Warning to the media: Breitbart bites the hand that feeds him
Written by Fae Jencks
Published
After appearing on ABC's Good Morning America, Andrew Breitbart criticized host George Stephanopoulos, claiming that he had “sandbagged” Breitbart and fellow guest James O'Keefe, continuing a pattern of attacking hosts after appearing on their shows.
Breitbart quickly turns on Stephanopoulos, ABC News after interview
Breitbart “granted” Stephanopoulos “redemption” for “past sins” while criticizing ABC's “center-left mainstream media line.” In a June 1 post on BigJournalism.com, Breitbart thanked Stephanopoulos for giving him and O'Keefe the “privilege” of going on the June 1 episode of Good Morning America. Breitbart “granted” Stephanopoulos “redemption today for his past sins against good journalism,” while also attacking ABC News and Sephanopoulos for generally pursuing a “center-left mainstream media line.”
Breitbart in full attack-mode questions ABC News' decision to hire Stephanopoulos. The next day Breitbart and O'Keefe appeared on The Glenn Beck Program, where Breitbart lashed out at Stephanopoulos, saying: “If George Stephanopoulos sandbagged us yesterday, they set up -- ABC News flew us in to launch the Census stories, and George Stephanopoulos said, 'Hey, I want to interview these guys, and the entire thing became about 'James O'Keefe racist, James O'Keefe racist, James O'Keefe criminal, James O'Keefe criminal' and all those things have been debunked.” Breitbart further claimed that Stephanopoulos “went straight to the Media Matters/Huffington Post narrative. He's probably getting paid by the SEIU,” and complained about ABC News' decision to hire Stephanopoulos.
Breitbart has a pattern of lashing out at media after interviews
After a heated appearance on MSNBC, Breitbart accused David Shuster of tricking him into an appearance on the show and attacked Shuster's objectivity. On January 28, during* a scheduled interview about O'Keefe's Louisiana arrest, BigGovernment.com posted a Breitbart post assailing host David Shuster for luring him “into this story based upon the false premise of his objective neutrality.” Breitbart extended his assault to include MSNBC, a network he characterized as “Obama-stimulus-infused” and “bias-laden.” The next day, Breitbart appeared on Fox News'Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld and repeated his attack on Shuster.
Breitbart accused Business Insider's Gillian Reagan of “duping” him “under false pretenses.” Following a January 7 interview with Business Insider's Gillian Reagan, Breitbart slammed the publication and claimed that it was “a front for Gawker, the notorious leftist/media snark site.” Breitbart railed against Reagan, claiming that the article represented “pure hackery and media bias.” In a statement on January 29, Business Insider directly rebutted Breitbart's claims of bias, and deceptive practices:
“Andrew Breitbart says he thinks we are just a front for Gawker -- a way for Gawker editors to get interviews with people who won't talk to Gawker anymore. We aren't. We reached out to Breitbart because we thought his new site was relevant to the business of journalism. Gawker then decided to run the post after the fact, independently.”
After an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, Breitbart described the show as “hostile territory” that was “rigged” with an “audience from hell.” In a March 16, 2009, Washington Times article, Breitbart referred to an appearance on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher to encourage conservatives to use similar media appearances in “hostile territory” to “plant seeds of doubt in the minds of the groupthink liberals in our dumbed-down and activist media culture.” Breitbart sharply attacked the show, claiming it was “rigged” against him by Maher and his “audience from hell.”
*This item previously indicated that Breitbart's blog post was published after his appearance on MSNBC. In fact, it was published during that interview.