Breitbart, Obama, the NAACP, and Fox

It is true, as my friend and reader A.I. points out, that "Fox went to air without fact checking and with bias guns blazing as they covered the Sherrod story." It is also true that Fox comes in fourth in culpability here. First place has to go to Breitbart, as I think I have shown that his initial post of the edited clip was intentionally misleading. That action created the story.

Second place goes to the Administration for firing Ms. Sherrod without doing any fact checking. That action turned Breitbart's misleading clip into a national story, and put the prestige of the Agriculture Department, and hence of the Administration as a whole, behind Breitbart's clip. The USDA did something that none of the other players could do: it actually disgraced Ms. Sherrod by giving her the boot.

A distant third place goes to the NAACP, for backing the Administration without bothering to view the whole speech. The NAACP had the entire Sherrod speech on video, and many of the organizations members and officers, including, I believe, the President, were present at the speech. Did nobody remember anything they heard?

Fourth place goes to Fox for failing to do what the Administration and the NAACP failed to do: check the facts. But as A.I. acknowledges, Fox waited until the Administration acted to go with the story. Here is a summary of Fox's actions from the LA Times:

Both Sherrod and the NAACP – which first condemned her remarks, then reversed itself -- put the blame in part on Fox News for hyping the story, a charged the cable news channel rejected.

Michael Clemente, senior vice president of news editorial, said the network's news programs reported the story with caution. "When I heard about this Monday morning and saw it on Breitbart's website, I said, 'OK, could be a story, let's check it out,' " Clemente said. "We did the normal fact-finding we would do on any story."

At an afternoon editorial meeting Monday, Clemente urged the staff to first get the facts and obtain comment from Sherrod before going on air, according to internal notes from the meeting that were provided to The Times. "Let's make sure we do this right," he said.

Sherrod ended up resigning Monday afternoon, hours before O'Reilly broke the story on his show. The first reported piece on Fox News, by correspondent James Rosen, aired on Tuesday morning, and included a second video clip that added context to Sherrod's comments.

But Fox's commentators showed less restraint. O'Reilly continued to condemn Sherrod's comments on his show Tuesday night, saying she made a mistake, even after it had emerged that her words had been misrepresented.

Yes Fox should have checked the story out better, and yes they exploited it for all it seemed to be worth; but on Monday night Fox had something to go on. It had the firing of Ms. Sherrod and the NAACP's condemnation. That certainly seemed like an unbiased and informed confirmation of Breitbart's story. Or at least it did if one were to believe that the Administration had any idea what it was doing.

Criticizing Fox News for its coverage is fair. Blaming Fox News for this debacle is a product of the same kind of bias with which the story is awash. Breitbart and the Obama Administration are the culprits here. They together are solely responsible for this mess.

Comments

[Bill Fleming]

So, KB we have your sage analysis as it pertains to the hierarchy of blame.

Now how about the hierarchy of redemption. Which of the "guilty" parties you have identified have actually acknowledged their wrongdoing and have been forgiven by the victim?

You make me laugh every time I read you on this topic. Breitbart's original intent was to blur the race issue and create confusion such that the unacceptable behavior of the Tea Party was minimized and rationalized by attempting to draw parallels with the behavior of the targets of their derision... in essence, blaming the victims.

The mayhem he created worked as intended — throwing everyone off balance, creating level of confusion that best benefits those who want to discredit the Obama administration.

So far, it looks to me like you're just sticking with the original Breitbart gameplan.

I wonder if Sherrod would forgive you for it. I wonder if I can. We won't know, I suppose, until you wake up, realize what you're doing, admit it, and apologize to her.

Before, your excuse for not doing so was that you were "traveling" when it all went down.

I wonder what you're next one will be.

[William]

BF,

Fox News and, from what I've seen, it's news staff and commentators have all apologized for their part(s) in this story (perhaps even TOO much).

