ABC News is now saying that it might include commentary from discredited blogger Andrew Breitbart in its Election Night television coverage after all.

On Friday, ABC confirmed to Media Matters that Breitbart would be participating in its Election Night coverage. ABC said that Breitbart “will be one of many voices on our air.”

But on Saturday, ABC sought to tamp down the ensuing uproar by insisting that Breitbart's role in their coverage was being misrepresented. In a statement, ABC said that “Breitbart will not be a part of the ABC News broadcast coverage” and that Breitbart would instead be participating in an online program:

Since conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart announced on his website that he was going to be a participant in ABC's Town Hall meeting at Arizona State University, there has been considerable consternation and misinformation regarding my decision to ask him to participate in an election night Town Hall event for ABC News Digital. I want to explain what Mr. Breitbart's role has always been as one of our guests at our digital town hall event:

[...]

He has not been asked to analyze the results of the election for ABC News.

Mr. Breitbart will not be a part of the ABC News broadcast coverage, anchored by Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos. For the broadcast coverage, David Muir and Facebook's Randi Zuckerberg will contribute reaction and response gathered from the students and faculty of Arizona State University at an ABC News/Facebook town hall.

He 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.

Then on Monday, an ABC spokesman told Michael Calderone of Yahoo News that it is “entirely possible” that comments Breitbart makes at the online event could be re-aired on ABC's television network on Election Night if those comments are “thoughtful or interesting”:

Now, there's technically a scenario in which Breitbart appears in some form on the network's television broadcast but still isn't called on as a political analyst for ABC's election night coverage.

Here's how: Schneider explained that portions of the digital town hall will be included in the ABC network broadcast. So, he said, “it's entirely possible that anybody who says anything thoughtful or interesting during the streaming portion of it can be excerpted on the broadcast.”

Still, the spokesman emphasized that “there is never a guarantee of what will be part of the broadcast.”