Glenn Beck, defender of NPR?
Go figure.
The website founded by conservative provocateur Glenn Beck has posted a detailed critique of the undercover video of former NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller that forced the resignation of the network’s CEO.
The Beck site, called The Blaze did an exhaustive analysis of the full two-hour video of Schiller’s lunch meeting with two men posing as representatives of the fictitious Muslim Education Action Center.
The site compared the unedited video to the 11-minute version that generated such controversy, and found the edited video gave a distorted view of the meeting in at least some respects.
A couple of excerpts from the post:
On Schiller’s comments about Republicans: “But you may be surprised to learn, that in the raw video, Schiller also speaks positively about the GOP. He expresses pride in his own Republican heritage and his belief in fiscal conservatism.”
On Schiller’s criticisms of Tea Party activists: “…the raw video reveals that he is largely recounting the views expressed to him by two top Republicans, one a former ambassador, who admitted to him that they voted for Obama.”
The analysis was written by Scott Baker, described as the Editor in Chief of The Blaze and a co-founder of Breitbart.tv. Andrew Breitbart, you’ll recall is the conservative web commentator whose edited video misrepresented Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod’s remarks to make them appear racist.
According to Politico.com, Beck himself raised questions about James O’Keefe, the videographer who shot the Schiller video on his Monday radio show.
“The problem with this whole thing is does James O’Keefe have enough credibility to continue to do” undercover video journalism? Beck asked his listeners. That kind of journalism, he said, is “just really not something that you necessarily want to get into. But if you do it, you damn well better not lie on the tape. You don’t now take what you have and edit something to make them say something that they didn’t say. I mean, you have no credibility then.”
You can read the Politico piece, which also summarizes the web analysis of the video here.
Beck has gotten a fair amount of criticism lately from prominent conservatives. Maybe he’s looking for a new broadcast home.
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