Salon: Breitbart is not an "activist journalist," he's a liar, and he needs to be called out for it

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Andrew Breitbart
Thursday, Jul 22, 2010 12:15 ET
Media refuses to burn Breitbart
The problem's not that he's an "activist journalist," it's that he's a liar. And the industry needs to call him out

http://www.salon.com/news/andrew_breitbart/index.html?story=/opinion/feature/2010/07/22/media_response_breitbart_sherrod_open2010

By Scott Rosenberg



This originally appeared on Scott Rosenberg's Open Salon blog.

If you're a writer or journalist and you quote someone selectively or out of context so egregiously that you can twist their words to mean the very opposite of what they actually convey when they're quoted in full or in context, what you have done is not just mischievous or aggressive, it's outright wrong. If you're a professional, then you've committed an act of professional malfeasance.

And if you get away with this sort of stunt repeatedly, despite being exposed and shamed for it, then you are pulling off a grand heist -- stealing the credibility of larger media and government institutions that continue to pay attention to you.

This, in a nutshell, describes the challenge Andrew Breitbart has presented to the world of journalism, first with his ACORN deception and now with his Shirley Sherrod stunt. So far, journalism is failing to meet it.

By this point, Breitbart ought to be an object of snorting derision in the journalism profession. He ought to be shunned by respectable news organizations and mocked in public. He deserves the sort of ostracism that until recently was reserved for serial plagiarists.

Yet look at how two post-mortems of the Sherrod affair framed their presentation of his role.

[Blue Owl]

1. Crony journalism is the only way the GOP can appear credible

n/t

[mzmolly]

2. He's not alone. The R/W mentality is one big

lie.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. How many times can I attempt to create an internet association

between the words 'breitbart' and 'liar' (or my personal favorite: 'lying sack of shit')? I'm going for the record!

[Bitwit1234]

4. If Sherrod doesn't sue this guy she is loosing a chance

to help this country. ACORN did from CA and now the state of MD is suing him and O'Keefe maybe they will bring him down. To bad he can't be jailed only stripped of his money.