Breitbart News

Andrew Breitbart launched his first website as a news site; it is sometimes linked to by the Drudge Report and other websites. In its initial form, it had wire stories from the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Fox News, PR Newswire, and U.S. Newswire, as well as direct links to a number of major international newspapers. Its Blog & "Network" links tended to run to the right within the U.S. political spectrum (e.g., National Review and Townhall.com). The site also had a search engine powered by Lingospot and a finance channel powered by FinancialContent. In 2007, Breitbart launched a video blog, Breitbart.tv.^[3]

In 2008 Breitbart launched the website "Big Hollywood," a "group blog" driven by some who work within Los Angeles, with contributions from a variety of writers, including politically conservative entertainment-industry professionals.^{[citation needed]} The site was an outgrowth of Breitbart's Washington Times "Big Hollywood" column, which included issues conservatives faced working in Hollywood.^[4] In 2009, the site used audio from a secretly recorded conference call to accuse the National Endowment of the Arts of encouraging artists to create work in support of Barack Obama's domestic policy agenda.^[5][6]

Breitbart launched BigGovernment.com on September 10, 2009.^[7] He hired Mike Flynn, a former government affairs specialist at Reason Foundation,^[8] as Editor-in-Chief of Big Government.^[9] The site premiered with hidden camera video footage taken by Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe at Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now offices in various cities, attracting nationwide attention resulting in the ACORN 2009 undercover videos controversy.

In January 2010, Breitbart launched Big Journalism. He told Mediaite:^[10] "Our goal at Big Journalism is to hold the mainstream media's feet to the fire. There are a lot of stories that they simply don't cover, either because it doesn't fit their world view, or because they're literally innocent of any knowledge that the story even exists, or because they are a dying organization, short-staffed, and thus can't cover stuff like they did before." Big Journalism was edited by Michael A. Walsh, a former journalism professor and Time magazine music critic.^[10] The site has a fictional contributor named "Retracto, the Correction Alpaca" who posts items requesting corrections from the traditional media.^[11]

BigPeace.com debuted July 4, 2010. The site covers topics such as international issues and foreign policy, the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorism, Islamic extremism, espionage, border security, and energy issues.

The site launched a major redesign shortly after Breitbart's death in March 2012; Breitbart had been putting the finishing touches on the new look before his death.

Breitbart Sports launched on January 1, 2013.^[12]

Breitbart's London edition was launched on 16 February 2014 headed by executive editor James Delingpole, described as a "high traffic hire" by The Spectator's Steerpike column,^[13] and managing editor Raheem Kassam.^[14] Other staff include André Walker, as political correspondent, with reporters Nick Hallett and Alex Wickham.^[14] Breitbart London announced that it would have a staff of 10, with hundreds of contributors, with the intention to cover Israel and the Middle East from the London office.^[15] Contributors include Milo Yiannopoulos, Mary Ellen Synon, Jonathan Foreman and Katie Hopkins.^{[citation needed]}

On May 28, 2011, Breitbart reported on a sexually explicit photo sent on New York Representative Anthony Weiner Twitter feed on his BigJournalism website.^[16] Weiner initially denied that he had sent a 21-year-old female college student the link to the photograph, but after questions developed, he admitted to inappropriate online relationships. On June 6, 2011, Breitbart reported other photos Weiner had sent, including one that was sexually explicit. On June 8, 2011, the sexually graphic photo was leaked after Breitbart participated in a radio interview with hosts Opie and Anthony. Breitbart stated that the photo was published without his permission.^[17] Weiner subsequently resigned from his congressional seat on June 21, 2011.

In July 2010 Breitbart was accused of smearing USDA official Shirley Sherrod with the viral video "Proof NAACP Awards Racism". The video showed Sherrod speaking at a NAACP fundraising dinner in March 2010 admitting to a racial reluctance to help a white farmer get government aid. Breitbart later posted the full 40-minute video of the speech.^{[18][19][20][21]} In it, Sherrod said the reluctance to help a white man was wrong, and she had ended up assisting him. The NAACP then reversed their rebuke of Sherrod,^[19][20] and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack apologized and offered Sherrod a new government position.^[22] In 2011, Sherrod sued Breitbart for defamation.^[23] Breibart said that the point of the piece was not to target Sherrod, but said the NAACP audience's reception of the parts of the speech demonstrated the same racism the NAACP's President had accused The Tea Party of harboring.^[24] Breitbart admitted that the video took Sherrod's comments out of context. "Attorneys for O’Connor and Breitbart’s wife claim Sherrod was forced to resign not because of the publication of the video, but because of federal officials’ knee-jerk reaction to the outcry following the video’s release" according to the Daily Caller which published White House emails ("“The [White House] is involved and we are waiting for the go-ahead to accept her resignation. I suspect some direction from WH soon,” Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack wrote in a July 19, 2010, email to Sherrod’s boss Dallas Tonsager ".^[25]

