What a difference a day makes.
On Monday, former “Journ-O-list” gadfly and current Slate.com blogger Dave Weigel explained to the universe why the video investigation of Planned Parenthood conducted by Live Action has “fizzled“. In a column reeking more of wishful thinking than hard analysis, Mr. Weigel explained the brilliant media strategy instituted by Soros-funded Media Matters for America:
Media Matters and other liberal groups pounced as soon as the video went up. Media Matters welcomed the videos with a “refresher course on Andrew Breitbart’s dishonest tactics” and the screaming headline “HOAX VIDEO EXPOSED.” The hoax? Planned Parenthood had already warned the FBI about the sting. Subsequent Media Matters reports alleged that audio in the tapes had been spliced and mashed to make stuff up. Within 72 hours, the group put together a conference call for Planned Parenthood leaders to speak out about Rose and a joint letter to members of Congress from 26 progressive groups.
This is the journalistic equivalent of Leon Lett’s premature touchdown celebration in Super Bowl XXVII.
Within hours of the “Fizzle” post hitting Slate.com, Live Action released it’s latest video report, this one in New York City. Similar to the way the ACORN videos produced by Veritas Videos took the national stage when their expose of ACORN Brooklyn was released, the Live Action videos experienced a media blitz raising the questionable practices and behavior of Planned Parenthood to national prominence.
Yesterday alone saw comprehensive reports from: CBS Evening News, ABS World News Tonight, New York Times, New York Post, New York Daily News, New York local TV, Reuters, AP, NPR, and The O’Reilly Factor. And, as an extra bonus, the latter program also provided a nifty viral video of Planned Parenthood spokesman Stuart Schear proclaiming the Live Action videos had been “doctored” and then 10 seconds later admitting that he had not seen the videos he had just condemned.
Finally, after following the brilliant media strategy instituted by Media Matters (utilizing money supplied by abortion supporter George Soros), Planned Parenthood was forced into a corner created by their own non-sensical spin. After spending over a week assuring the world that the videos were a hoax, were doctored and showed no wrong-doing, Planned Parenthood announced that not only had they fired their employee featured on the video from New Jersey, they would now institute a nation-wide re-training of all Planned Parenthood employees so they can better deal with the issues on display in Live Action’s investigation.
The staff did nothing wrong, the videos are a hoax, and they are going to re-train their entire staff from coast to coast.
Perhaps Mr. Weigel should consider writing a new story focusing on the million-dollar media strategy of Media Matters for America and how effective it has been. He might want to try using some stronger verbs than “fizzle” though. I suggest he start with “implode” and let his thesaurus take it from there.