Sometimes, more often than not, I think you just like to argue for the sake of arguing - lol

[duggersd]

At least FOX has apologized. From my understanding Bill O'Reilly has said he was wrong and apologized. The administration has apologized, although I have not heard the head of the administration has apologized. I think even Breitbart has acknowledged their mistake.
I am still waiting for the news media to apologize for airing clips of a "racist" ranting at a TEA party rally. What they did not show was members of the TEA party recognizing a plant when they see one and telling him in no uncertain terms to get lost.
I have an uncle who keeps sending me things about Obama, Pelosi or Reid that are not true. I keep trying to tell him that sending untrue stories does nothing to help the cause of getting rid of the junk we have in power right now. It hurts the credibility of the people who send it. Just as this has hurt Breitbart's credibility, the news media have had their credibility lost a long time ago. I find it interesting the huge story this is since it was a conservative organization behind it, but I still am waiting for the media to admit their complicity in their actions in smearing conservatives. I am not saying that the actions of the liberal media justifies Breitbart's actions, but surly there is a lesson to be learned here.
Also, just why is the journalist not a big story?

[George Mason]

Gentlemen; The most important episode of this story is the knee jerk reaction of t Obama and his minions to fire this woman without checking the story. The media always shoots firsts and asks questions later. Wouldn't you think that Obama would ask the questions first before dropping the ax. This is nothing new here. Remember pass the bill so we can find out what is in it. Not exactly something that inspires confidence.

[KB]

Bill F: Who, I wonder, authorized you to speak for Ms. Sherrod? And what victims am I blaming? The only victim I know of is Ms. Sherrod. I have defended her from the beginning. If you would bother to think while you read, you would note that I did not plead traveling as an excuse. I acknowledged that I might have joined the other guilty parties in condemning Ms. Sherrod if I had been paying attention at the critical moment. I was being honest.

As far as I can tell, all of the guilty parties except Breitbart have acknowledged their errors and apologized. You thought that the apologies of the Administration counted for something. Apparently you only think that matters when it's your side that apologizes.

I would love to defend Breitbart, but I have said what I see to be the truth: that his conduct was indefensible. All that stuff about Breitbart trying to throw everyone off balance gives the man way too much credit. He could not have guessed that the Administration would act in such an incompetent way. No one but President Obama gets the credit for that.

If any of the evidence I present is wrong, let me know. Otherwise, I think I have assigned blame correctly and honestly.

[BillW]

And the consequences to Mr Breitbart for his blatant dishonesty ...

Breitbart To Headline GOP Fundraiser

"Conservative activist and blogger Andrew Breitbart will headline a fundraiser this August hosted by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele in Beverly Hills.

A Republican National Committee spokesperson confirmed to CNN a report in Talking Points Memo, which also published a copy of the event invitation.

Called "Election Countdown," the event will run from August 12-14 with Steele and Breitbart top-billed for the Friday evening welcome reception at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel."

from: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/26/breitbart-to-headline-rnc-fundraiser/?fbid=4QLn-rFDt55

[KB]

BillW: Yes, Breitbart is unlikely to suffer much from his bad. Maybe we should fire a lot more people for good reason (instead of firing good people for no reason); however, impunity for very bad conduct is the way we live nowadays. Consider Al Sharpton, who was one of the high priests of the Tawana Brawley scam. Sharpton tried to railroad innocent men for personal gain. Yet he wines and dines with the President.

Breitbart will survive and keep going. When he comes up with his next big story, and he will, I say we had better demand the whole tape.

[Vaishali]

the firing was unjsut. What does this mean? It means in firing this individual the Administration acted on impulse without getting all of the facts. It might be one thing if the Administration had fired her and then six months later new facts come to light that indicate the firing was unjsut but all of this took place in less than 24 hours. This suggests that this Administration is quick to judge and acts on impulse without getting all of the facts.People who act quickly on impulse based upon raw emotion without getting all of the facts are not the right stuff for leadership. Also, the same applies for those who act strictly based upon what they deem to be popular. Needless to say this episode does not inspire confidence in this President or his team.

[Henry]

Oh, I think its about fifty fifty that they'll re-instate her.She made a mistake by going pulbic with the fact they forced her out, and that was a mistake on her part.I don't think it will have any effect at all on Breitbart. Two weeks from now, no one will even remember it.Regards,Rob

[Tomoharu]

You would think, after having been peuknd once before on ACORN, some people might, just might think and ask for all of the material.I mean, what's Breitbart going to do next, release a video that it was James Earl Jones who shot MLK, and not James Earl Ray? And you know FOX would lap that up in a second, just to advance their ratings even if it results in racial war.I'm no lawyer, but how can she lose in civil court? Sue him, sue FOX!!! The man had the whole film, and edited it to discredit an individual, the federal administration she worked for, and the POTUS.That's not even something as clever as propaganda. That's just plain ol' lyin' BS!!!