room for the IRS requirement of a "sufficiently full and fair exposition of pertinent facts to permit an individual or the public to form an independent opinion or conclusion"?

We wonder.

We also wonder about that pesky 501(c)(3) status, especially now that CNS has taken over from Talon News as the news service for GOPUSA.com, a recognized partisan website.

Isn't CNS part of MRC, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization?

Well, Bozell's Applied Public Relations School has taken care of that issue, too.

Read and enjoy, directly from the APR website:

The APR School consists of a brief series of presentations followed by the "Game of Spin."

The class is divided into "communications divisions" and each team faces a unique communications challenge. Each team then devises its own strategy and tactics to deal with the scenario....

Here are a few of the examples of scenarios from past APR Schools:

"Your organization has just received a subpoena from a congressional oversight committee for all records related to your expenditures and activities in 1996. The subpoena seeks information regarding anything your group did regarding any issue or individual germane to the U.S. House, Senate or presidential races that year. Your organization is a not-for-profit group that is not permitted to engage in political activity. The scope of the subpoena will require your organization to significantly enlarge your dependency on outside counsel. The subpoena is received at your group's office at 3:15 p.m. on Thursday."

Now, why would Brent Bozell, head of the current GOPUSA news service, want to train enterprising young Jeff Gannons on what to do if a Congressional oversight committee subpoenas documents relating to whether or not your tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization has engaged in illegal political activity?

And when a "news organization" like CNS misrepresents the biography of a White House press room attendee in order to score political points in the Gannongate scandal, does that allow a reader a "sufficiently full and fair exposition of pertinent facts to permit an individual or the public to form an independent opinion or conclusion"?

We're just wondering.

For now.