The Media Genius Of Andrew Breitbart
By K. Daniel Glover | September 18, 2009
Two gutsy young people did the undercover journalistic legwork that quickly turned public opinion against the radical leftist group ACORN, but their work might have been less effective without the "promotional genius" of Andrew Breitbart.
Breitbart, who first made a splash on the new media scene at The Drudge Report, released the first video shot by "the pimp and the prostitute" (James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles) on Sept. 10, the day Breitbart launched his new Web site, BigGovernment.com. It exposed ACORN employees in Baltimore aiding and abetting both underage prostitution and tax fraud.
Since then, BigGovernment has released four more video stings against ACORN employees in Washington; New York; San Bernardino, Calif.; and San Diego. The impact has been swift and sweeping:
- ACORN has fired at least five employees so far and suspended operations;
- The Census Bureau has severed ties with the group, and lawmakers are urging the Internal Revenue Service do the same;
- Both the Senate and the House have voted to halt federal funding to ACORN;
- State officials in California, Louisiana and New York have ACORN in their investigative sights;
- And even the White House, occupied by a president with past ties to the community organizers of ACORN, has blasted the group.
Breitbart is winning kudos for the new media strategy that made it all possible. "Really, isn't Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com the best Web site launch ever?" Instapundit Glenn Reynolds said. "And I think Andrew deserves great credit for the very skillful way he's managed the releases to keep the spin doctors off balance and the press interested."
"This was the most effective guerrilla conservative effort in recent years," added John Hinderaker of Power Line, who dubbed Breitbart's "slow, drip-drip release" of the clips "promotional genius."
Now we hear from the man himself exactly why he adopted that strategy. Here's the explantion Breitbart gave Megyn Kelly on Fox News:
There is something desperately wrong with the mainstream media. And that's why we did the rollout the way that we did, because we wanted to not just expose ACORN for being corrupt, we wanted to expose that the mainstream media would treat this exactly like they treated the Van Jones story. And that's ignored until the consequences got too great for them to ignore.
Breitbart had every reason to believe the elite, "professional" media would react the way they have.
O'Keefe previously helped expose racism at Planned Parenthood -- phone operators for the pro-abortion group willingly accepted donations explicitly intended for killing black babies -- but the liberal media wouldn't touch that story. Live Action Films since has revealed criminal behavior at Planned Parenthood, but not only have journalists ignored that news, YouTube has banned the videos to help suppress the story.
It's a sad state of media affairs when journalists like O'Keefe and Giles, who are still breaking one of the most explosive exposes in recent memory, have to brainstorm how to get the legacy press to cover the story. But the past proves that Breitbart needed a plan to force the mainstream media to report the news.
K. Daniel Glover is the online communications strategist for AIM for Accuracy In Media. He has worked as an editor, writer and new media specialist in the Washington area since 1991, spending most of that time at National Journal and Congressional Quarterly.
18 Comments | Post a Comment
This would have been even better if Andrew had enlisted Glenn Beck to help him. Or, maybe you just overlooked Glenn Beck.
UHhhhhhhhh you forgot a little fact. Glenn Beck was more responsible in helping to report this story, How could you “report” this and not mention this!
This is not about Beck. It is about the skillful use of information and a corrupt mainstream media, or as Beck calls them, “The Fringe Media.”
Give credit where credit is due.
We need to refer to Giles/O’Keefe as the Woodward/Bernstein of the Obama administration.
The corrupt, now fringe media will become apoplectic and give the story much more play.
yep, it was a twofer, foshizzle!
tip: keep yo eyes open to the same people who worked and ran acorn setting up another shop with a different name. It. Will. Happen.
We have “borked” - so do we now have “breitbarted” or (if too long?) “barted and/or breited”?
Breitbart is brilliant for exposing this one day at a time. This proves that the “mainstream media” ignored it for at least a week before they were forced to acknowledge it.
I wish we had thousands of Glen Becks, Breitbarts, Rush, Shawns, etc. etc. We need them in order to crack the stranglehold the liberal media has on the ignorant in this country. They are still being led by the nose.
Now it’s time to show the discrimination in hiring where tax payer money (and stimulus money) is involved. If you are white and you try to get a job where blacks control the hiring you will NOT be hired. In fact, you will have difficulty getting an interview. This is reality, not a racist rant. My husband has tried 7 times to get an interview with a local DOT office. After going to the office several times he was told by the one white employee that there are 12 openings. The black hiring manager said there were none. When asked about the 12 openings the black manager hemmed and hawed and said that other offices are being closed so they have to hold those positions for anyone from those offices who might apply. My husband then found out that there are definitely 2 positions open. He asked about them. Again, hemming and hawing. “Fill out an application” My husband has filled out an application on each of the 7 visits to this department since January, 2009. All employees in this department -save one- are black. A recent government study found blacks are overrepresented in the courts employment by 800%. Why is no one looking into this? There would be screams of racism and rants by Sharpton and Jackson if the situation were reversed.
