Breitbart wants to pretend to be a journalist? Well then, he can start playing by the rules. When a confidential source passes you false information that defames an innocent person, that source should be exposed.
Throughout this sordid Shirley Sherrod scandal, Andrew Breitbart has claimed he was only provided the deceptively edited video that appeared to show Sherrod making racist statements. When he posted the video on his site, he made several assertions that have now proven to be plainly false. If Breitbart wants to be believed, he has no choice but to expose the source who provided him with the video.
As a "journalist" (and I use the term very loosely), Breitbart has certain responsibilities. One of those is to protect confidential sources. This is a good and honorable concept as long as the source is providing accurate information, or if the information is inaccurate, had no intention to deceive. Everyone is wrong sometimes and you can't burn a source just because he made a mistake. In this case, however, that does not apply. Breitbart's "source" obviously did not just make a mistake, he had a clear intention to deceive.
If we assume Breitbart is telling the truth about his source, that source provided an edited video that showed the exact opposite of what actually happened. The video was edited with the clear intent to deceive and Breitbart was merely the conduit to get that deception out to the public. The end result of that deception was to put an innocent, honorable woman through hell for partisan, political gain and that is despicable.
Breitbart has two choices here: Give up his source or continue to protect him. In FiredUpInCA's diary last night, Ann Coulter was quoted from Hannity:
I think Breitbart ought to reveal his source, because he was set-up. This was a fraud. The person who sent the edited tape has to know what the full speech said, and whomever sent only that segment to Andrew Breitbart is the one who should apologize to Shirley Sherrod...
I think everyone should get on Coulter's bandwagon and spread this demand far and wide. If enough pressure is exerted on Breitbart, he will have to start talking about his source.
If he gives up the source, we will know exactly where the video came from and who was behind it. That wouldn't absolve Breitbart of his multiple failures in posting the video and his multiple lies after the truth started to come out, but it would get us closer to the whole truth. Sherrod deserves to know who tried to destroy her.
If he doesn't give up his source, he is toast. What little credibility Breitbart has remaining (and it is all on the conservative side) will be gone. Either he is someone who will willingly pass false, defamatory information and protect the person who gave it to him or he will be seen as a liar who didn't give up his source because he had no source in the first place.
I believe the truth is that he had no source and he is just lying about it as he has lied about everything else he has ever done, but he is going to have to be forced to expose himself.
(This is my first diary, so I welcome constructive criticism.)