Tag Results for ACORN

The legend of little Jimmy O'Keefe, undercover journalist and conservative provocateur wonder-boy, just continues to unravel.

First there was his ill-conceived stunt trying to get into the Louisiana offices of US Senator Mary Landrieu, supposedly to document how Landrieu wasn't being responsive to constituents angered by her stance on universal health care. That got O'Keefe arrested.

Now prosecutors in Brooklyn have cleared ACORN workers of supposedly advising O'Keefe and a cohort posing as a prostitute, Hannah Giles, how to hide the proceeds of her illegal business. The New York Daily News, quoting a law enforcement source, said the decision was based on unedited versions of O'Keefe's ACORN tapes, and that the footage widely seen in the media was edited "to meet their agenda."

It's also become clear in recent days that O'Keefe was not - as many media outlets including the New York Times and, yes, we here at Beat the Press, reported - dressed as a pimp when he went into ACORN's offices. Instead, footage of him garbed in a cartoonish pimp costume was taken outside, and then edited into the final product.

Of course the video of O'Keefe dressed as a pimp does serve at least one useful purpose: It will forever remind us of the distiction between actual investigative journalists and clowns pretending to be ...

James O’Keefe had been hailed by some conservatives as a media star after his undercover expose of ACORN.  O’Keefe’s arrest for entering a US Senate office, impersonating a telephone repair man, sparked a new debate over O’Keefe’s tactics.

The community advocacy organization ACORN is suing the filmmakers who secretly videotaped workers condoning illegal activities. The suit centers on a Maryland law making it illegal to tape someone without consent.  They’ve asked for a temporary restraining order to keep the video from being aired anywhere. When and under what conditions should journalists use hidden cameras?

This week Congress voted to cut off ACORN funding after undercover tapes allegedly show ACORN employees giving advice on how to skirt the law. The story got a lot of play from conservative media outlets.  But there has been criticism that the mainstream media was slow to pick up the story.