Last September, Fox News embraced a series of videos released by Andrew Breitbart that purported to expose ACORN, the national grassroots advocacy group, as fraudulently seeking governmental services for folks disguised as pimps and prostitutes. The ensuing rapid fire media reaction and the political firestorm it created drove ACORN to its knees, and it was quickly abandoned by its progressive allies, funders and supporters. All of this occurred long before the context and facts were investigated or evaluated, and the video "stings" were exposed as having been edited to misrepresent the alleged "facts" by both our independent report, "An Independent Governance Assessment of ACORN: A Path to Meaningful Reform", and the Public Editor's March 21, 2010 column in the New York Times.
The Shirley Sherrod incident that has played out in prime time this week has had all of the same elements and ingredients. The same conservative blogger -- Breitbart; the same network -- Fox News; the same kind of edited video -- again involving race. This apparently proved that the Department of Agriculture was engaged in illegal, fraudulent activities that were known and supported by NAACP and democratic and progressive leaders, including the Obama administration. This time, though, it backfired -- because the "victim" struck back immediately with the full facts, and the mainstream media gave equal time to her side of the story. As a result, the Obama administration and other democrats and progressives were forced to reverse their actions and rhetoric -- and admit that they had reacted to the first sign of political and media pressure without doing their own independent fact-checking!
The credibility, fairness and accuracy of the ACORN "sting", on the merits, was eventually challenged by almost every objective observer, but all that came much later and with almost no publicity or discussion. Yet, as a practical matter, for all their self-inflicted leadership, political, governance wounds and weaknesses, ACORN was not done in by its political, ideological or media critics, but by its supposed friends and supporters -- funders and political allies (for whom they delivered, for example, 1.2 million voters in 2008 and served as front line troops on a range of progressive/poor people's causes) who simply abandoned them without a bit of fight, taking away any chance ACORN may have had to defend and reform itself, even though there was substantial evidence to use in that political and substantive fight. Fortunately for Shirley Sherrod, she had her own resources to respond with the facts and, hence, have her name, reputation and job restored.
Surely, it is time for us to learn at least one of the overarching lessons or messages that may be of most immediate relevance here. In this incredibly fiery and polarized, media-driven, political climate, may we hope that our political, business and civic leaders and all people of good faith in this democracy, looking at this controversy and its aftermath, remain engaged and in the fray on behalf of advocates for the poor and powerless, for fairness and equality.
This post originally appeared at Boston.com.
James Zogby: I Understand Shirley Sherrod
Something is fundamentally rotten in our political culture -- where groups seeking political advantage can so easily make victims of innocents and cowards will let good people pay a price rather than defend their rights to a fair hearing.
Opinion shows should be left on the entertainment channel!
So the bloggers, seeking traffic, and cash, are inventing and posting the wildest stuff they can serve up, and the more traditional media clearly suffering its own decline is chasing the tail of the bloggers. Because they are chasing viewers and eyeballs trying to keep the lights on for just another day. Yes that includes Fake News too. When your audience is 71 years old, the handwriting is on the wall.
So as much as anything this is really Al Gores fault for inventing this darn thing I'm typing on right now...
Will MSM pick this up and use it to expose the right wing attack machine?
One can hope!
Why would ACORN need to defend and reform itself, if there was nothing wrong with it's politics or ideology?
That's like saying the only reason the Titanic sunk was because there's too much water in the ocean.
But who said something was wrong with its politics or ideology? Is that your view? Tell us exactly what was wrong on those fronts. Don't just throw that out and hide. Explain yourself. I know that they had some management problems - as did GM, Bush admin, and so many others of all ideologies and persuasions. So, do tell.
They publish lies, garbage, and misrepresentative sound bites ,knowing that that same public which hated to do researched book reports in school will never research their lies.
America has become an uneducated, meanspirited, parody of itself since the founding fathers became Limbaugh,Beck, Palin, Murdock etc.
Remember folks, that everytime a dictator takes over a country, the first thing that they do is to kill off the educated, thinking citizens first. ever wonder why that is so ?
Well, you're safe, then.
Hellooo you are Fanned -2- and faved -1-
Looking forward to your future postings!
What's sad is that people and especially political-government leaders, can be swayed, provoked into reacting to sound-bites, accusations, fabricated or skewed "evidence," and cowardly be led into taking actions, making decisions based on those.
Most of our legislators, and especially our president, know the law. President Obama, a former Constitutional law teacher, should know one is presumed innocent until proven guilty, based on evidence, facts and eyewitness testimony, not on suspicion, innuendo, heresay, or skewed-edited tapes.
We're much less safe, secure if our leaders (Congress and administration) can't stand up to media rantings, accusations than imaginable. How would/can they stand up to Putin, Netanyahu, Ahmedinijad, al-Malaki, Karzai, Chavez, etc., if they can't to Limbaugh, Beck, etc.?
Thank you and back atcha. :)
Fabulous cat photo, by the way.
of letting the right dominate a baggage of propaganda that sadly to say the public swallows whole. Sure you can site MSNBC with KO, Rachel & a few others on the left but that's it. Even
MSNBC has Morning JOE a flat out conservative. Name someone with a liberal program on FOX?
Fair & balanced. Right. LOL
popular even while we criticize. Otherwise they want up to pipe down & go away.
Thank you for posting a short relevant post. It's a lesson on how to make a point
without writing a book.
Mike
It's 99% conservative when you read the opinion page. As a old coot liberal it's
the first page I read in the morning. I can't help it. You call for a boycott & it's
an excellent idea but we are creatures of habit so it's an impossible dream.
I must say your post was plain common sense & I appreciate a good post
Thank you
fanned & faved