ABC News Backs Away From Breitbart - TPM

[WillyT]

ABC News Backs Away From Breitbart
Brian Beutler - TPMDC
October 30, 2010, 3:05PM

<snip>

After facing a barrage of criticism for inviting conservative Andrew Breitbart to participate in election night activities, ABC News is now trying to put some space between themselves and the controversial activist.

Mr. Breitbart is not an ABC News analyst.

He is not an ABC News consultant.

He is not, in any way, affiliated with ABC News.

He is not being paid by ABC News.

He has not been asked to analyze the results of the election for ABC News.

Mr. Breitbart will not be a part of the ABC News broadcast coverage, anchored by Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos. For the broadcast coverage, David Muir and Facebook's Randi Zuckerberg will contribute reaction and response gathered from the students and faculty of Arizona State University at an ABC News/Facebook town hall.

He has been invited as one of several guests, from a variety of different political persuasions, to engage with a live, studio audience that will be closely following the election results and participating in an online-only discussion and debate to be moderated by David Muir and Facebook's Randi Zuckerberg on ABCNews.com and Facebook. We will have other guests, as well as a live studio audience and a large audience on ABCNews.com and Facebook, who can question the guests and the audience's opinions.

Yesterday, ABC's David Ford said Breitbart "will be one of many voices on our air, including Bill Adair of Politifact. If Andrew Breitbart says something that is incorrect, we have other voices to call him on it," suggesting he'd be serving in an analytical capacity. Breitbart himself claimed he'd be participating as an analyst.

<snip>

Link: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/abc-news-backs-away-from-breitbart.php

:evilgrin:

:kick:

[Parker CA]

1. The pressure is on. Keep it up!!

[Poboy]

3. Yes keep it up! The fact they invited this liar is outrageous. -nt

[txlibdem]

13. Seriously. Who was the rocket scientist who thought this guy had an ounce of credibility

ABC. Fail. FAIL. FAIL!!!

Oh, I forgot. ABC is owned by a bunch of rich bastards who want to spin and twist the events of the day. Attention ABC advertisers: I won't be watching ANY of your commercials on ABC that entire day. Good luck!

[otohara]

2. He's A Proven Liar ABC - Why

oh never mind, this is a ploy for ratings, and they think we're stupid.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. ABC = Epic Fail. n/t

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. a s s h a t s a l l

Glad that they realized that ours is NOT a center reich country. I suspect that the rally today may have had some impact as well.

Look, jerks. beck, palin, sean and Orarely do NOT REPRESENT MOST OF AMERICA. Neither do corporations that you love to support blindly.

ABC just suffered burnt fingers, and it may have dropped the hot pot.

[Bozita]

6. ABC's paying him. ABC will not be appearing on my teevee screen on election night.

[WillyT]

10. Not According To Andrew Morse, Executive Producer, ABC News Digital

Link: http://blogs.abcnews.com/pressroom/2010/10/breitbarts-participation-in-abc-news-digital-town-hall-event-draws-fire.html

:shrug:

[Bozita]

12. Thank you. I evidently missed that line in the OP.

My bad.

But, I'm still not interested in how things appear to Breitbart.

I'll be doing my viewing on other channels.

[druidity33]

18. where does it say he's not getting paid? nt.

[myrna minx]

7. Oh - so ABC news wants to have Breitbart on the air *and* be taken seriously?

:rofl: Stossel me amused.

[jillan]

8. Email them. Just google ABC, it's easy to find. I gave them a little piece of my mind yesterday.

[classof56]

9. Hadn't planned to watch ABC election coverage anyway...

but thanks for adding to my list of reasons! Oh, and one more thing--how on earth did any intellegent (or halfway for that matter) person ever peg Breitbart as an analyst. Wouldn't that require the ability to analyze? Oh, wait--we are talkin' MSM here. Never mind...

[Kingofalldems]

11. K and R for Fox/Breitbart's good buddy to see

[GoldenOldie]

14. Next ABC lineup......Breitbart and Hasselback!!!!

Barbra Walters is sure to pimp Hasselback as an "analyst," and co-anchor to Breitbart!!!!!!

[jonthebru]

15. If he opens his mouth and sound comes out...

then you will know it is a twisted bunch of lying poop.

[jimlup]

16. ABC shouldn't give this jerk a microphone

This is still wrong. Call ABC and tell them to ignore this guy.

[awoke_in_2003]

17. "we have other voices to call him on it"...

yeah, the media has a great track record with this over the last 10 years :eyes:

[katandmoon]

19. They need to UNinvite that racist liar. I emailed them.

[ellenfl]

20. looks like tuesday night is going to be a great movie night! eom

[datasuspect]

21. fuck tv in the ass

anyone who is stupid enough to allow one of those things in their home needs their head analyzed for softness.

IT WILL MAKE YOU A POD PERSON!!!!11111

[dem mba]

22. are there really no other conservative voices out there?

i find this preposterous. he's a known hack, and i'm not saying this because i disagree with him on most issues. his claim to fame are two edited and misleading internet posts.

why give such a "newsman" a platform.

[KamaAina]

23. Why did they ever back toward that race-baiting rumormonger in the first place?

:wtf:

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

24. THE LIBRUL MEDIA HATES ME!!!!

Expect a major whine from Breitfart.

[mstinamotorcity]

25. They lie and

the truth is not in them. ABC doesn't want to lose its viewers and sponsors not to mention me. We keep writing and calling they will leave him out. then again it has been leaning more right since our President was elected.

[groundloop]

26. Keep up the pressure...

I emailed them the first day this came out. Hopefully they'll see the light (but not holding my breath).