Simply outrageous.
Color of Change and Credo have sounded the alarm on this:
Election night coverage on Tuesday night will include "notorious propagandist and serial race-baiter Andrew Breitbart".
Have you made your voice heard on this yet?
Andrew Breitbart needs no introduction here. As Credo puts it,
One of the most precious assets of a news organization is its credibility.
So it's appalling that ABC News' election night coverage on Tuesday night will include notorious propagandist and serial race-baiter Andrew Breitbart, who only months ago was publicly disgraced for falsely smearing Shirley Sherrod.
...There are plenty of other conservatives who ABC News could turn to for analysis or commentary. By inviting someone like Breitbart to participate, ABC News is not only calling its own credibility into question, it is also serving to rehabilitate the credibility of Andrew Breitbart and legitimate more of his race-baiting lies.
And Color of Change correctly notes the direct insult,
ABC's decision is a slap in the face to Shirley Sherrod, to Black America, and to everyone who believes in the value of telling the truth. It's unacceptable.
This comes from the very same network that was responsible for the travesty that passed as a debate between Obama and McCain in August of 2008.
Is ABC tryng to usurp the role of Fox amongst the "mainstream" networks?
Please add your signatures to the petitions being sponsored by Color of Change and Credo, demanding that ABC remove Breitbart from their election day coverage, respectively here and here.
Sorry if this has been diaried already, but I haven't found it if it has. (It has: see UPDATE2 below). I don't mean to distract from the all important effort to GOTV, but this too is really important. A lot of people watch election night network coverage, and ABC's legitimizing Andrew Breitbart by giving him a high-profile seat at the table as a respectable commentator only serves to further degrade our already highly threatened democracy and our fast dying journalistic tradition of providing credible and non-biased information, not demagoguery. ABC parent corporation Disney's right-wing proclivities notwithstanding, the last thing we need in the country is for the once-respected ABC News to try to outdo Fox.
UPDATE1: Thanks to jsfox and Patrick Juillet for pointing out that the efforts by Color of Change and Credo have already embarrassed ABC, and they have partially backed off. Breitbart will still be there, but now ABC is saying,
"(Breitbart) 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."
I think it's unacceptable for Breitbart to be invited there in any capacity whatsoever. This is not a resolved issue. Please let's keep the pressure on ABC -- you can add your own comments to the petitions. Tell ABC -- No Breitbart, PERIOD!
UPDATE2: For some reason, my initial search didn't turn up this earlier diary, which made the Rec List, but is now gone. So, sorry to repeat the story, but I think the more recent developments concerning the two excellent petitions and the limited success so far in getting ABC to back off on having Breitbart sitting in as a featured commentator merit keeping the issue alive -- until he's no longer going to appear there at all.
I've changed the title to reflect that Breitbart will still be there, on ABC network news coverage, Tuesday night. He's still going to be given a voice, as if he were a credible and legit source of any information at all.
I'd further add, in response to a comment below that our protests only give Breitbart more PR: this is the guy who almost singlehandedly, via deceit and lies, brought down ACORN, the most effective community organizing effort ever to help the poor and minorities and get them registered to vote. Tyranny happens when we are silent. The pressure must be kept on ABC. They need to know that we are paying attention, and that we notice when they prostitute themselves for ratings and corporate greed. And, that we will not be silent.