Hannity, Breitbart lead conservative media fundraising for activist videographers sued by ACORN

Written by Jeremy Holden

Published

On the heels of ACORN filing a lawsuit against conservative activists Hannah Giles, James O'Keefe, and Breitbart.com LLC, Sean Hannity, Andrew Breitbart, HotAir.com's Allahpundit, and NewsBusters have offered to -- in the words of Hannity -- “put out the word” to “help” Giles and O'Keefe raise money for their legal defense. Conservative media figures -- led by Glenn Beck -- helped Breitbart strategically release and aggressively promote the undercover videos that sparked ACORN's lawsuit.

ACORN files lawsuit against O'Keefe, Giles, Breitbart.com

Suit filed after alleged “illegal videotaping” seeks “injunction against further distribution” of a hidden-camera tape. From a September 23 Washington Post “44” blog post:

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) announced Thursday it had filed a lawsuit against James O'Keefe, Hannah Giles and Breitbart.com LLC for what it alleged was “illegal videotaping” of ACORN employees in Baltimore.

The group filed its suit in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City and is seeking “a preliminary and permanent injunction against further distribution” of a hidden-camera tape made by O'Keefe and Giles that aired on BigGovernment.com, a Web project of Andrew Breitbart's Breitbart.com company, along with compensatory and punitive damages. [WashingtonPost.com, 9/23/09]

Conservative media rush to launch virtual telethon for O'Keefe, Giles

Hannity: “Hannah, if you get in trouble ... we can help you. We'll put out the word.” After interviewing Giles and her attorney about the lawsuit, Sean Hannity stated, “Well, listen, Hannah, if you get in trouble and you need the lawyer, I'll tell you what, we can help you. We'll put out the word. I'm sure there's a lot of people that may want to help you with a legal defense fund. And if you get to that point, let us know, and we'll be glad to bring you back on.” [Hannity, 9/24/09]

Breitbart on O'Reilly: “We will be advertising Hannah and James' legal defense fund.” After Bill O'Reilly asked, "[D]o you have lawyers helping you with it because, you know, this is expensive," Breitbart stated, “We're -- we're working on that right now. And I want everybody to know that we will be advertising Hannah and James' legal defense fund at BigGovernment.com. The amount of -- the responses so far in e-mail form are overwhelming.” [The O'Reilly Factor, 9/24/09]

HotAir's Allahpundit: “Dig deep: Hannah Giles defense fund launches.” In a September 24 HotAir.com blog post titled, “Dig deep: Hannah Giles defense fund launches,” Allahpundit wrote that Giles' father -- conservative activist Doug Giles -- “sent out a blast e-mail about it a little while ago and I'm told the link's posted on his Facebook page, so fire away. Not that she'll need the money: The lawsuit's weak, the jury will be on her side, and apparently Hannity's set to beam this link out to America on tonight's show, which means she'll be swimming in dough come morning.” Allahpundit further promised, “I'll post the info for O'Keefe's defense fund once it's available.” [HotAir.com, 9/24/09]

NewsBusters: Breitbart “Reveals Defense Fund Initiative.” Promoting Breitbart's O'Reilly Factor appearance, NewsBusters quoted Breitbart's promotion of the legal defense fund and included a link to Breitbart's BigGovernment.com. [NewsBusters.com, 9/24/09]

Conservative media strategically leaked, aggressively promoted secretly recorded tapes

Breitbart, Beck distributed secretly taped ACORN videos. O'Keefe first posted his secretly recorded video on Breitbart's BigGovernment.com in an effort to engage in -- in the words of Breitbart -- “a multimedia, multiplatform strategy” that included Fox News. Fox News, led by Glenn Beck, went on to facilitate Breitbart's "strategy" of releasing the videos."