Breitbart News

Breitbart News Has Close Ties to Political White Supremacism

• Former Breitbart CEO Steven Bannon, who was also briefly CEO of Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, once boasted that Breitbart was a “platform” for the white supremacist movement then-known as the “alt-right,” a comment which the news site later tried to repudiate. “Since Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election, Los Angeles-based Breitbart has experienced a backlash from some advertisers who say that the online site conflicts with their corporate values. Breitbart took a pro-Trump stance during the campaign, supporting the Republican candidate's views on immigration and national security. The company's executive chairman, Steve Bannon, who is on a leave of absence, was Trump's campaign manager and has been named chief White House strategist. Although Bannon was quoted in Mother Jones as saying Breitbart is a platform for the alt-right -- the ultraconservative movement associated with white nationalism -- the news site has denied accusations that it engages in racist rhetoric. The company has stated that it isn't affiliated with the alt-right and that the brand of nationalism it espouses is political, not racial.” (Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2016)
• Breitbart news gradually evolved from an aggregator of conservative news articles to an online platform bridging establishment conservatism with the neo-fascist far-right. “It all began a little more than 10 years ago in a basement in Westwood: A small army of young employees in T-shirts and shorts huddled over their laptops, determined to launch a news site that would shake up the world of conservative media. At first, the site started by Andrew Breitbart was a simple news aggregation service. But in a few short years it evolved into an idiosyncratic voice combining original reporting, incendiary commentary and outright trolling, in keeping with the rambunctious spirit of its founder, who died in 2012. As its popularity grew, many condemned its rhetoric as extremist, xenophobic, sexist and a platform for hate speech -- accusations its leaders have denied. Others laughed it off as a journalistic lightweight catering to a far-right fringe known as the alt-right. No one's laughing anymore. As Donald Trump prepares to take office as president, the Breitbart News Network stands poised to become one of the most influential conservative media companies in the country.” (Washington Post, November 20, 2016)
• November, 2016: Breitbart News issued a non-specific threat that it would sue news organizations characterizing it as a platform for white supremacism. “There's a symmetry afoot between Donald Trump and his media outlet of favor: Lawsuit threats. Tuesday, the Hill's Joe Concha reported that Breitbart News ‘is preparing a lawsuit against a 'major media company' over claims that it is a white nationalist website.’ Undisclosed in Concha's report is just what ‘major media company’ is being targeted here. One guess: Breitbart is trying to target all ‘major media companies’ in an attempt to get reporters to back off as they report on the connections between the news site and Stephen K. Bannon, former executive chairman of Breitbart News and newly named as chief White House strategist. ‘Breitbart News Network, a pro-America, conservative website, is preparing a multi-million dollar lawsuit against a major media company for its baseless and defamatory claim that Breitbart News is a 'white nationalist website,'; reads the statement provided to Concha.” (Washington Post, Erik Wemple, November 16, 2016)
• Breitbart News announced plans to expand into France and Germany following the 2016 election win by Trump. “Most of its staff is spread around the country, as well as in London and Jerusalem. Among Breitbart's immediate goals is to expand into France and Germany to capitalize on growing nationalist sentiments stemming from Europe's immigration crisis and growing doubts about the European Union. ‘I'm already interviewing people there,’ said Alexander Marlow, the site's editor in chief. ‘Both of them have big elections that are looking similar to Brexit and the rise of Trump in the U.S., in which you have a populist nationalist movement gaining credibility.” (Washington Post, November 20, 2016)
• One media ethics expert derided Breitbart News as a “well-funded blog” promoting “conspiracy theories.” “‘They're a really well-funded blog that seems to favor conspiracy theories,’ said Lee Wilkins, a professor who teaches media ethics at Wayne State University and the University of Missouri School of Journalism. ‘I don't condemn them because they do bad journalism. I don't think they do journalism at all.’” (Washington Post, November 20, 2016)
• Breitbart News published an anti-Semitic attack on conservative commentator Bill Kristol, describing him as a “renegade Jew.” “During the 2016 presidential campaign, including the Republican primaries, the site has offered exceedingly favorable coverage to the campaign of Donald J. Trump, often to the dismay of mainstream conservatives and the Republican Party establishment. The site was criticized for courting Mr. Trump's most extreme followers on the far right while criticizing anti-Trump Republicans and conservatives like Bill Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard. It drew particular fire for a headline that read ‘Bill Kristol: Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew’ that many viewed as anti-Semitic. Mr. Kristol has been critical in return, most recently Wednesday morning on MSNBC's ‘Morning Joe.’” (New York Times, August 18, 2016)

