‘Distorted’ Breitbart Videos Cost Professor His Job

Out-of-context clips suggest teachers support union violence
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted May 2, 2011 11:22 AM CDT
Misleading Andrew Breitbart Videos Cost University of Missouri Professor Don Giljum His Job
In this Feb. 11, 2010 file photo, conservative online publisher Andrew Breitbart is seen during an interview at his home in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

Last year, his clip prompted Shirley Sherrod’s firing; now, Andrew Breitbart’s video editing has driven a University of Missouri professor from his job. Adjunct professor Don Giljum taught a class on the history of labor that a Breitbart blogger called a “how-to college course on violent union tactics.” Supporting the claim were two out-of-context videos posted last Monday, one of which appeared to show Giljum asserting that violence “certainly has its place” as a union tactic (they've since been removed from YouTube).

The other clip showed Judy Ancel, who team-taught the class—which was broadcast over a video link—with Giljum. In it, she says, “violence is a tactic, and it's to be used when it's appropriate.” But Media Matters found the clips to be “specious garbage, edited to literally put words in the mouths of the professors,” writes Max Read at Gawker. Giljum actually says that violence “would do more harm than good,” and Ancel is actually quoting a video the class had just seen. The school's Kansas City campus backed Giljum (who teaches at the St. Louis campus), saying the videos were edited in an "inaccurate and distorted manner." But Giljum says he was still asked to resign, and suggests that the university was “focused on preserving funding” while it faces a lieutenant governor who, Read notes, has been “blustering about the videos.” Click through to Media Matters for transcripts. (More Andrew Breitbart stories.)

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