The Alexandria, Virginia-based Media Research Center ("MRC") published its MediaWatch newsletter from 1988 to 1999, when it began to focus more heavily on developing an online presence for its mission. Still active, conservatives headed by L. Brent Bozell, III (also known for creating the Parents' Television Council) founded the MRC in 1987 in order to demonstrate their belief that "within the nati onal news media a strident liberal bias existed that influenced the public's understanding of critical issues."
MediaWatch was one of the MRC’s most important vehicles for publicizing this view, as its monthly issues featured analysis of news coverage from around the country, stories highlighting politicians active as commentators in the news media, and a regular prize for the "most biased story of the month." By virtue of their positions as hosts of the three major network’s primetime news broadcasts, the three reporters pictured in this advertisement (left to right: Dan Rather, Sam Donaldson, and Tom Brokaw) were the perfect representative images for MediaWatch to pick on.