Ex-USDA official Shirley Sherrod has said she will sue Andrew Breitbart, the conservative blogger whose creative cutting of one of her speeches caused her to lose her job. But can she win?
In posting an edited video on his website that seemed to show Sherrod talking about neglecting a white farmer, Breitbart misrepresented the facts and directly led to Sherrod losing her job at the USDA. Though Sherrod has received apologies from her ex-boss, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and from President Obama, she says she doesn’t want one from Andrew Breitbart — instead, she said at a National Assn. of Black Journalists convention yesterday, she’s planning to take him to court. Unfortunately, she may have a tough time. AOL’s Dana Chivvis writes that because Sherrod is a public figure, she’d have to prove that Breitbart had “actual malice” in posting the video — that is, “that Breitbart posted the video knowing it had been edited in such a way as to damage her reputation. Or, she would have to prove that he referred to her story as ‘racist’ knowing full well that it was not — or that he didn’t care either way.” Breitbart is sure to fight both claims — he’s already said that he received the clip already edited from a source, and that he still believes his post “established the media standard of pointing out that the NAACP countenanced racism in its own award dinner setting.”
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
