ACORN Video Sting a Lesson in New Journalism

Recordings made without two-party consent, group says

(AP) - ACORN is suing the makers of a hidden-camera video that showed employees of its Baltimore office giving tax advice to a man and woman posing as a pimp and prostitute. The liberal group contends that the audio portion of the video was obtained illegally because Maryland requires two-party consent to create sound recordings. More»

Breitbart says video of 'thugs' will be up soon

(NEWSER) - Andrew Breitbart—whose conservative BigGovernment.com website aired the ACORN sting videos—decided to mosey down to an ACORN protest in Los Angeles this week, and he's not happy with the rough treatment he got. He blogs that he was harassed and threatened by the "dregs of society" so badly it left his cameraman shaking. Rest assured, audio and video will be going up soon. More»

Hidden video subterfuge made news, but where was the reality check?

(NEWSER) - “You've got to give James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles credit for abundant chutzpah and guile,” writes James Rainey in the Los Angeles Times. The pair’s hidden camera ACORN takedown “likely will do for guerrilla video what Ashton Kutcher did for Twitter—popularize and expand the form.” But Giles and O’Keefe play by their own rules, he notes, leaving the media fumbling to respond to these newsworthy, but also bizarre and Comedy Central-worthy stings. More»

Group called 'distraction' after sting catches employees advising prostitute

(NEWSER) - The US Census Bureau will not allow community-organizing group ACORN to participate in next year’s national census, the Wall Street Journal reports tonight. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is a “distraction,” Census director Robert Groves writes, after members of its Baltimore and Washington offices were caught on hidden cameras offering tax advice to people posing as pimps and prostitutes. More»

Death sets off both tributes and good-riddance shots

(NEWSER) - Andrew Breitbart's death continues to set off a wide range of reactions. Some examples:

• 'Liberals celebrate': The Washington Examiner rounds up tweets from the left under that headline, including one from Slate's Matt Yglesias, who says the "world outlook is slightly improved" now.
• Tone it down: "The content of some of those tweets reveal something quite rotten," writes Andrew Sullivan at the Dish . "A man has died at a painfully early age. He has family and friends and colleagues. They are in grief. Yes, he was a public figure, who doled it out relentlessly. But his family is human. We can too easily forget they exist."