I'm blown away by this story in the Columbia Tribune by Janese Silvey.
Even though the Andrew Breitbart empire of websites has a well documented history of using dishonestly editing videos to further their political goals against NPR, ACORN, Shirley Sherrod and others, the Tribune has posted videos from Breitbart's BigGovernment.com because... they "are making the rounds online."
The videos -- complete with the now-familiar quick cuts and odd edits -- are taken from an unknown numbers of classes and feature named and unnamed persons from what we're told are classes about the labor movement led by instructors UMKC and UMSL.
But as we know from the recent NPR video fiasco, Breitbart lackeys aren't above intentionally editing videos to mislead viewers and wreck havoc in the lives and careers of their targets. Far from being above it -- editing videos to mislead viewers is what they do.
The videos Silvey posts in full on the Tribune site are 6:42 and 7:25 long -- waaaay shorter than any college lecture (or lectures) on the planet -- but that doesn't seem to raise any red flags. There isn't a hint of skepticism expressed in the article. Apart from a sentence stating that "the UM System declined to comment, and Ancel was not available Monday afternoon," there's not a hint of journalism in the story either. Just a tidy summary of obviously edited videos that "are making the rounds online" -- the stuff of Breitbart's dreams.
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UPDATE: An astute reader points out that Silvey also accepts the premise of the BigGovernment.com articles without questioning. The lead of her story is "Videos showing two University of Missouri instructors advocating for union violence are making the rounds online." No "apparently" or "purportedly." She just declares that they're "advocating for union violence."
A more reasonable lead might look like this:
Videos showing two University of Missouri instructors APPARENTLY advocating for union violence are BEING PROMOTED BY A RIGHT-WING WEBSITE WITH A HISTORY OF SELECTIVELY EDITING OTHER VIDEOS IN MISLEADING WAYS TO ADVANCE THE CREATOR'S POLITICAL AGENDA.
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Congrats, Trib.
Or should congratulations go to Breitbart for finding someone to republish his dreck in a town that prides itself for top-flight journalism?
