If Acorn Falls, It's because the Media Believed Imposters

[samplegirl]

ACORN, a group that has done much to empower minorities, is on the verge of bankruptcy, and it’s largely because of a neglectful media that allowed itself to be railroaded by unethical conservative activists. Clark Hoyt, the public editor of the New York Times, takes his own paper to task for its lack of diligence on the story.

The Times was slow last fall to cover that sting in Baltimore, similar ones at Acorn offices in Brooklyn, Washington and other cities, and the resulting uproar, including criminal investigations and votes in Congress to cut off funds for the group. But the paper finally described how a succession of Acorn employees had advised the pair on obviously improper activities and how, as a result, many of the group’s allies had deserted it. Now Acorn and its supporters say The Times got the story wrong and, by failing to correct it, has played into the hands of a campaign that has pushed the group near extinction.

Since the story broke, Acorn’s contributions have dried up, its national staff has been cut by more than three-quarters, services for the poor have been suspended, and chapters have closed or reorganized under other names, even though a district attorney found that Acorn employees in Brooklyn did nothing illegal and a federal judge ruled that Congress acted unconstitutionally in cutting off funding as punishment.

Hoyt says ACORN supporters want the story to fall apart based on the lie that videographer James O’Keefe wore a pimp outfit into ACORN offices when he entered with Hannah Giles posing as a prostitute. But the real crux of the story is that a group that helps and empowers the poor is on the verge of dissolution because the so-called “liberal media” chose to believe conservative impostors before doing the work they should have done to get the story right from the start.

O’Keefe, who is facing criminal charges of tampering with Senator Mary Landrieu’s phone lines, has stated that his goal is to “tease”, “mock”, and “totally destroy” liberals. Instead, what may be destroyed, is an organization, although imperfect that did more to help Americans than O’Keefe ever did. And the media that failed to report it accurately enough and early enough is

http://www.alan.com/

[ananda]

1. Is it time for people to step up and take charge?

Hmmmmmmm?

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Can an organization sue for defamation as an individual can?

Wouldn't a non-profit corporation be an individual by Supreme Court standards?

[samplegirl]

You would think.

[KharmaTrain]

4. With What Money?

Such litigation takes yaers and lots of billable hours, not a luxuary ACORN can afford.

[rucky]

3. Our Democratic Congress cut off their biggest voter registration group

without any scrutiny of the crap evidence they were presented, because some kid dressed as a pimp.

What a colossal fuck up.

Remember this when we have low turnout in 2010. Who's going to register people to vote?

[w4rma]

5. Rahm and the DLCers never fail to disappoint when it comes to doing the right thing. (nt)

[tsuki]

6. The Media, at least Cable Media, never believed the imposters.

They were handed a heavily edited video from a dubious source and decided that this was group they could victimize without consequence to them. So, with any research or vetting, they went with the "story".

Why do I know that they knew the tape was a phony? Video tape is building block this industry rests on. They have the knowledge to pull this tape apart and figure out what was wrong, and where it went wrong. They did not.

As an analogy, what if a plumber came into your house and looked at a leak from a nail hole, and said that he did not know where the water was coming from. That he'd have to replumb your house, or an electrician looked at a frayed wire and said he did not know where short was, and needed to rewire your house.

Now, we saw "ACORN" 24/7 Cable Media. Where is the Hannity Fake Charity news? Can you spell Cover-Up?

[spanone]

7. and congress believed the media and cut funding