Colorado,
One of the other advantages of releasing the tapes one at a time is that it gave ACORN enough rope to hang themselves with there denials. First they said “well, it happened in Baltimore and DC, but not in Cleveland, NY, or San Diego” (and some other cities as well).
Then, out came the NY tape, then the San Diego tape. Now, any denial Acorn gives, we just say “you said something like that before and it turned out to be false. Why should we trust you now?”
You are very right. Good move.
Prayers for Andrew, Hannah and James. May they stay safe and happy.
SusanS,it is the same here in Columbia, SC. The stimulus monies have supposedly given more men work on the highways, but ALL OF THE WORKERS are either Black or Hispanic - NO White Workers! And I had to practically throw a fit over the shabby work that was being done on a main highway by my house. It was atrocious and could have caused multiple wrecks and it took me several days and tons of calls and e-mails to finally get someone, with the power to act, to even drive out and look at what the highway crew had done! Affirmative Action is going to cost lives eventually, if it hasn’t already. Whatever happened to hiring the best qualified for the job????
“Colorado,
One of the other advantages of releasing the tapes one at a time is that it gave ACORN enough rope to hang themselves with there denials.”
Like the theme song from the videos, ACORN’s behavior has been “Ridiculous.”
I think a lot of credit goes to Glenn Beck as well. He brought the story to the airwaves. (I also got his new book today in the mail—love it!)
Well done, everyone involved. Don’t let the malevolent bums scare you. Dig, dig, dig, dig. Report, report, report, report. The tired old media is deader than a doornail, and their wounds are 100% self-inflicted. Had they not become so corrupt, Fox and the rest would have folded like a cheap tent within a few weeks. RAH!
Andrew was on Michael Savage last night, and the “other shoe” is going to drop next week. It will “come out of left field”, and nope, it does not involve ACORN. DEElicious! Hotair has the story.
Special thanks to Andy Breitbart and the ‘couple’
who got the goods on Acorn. This, is ONLY the beginning, as I’m sure the many tenacles of Acorn
are already starting to fill the gaps that will take place. This corrupt org. Needed to be investigated, and it’s only too bad that the Lib, Leftist Media HASN’T done it’s job, and that Breitbart/Hanna/James HAVE DONE IT FOR THEM. It’s
the same w/vetting Obama-Leftist Media DID NOT. We
are now faced with losing our freedoms as Obama &
his corrupt Admin. are forcing things on America-even the Libs, whose freedoms are being eroded(it
was the Libs who screamed bloody murder when Bush
wanted to listen to “Terrorists’ Chatter, aiding in saving future Attacks”. I don’t hear the same
insults from them as Obama is leeching away our freedoms in America, as his buddy Chavez is doing in Venezuela. Obama would be a good start for those journalists who MAY have a bit of honesty & integrity left in them, in looking into his college, medical records(that remain hidden)papers
that he is obviously hiding for some reason. I think it is because he lists his religion as:
Islamic. Could be WHY he bows to those of the middle east, Saudia Arabia, etc. BUT, apologizes for America throughout the world. I’m waiting for Breitbart,etal to “uncover the hidden past that Obama wants to KEEP hidden”...we need to see what his many, many questionable friends have done
to influence him. Soros, comes to mind….we’ll wait and see if honest reporting on Obama is going
to come to light, as he puts America in jeopardy.
BTW:
Isn’t it funny that since Andy, Hannah & James have done the expose on Acorn, THEY are suing them? Don’t know how many remember when ‘60 Min.
& ABC? did exposes on illegal activity, & exposing
perverts who came to have sex w/underage children
on national tv-guess that was ok? But when one of
the “Dem’s Slush Fund-Corrupt Org., Acorn is exposed”...they are going to sue. I say go ahead,
as they are now going to have to “OPEN THEIR RECORDS, ETC. FOR DISCOVERY IN ANY SUIT”
GREAT GOING ANDY, HANNAH & JAMES(WE COULD USE SO MANY MORE OF YOU COVERING CORRUPTION) (MAYBE RANGLE, DODD, FRANK, REID & PELOSI COULD BE NEXT??
September 19 at 5:11 am | #1 | Link
This was a great twofer…expose ACORN AND show the world just how blatantly the MSM filters news to protect corruption and racism of people and organizations they are friendly towards.
Imagine the quality of our government and how well taxpayer dollars would be efficiently used if the MSM actually did its job of exposing corruption and waste…I bet it would be enough to fund National Health Care…there is a thought…because the MSM has failed to do its journalistic jog to expose waste and corruption they are responsible for the US not being in a position to fund their pet project. What goes around comes around.