Breitbart was also involved in the 2009 ACORN video controversy. Hannah Giles^[26][27] posed as a prostitute seeking tax and legal advice while James O'Keefe posed as her pimp, and clandestinely videotaped meetings with ACORN staff who "gave advice on house-buying and how to account on tax forms for the woman's income."^[28] Subsequent criminal investigations by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office and the California Attorney General found the videos were heavily edited in an attempt to make ACORN's responses "appear more sinister",^[29][30][31] and contributed to the group's demise.^[32][33]

On February 7, 2013, Ben Shapiro published on Breitbart.com article reporting allegations that Chuck Hagel (R-Nebraska), former Senator and nominee for United States Secretary of Defense, may have been paid to speak at an event sponsored by a group called "Friends of Hamas".^[34] Breitbart.com said that the story was based on "exclusive" information by a Senate staff. The story was later followed by other conservative opinion sites such as RedState,^[35] National Review,^[36] Washington Times,^[37] PJ Media^[38] and commented on by US Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.

However, investigation by Slate reporter David Weigel was unable to confirm the existence of the purported group.^[39] On February 19, Dan Friedman, a reporter for the New York Daily News, said that the story had originated from a sarcastic comment he made to a Congressional staffer, "Friends of Hamas" being one of several groups which he considered to be so over-the-top as to be implausible and obviously fictitious. He said he made the sarcastic comment in an effort to find out what Hagel did that was purported as anti-Israel: "Hagel was in hot water for alleged hostility to Israel. So, I asked my source, had Hagel given a speech to, say, the 'Junior League of Hezbollah, in France'? And: What about 'Friends of Hamas'?". He also said that the joke inadvertently turned into a scandal.^[40][41]

Breitbart.com insisted that the report was accurate and posted articles defending the site and attacking New York Daily News as 'hack'.^[42] Mainstream media such as Washington Post,^[43] New York Magazine^[44] and The Daily Beast^[45] strongly criticized Breitbart.com for its appearance of inaccuracy and low journalistic standards.

On March 11, 2013, Breitbart.com posted that Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman had declared personal bankruptcy citing a Boston.com article. Boston.com had cited Format, an Austrian magazine, which had erroneously used a story from satiric news blog The Daily Currant. The story was removed shortly afterwards.^[46]

In April 2014, Breitbart.com created an ad campaign which included posters which had an image of House minority leader Nancy Pelosi's head photoshopped onto singer Miley Cyrus's body who was seen twerking on California governor Jerry Brown, spoofing the 2013 VMAs. DNC Chairwoman and Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz denounced the images as "disgusting" and "foul, offensive and disrespectful to all women." In response, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy requested that his column be removed from the site.^{[47][48][49][50][51]}

Breitbart explained the inspiration for the ad campaign: a 2013 Saturday Night Live skit in which Cyrus appeared as a highly sexualized version of Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann alongside a feminine, homosexual version of Republican Congressman and Speaker of the House John Boehner.^[52] Breitbart criticized female Democrats, Wasserman Schultz and Pelosi in particular, for failing to come to the defense of conservative women like Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin for offensive comments from liberals. They mentioned specifically Bill Maher's referring to Palin as a "cunt", Kathy Griffin's joking that Senator John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate in exchange for sexual favors, Tracy Morgan's referring to Palin as "good masturbation material", among others.^[53]

On November 8, 2014, Breitbart.com posted an article by Warner Todd Huston that said Loretta Lynch, President Barack Obama's nominee for attorney general, had represented Bill Clinton during the Whitewater scandal. The site confused two persons with the same name. The site posted a correction.^{[citation needed]}

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