Tribbing and Jerking With Richard Mellon Scaife's Braintrust

An astute reader wrote in (and it should be noted that ALL astute readers are equally welcome to write in) with a tip about yet another unannounced conflict of interest over at Richard Mellon Scaife's editorial page at the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

Let's cut to the chase. In today's Midweek Briefing we find:

Columnist Alan Caruba, writing for the Cybercast News Service, reminds that "green jobs" rely on "two of the most impractical and unreliable sources of electricity generation" -- the sun and the wind. And Mr. Caruba says the Obama administration "has openly declared war on the coal industry that currently provides half of all the electricity used by Americans." And whom did the United Mine Workers union endorse for president, class? That's right, the one and only Barack Obama.

For those who don't know the Cybercast News Service is run by an outfit called the Media Research Center. How do I know this?

Says so on their website:

The Cybercast News Service was launched on June 16, 1998 as a news source for individuals, news organizations and broadcasters who put a higher premium on balance than spin and seek news that’s ignored or under-reported as a result of media bias by omission.

Study after study by the Media Research Center, the parent organization of CNSNews.com, clearly demonstrate a liberal bias in many news outlets – bias by commission and bias by omission – that results in a frequent double-standard in editorial decisions on what constitutes "news."

Haven't we danced the "Media Research Center" dance before?

Why yes, yes we have. From way back in November, 2009:

CNSNews is run by Brent Bozell and the good folks at the Media Research Center.

Yes, the same Media Research Center that received $200,000 in 2006, $325,000 in 2007, and $325,000 in 2008 from the Sarah Scaife Foundation - a foundation run by Richard Mellon Scaife who owns the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the paper that ran that editorial.

That's $850,000 in three years. That's a lotta money being funneled to the MRC from RMS, innit?

And yet, none of that makes it onto the pages of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The circle-jerk continues.