Special Report. Rewriting Ronald Reagan: How the Media Have Worked to Distort, Dismantle and Destroy His Legacy

Below is the Executive Summary for a special report posted today on the MRCs Web site, Rewriting Ronald Reagan: How the Media Have Worked to Distort, Dismantle and Destroy His Legacy, posted with 103 quotes enhanced by 22 videos clips with accompanying audio.

This week the celebrations begin for the Reagan Centennial. This report, compiled by Rich Noyes with video rendering help from Kyle Drennen and fresh quotes text and quotes added by Tim Graham, is a reminder about the disdain, disgust and disrespect the news media displayed toward Ronald Reagan in office and in the years since.

For the Executive Summary online: http://www.mrc.org/specialreports/2011/RewritingReagan/ExecSumm.aspx

The text below includes links to the seven specific sections:
Reagan the Man, The Reaganomics Recovery, Reagan and National Defense, Reagan and Race, The Reagan Legacy and Reagan, Slammed by Celebrities.

For the PDF sans video clips, but in a great format for printing and with a colorful cover created by the MRCs Melanie Selmer:
http://www.mrc.org/specialreports/uploads/Reagan2011.pdf

Now the Executive Summary for the January 31 report:

Rewriting Ronald Reagan
How the Media Have Worked to Distort, Dismantle and Destroy His Legacy

As the nation prepares to pay tribute to former President Ronald Reagan on the 100th anniversary of his birth, it is amazing to consider that his success at turning the U.S. away from 1960s-style liberalism was accomplished in the face of a daily wave of news media hostility. The medias first draft of history was more myth than reality: that Reagan only brought the nation poverty, ignorance, bankruptcy, and a dangerously imbalanced foreign and defense policy.

The Media Research Center has assembled a report documenting the objective national medias most biased takes on President Reagan, his record and his times, including 22 video clips and matching MP3 audio:

I. Reagan the Man: Reporters often agonized over why the American public liked Reagan, that they couldnt see through the White House spell and see Reagan in the contemptuous light that the media did. Go to: http://www.mrc.org/specialreports/2011/RewritingReagan/Man.aspx

II. The Reaganomics Recovery: Reagans policies caused a dramatic economic turn-around from high inflation and unemployment to steady growth, but the good news was obscured by bad news of trade deficits, greedy excesses of the rich, and supposedly booming homelessness. See:
http://www.mrc.org/specialreports/2011/RewritingReagan/Reaganomics.aspx

III. Reagan and National Defense: Ronald Reagan may have won the Cold War, but to the media, the Reagan defense buildup seemed like a plot designed to deny government aid to the poor and hungry, and was somehow the only spending responsible for bankrupting the country. Check:
http://www.mrc.org/specialreports/2011/RewritingReagan/Defense.aspx

IV. Reagan and Race: Using their definition of civil rights anything which adds government-mandated advantages for racial minorities is civil rights progress liberal journalists suggested that somehow Ronald Reagan was against liberty for minorities. Go to:
http://www.mrc.org/specialreports/2011/RewritingReagan/Race.aspx

V. The Reagan Legacy: The media painted the Reagan era as a horrific time of low ethics, class warfare on the poor, and crushing government debt. Examples:
http://www.mrc.org/specialreports/2011/RewritingReagan/ReaganLegacy.aspx

EXTRA: Reagan, Slammed by Celebrities. Ronald Reagans long Hollywood career earned him no credit among celebrities, who ridiculed him and even inserted anti-Reagan jokes into everyday entertainment programming. Check:
http://www.mrc.org/specialreports/2011/RewritingReagan/Celebrities.aspx

END of Executive Summary for the MRCs January 31 Special Report