It certainly can come as no surprise that Fox "News" is out for the blood of Media Matters. This video compilation makes clear in no uncertain terms just how deep their bloodlust runs.
Be sure to read the
Media Matters post accompanying the video for a full rundown of the ridiculousness of the Fox whine-fest.
Especially interesting, for other reasons, is Fox's insistence that tax exempt status equals taxpayer funding. See, for example, previous coverage of the "Istook amendment" and H.R. 3.
[UPDATE: johnny wurster has sharper eyes than the author of the cited article.]
And if that's not enough for you, consider what it means that Republicans say that both tax exempt status and tax deductions are both equivalent to government funding, even as the news breaks that Fox—by Republican logic—is itself actually subsidized by the federal government to the tune of several billion dollars a year:
Over the past four years Murdoch’s U.S.-based News Corp. has made money on income taxes. Having earned $10.4 billion in profits, News Corp. would have been expected to pay $3.6 billion at the 35 percent corporate tax rate. Instead, it actually collected $4.8 billion in income tax refunds, all or nearly all from the U.S. government.
Although this latest Murdoch crusade started before the international explosion of the phone hacking scandal, it certainly takes on an additional and particularly foul odor of desperation in its wake. As strategy, it makes perfect sense, I suppose. Once you're caught robbing the graves of the dead of 9/11, there's no distraction that can actually make you look worse, no matter how ridiculous your claims are. So, go for it!
I just don't know how seriously anyone can take your crocodile tears when you've been caught sifting the ashes of 9/11 for salacious tabloid scoops. I guess we'll find out.