An economist with the U.S. Federal Reserve, Irvine was irritated by what he saw as a “liberal bias” in the U.S. news media. He was quick to take the TV network, newspaper or other outlet to task when he saw bias, often causing them to issue corrections.
Irvine’s hobby turned full time in 1969 when he founded the Accuracy in Media organization. His 1988 campaign to call CBS News anchor Dan Rather to task is still going strong, buoyed by Rather’s 60 Minutes blunder where he used falsified documents to discredit the President, causing himself and CBS massive embarrassment.
The AIM organization even bought stock in media companies so Irvine could go to shareholder meetings to confront media executives, leading one exasperated exec (Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee) to rail in writing that Irvine was a “miserable, carping, retromingent vigilante.” Irvine, AIM says, framed the letter for the office wall. “He was a pioneer of the liberal bias argument,” says Columbia Journalism Review executive editor Michael Hoyt. “There is such a thing as liberal bias. He just raised the issue, which was a kind of victory in itself.” Irvine died November 16 after a stroke. He was 82.