Huffington Post apologizes to Andrew Breitbart for video doctoring accusation

Fox News / The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post has apologized to Andrew Breitbart for a story that accused him of doctoring a video to stir a “false controversy” over a CBS reporter’s question in a White House press briefing. Breitbart posted a video in which reporter Norah O’Donnell asked Press Secretary Jay Carney, “Democrats are saying, ‘You gave them everything they wanted and we got nothing.’ “ The Huffington story suggested that Breitbart had altered the video to make it seem as though O’Donnell was describing her opinion, not Democrats’. The Huffington Post removed the story and redirected traffic to an editor’s note after Breitbart complained.

The error may be the result of “aggregation telephone.” The Breitbart video was not doctored, but the headline says, “CBS NEWS’ NORAH O’DONNELL: ‘WHERE ARE THE TAX REVENUES?’, ‘WE GOT NOTHING’” and it’s hard to hear the beginning of the quote in the video. Other websites, including The National Review and Commentary, went with that meme. Meanwhile, The New Republic’s Jonathan Chait says he was unfairly fingered by the Fox News story as being the culprit of the misinformation, but he got the quotation right.

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  • Anonymous

    1) contrary to what you say, my statement in No. 1 is correct, and. anyone who knows anything about american journalism from colonial times forward knows it.

    2) local cabel access programing is often amusing, but the program hosts hardly have any qualifications to be credentialed and have a seat in the white house press room. get a list  of reporters/orgs
     credentialed by the wh and you sill see how diverse the representation and coverage is.

    3) i don’t know what questions you are interested in, but given the avalanche of news coverage in the last 2 decades – including coverage of the wh – my guess is that in the scheme of things your questions would be irrelevant or far down the list in terms of importance.

    4) it appears that the lovely ms. o’donnell did NOT ask why “we” didn’t get what “we” wanted, as you argue. you appear to have grossly misrepresented the facts.

    5) activist orgs have their own spin on whatever they are reporting. they are obviously(and understandably)  biased anto their point of view, and what’s most important, don’t even aspire to it balance, fairness and accuracy. the credibility of internet “news” depends on the source. anybody with walking around sense should know to be highly skeptical about the “news” they get from unidentified sources on the internet. alot of it’s outright lies.

    6) i am not your “man.” further, i am at a loss to understand why you actually think you are qualified to give me advice when you don’t know a single frigging thing about me .i am particularly amused that you want me to learn how to write at a “higher level than a 3rd grader.” LOL LOL LOL. are you frigging kidding? LOL LOL LOL. sigh.

  • Anonymous

    Point number one is partially correct, but you have no way to prove this. What you feel or observe doesn’t amount to facts.

    Why shouldn’t local cable access TV have some ability to be in the White House press room?
    Why should only the largest corporate media organizations have access?
    They represent the best reporters?
    Are we well served by this?

    You seem comforted by mainstream media (and yes, I include Fox) who have not served us well. There are reporters who don’t ask the questions I am curious about.  So, I want more and DIVERSE media representation. Having a bunch of mainstreamers up there parroting the same thing is useless.

    Norah O’Donnell exposed herself last week by asking Jay Carney, “Why didn’t we get what we want?” during the budget debate. We, meaning Democrats. That was an activist at work right there in the front row.

    Activist organizations don’t report news? Everyone reports news now. Go to their websites. What do you think most cable pundits are? Do own a computer or have you ever used the Internet?

    My man, get up to speed. It’s 2011. Put the bong down. The 70′s are over.

    And learn how to write at a higher level than a 3rd grader.

  • Anonymous

    1) u.s. journalism is no more fraud than it’s ever been. in fact, it’s much more responsible, and even a casual look at american journalism in different eras proves it.

    2) there are too many “activist organizations” to assign any one of them a seat in the white house press room.
    if ALL of them had a “front row seat” you would have to move the briefings to a frigging stadium, maybe the washington mall. besides, activist orgs are not exactly in the dark when it comes to knowing what’s going on in washington. 

    3) activist orgs do NOT report the news to the general public.

    4) the white house press room is NOT “limited to nbc and a handful of other networks.” what do you want, local cabel access programs to be accredited press at the wshite house? i don’t think so.

    5) you can frequently see wh briefings on cable news or c-span.

  • Anonymous

    Would *have*. 

  • Anonymous

    Would *have*. 

  • Anonymous

    But, but…Breitbart *does* edit videos. Right?

  • Anonymous

    More like womanless freshmen in their dorm rooms on a Saturday night. Except, you know, older. 

  • Anonymous

    I wish they would of paid me!

    No, I was paid by the SEIU, UAW, George Soros, Media Matters, GE (Immelt cut me a check personally), GM, Chrysler, Salesforce.com, every bank and investment firm on Wall Street, the DNC, all trial lawyers, and BP (big Obama donor).

    If your next reply mentions Haliburton, please know they turned me down.

  • Anonymous

    How much did George Soros/Media Matters pay you to say about saying about that?

  • Anonymous

    How much did George Soros/Media Matters pay you to say about saying about that?

  • Anonymous

    NBC and all other mainstream news organizations/donators-in-kind to the Obama ’12 campaign ARE activist organizaitons.

  • Anonymous

    NBC and all other mainstream news organizations/donators-in-kind to the Obama ’12 campaign ARE activist organizaitons.

  • http://www.facebook.com/bradleyfikes Bradley J. Fikes

    How much did the Koch Brothers pay you to say that?
    /sarc

  • Anonymous

    It’s amazing that no one said anything to O’Donnell. She is a fraud. And then she is reflexively defended by others in the press. Please, don’t anyone reply by telling me all the awards she has won or that she’s good on camera.

    Journalism today in general is a fraud. We all know the emperor has no clothes.

    Why can’t all activist organizations have a front row seat in the WH press room? Why is it limited to NBC and and handful of other networks?

  • Anonymous

    Weird, all u rightwing trolls here – r u on assignment from Koch Bros or just like skinheads randomly bashing targets of opportunity?

  • Anonymous

    It’s HuffPo, what else would anyone expect?

  • Anonymous

    I watched both videos at the HuffPo three times and I strained to find ANY difference between the two. Eventually I gave up and assumed it was a liberal hallucination.

    The most interesting thing about the whole HuffPo piece were the comments. Hundreds of people claimed to hear something that clearly was not there. Were they deluded? Did they lie and not bother to watch both vids? Are some so eager to accept propaganda that reinforces their own beliefs that they are unwilling to verify it for themselves?

    Chait was the major source of this story. He deserves no quarter.

  • Anonymous

    All the news is a propaganda mill. FOX and Newscorp for the right, everyone else for the left.

  • Anonymous

    It just shows that the Left cannot let go of a meme — “Breitbart edits videos!” — once they have decided the “truth.”

    Plus, this was much ado about nothing anyway. Asking rhetorical questions happens all the time.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504633504 Dan Mitchell

    Propaganda mills at war. Can somebody turn on the news?