Breitbart News Acted More Like a Pro-Trump Super PAC Than A News Org

• A Breitbart News editor was the author of “Clinton Cash,” a book which was a source for reporting that appeared in the New York Times and the Washington Post and also prompted an FBI investigation into its allegations. “The New York Times is reporting that a separate investigation of the Clinton Foundation has unlikely source material of its own: a book called ‘Clinton Cash,’ written by Breitbart News senior editor at large Peter Schweizer, which Breitbart chairman and Donald Trump campaign chief executive Steve Bannon turned into a documentary-style film. […] At least some of Schweizer's reporting checked out and informed mainstream news reports. The Washington Post reported last April that "Bill Clinton was paid at least $26 million in speaking fees by companies and organizations that are also major donors to the foundation he created after leaving the White House." The Post reported that story independently but pursued it after receiving an advance copy of ‘Clinton Cash’ and signing a nondisclosure agreement with publisher HarperCollins. The New York Times used a lead in ‘Clinton Cash’ to report last April that firms that stood to profit from a deal for Russia to take over some U.S. uranium deposits donated millions to the Clinton Foundation. Hillary Clinton was secretary of state at the time, and the State Department was one of several agencies that had to approve the agreement.” (Washington Post, November 2, 2016)
• Juanita Broaddrick revealed that Breitbart News paid for her travel costs to participate in a Trump campaign appearance at the presidential debate held in Saint Louis. “Seated next to Donald Trump at a pre-debate campaign event Sunday night, Juanita Broaddrick repeated her charge that Bill Clinton raped her in 1978 - an accusation she has contradicted under oath and which the former president denies. Then, after the debate - which she attended - Broaddrick made another claim that quickly raised eyebrows among reporters and campaign finance experts. Breitbart, of course, is the pro-Trump conservative news site whose chairman, Steve Bannon, also serves as chief executive of the Trump campaign. ‘If the Trump campaign wanted her there, and Breitbart, a corporation, paid for the ticket to assist the Trump campaign, that would be an illegal in-kind corporate contribution,’ said Rick Hasen, an expert in campaign finance law at the University of California at Irvine. ‘But we need to know more facts before we know if that is the case.’” (Washington Post, October 10, 2016)
• Experts suggested that Breitbart’s financing of Broaddrick’s travel to the presidential debate in Saint Louis appeared to violate campaign finance restrictions. “The Trump campaign quickly disputed Broaddrick's account of her travel - ironic, since the premise of her appearance in St. Louis was that people should believe what she says. Breitbart did not respond to a Fix inquiry about travel expenses for Broaddrick. […] Larry Noble, general counsel at the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, said that if Breitbart did pay for Broaddrick's travel, ‘they might argue it was part of some deal where they were putting on the event as part of a story, and they were in control. But that doesn't seem to fit the facts. I think paying for someone to travel to participate in a campaign event falls outside the media exemption.’” (Washington Post, October 10, 2016)
• Breitbart News collaborated with a liberal activist to provoke violent outbursts at Marco Rubio’s campaign events during the GOP primary. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend, as the saying goes. Breitbart News seems to take that maxim seriously. Politico reported Tuesday that the Trump-boosting website worked during the Republican presidential primary with a liberal activist who sought to provoke violent outbursts at campaign events for Sen. Marco Rubio. Rubio, you see, was a common enemy for Breitbart, who wanted him out of Donald Trump's way, and for Democrats, who viewed the senator from Florida as a tough prospective opponent in the general election. Hacked emails published by WikiLeaks have shown aides to Hillary Clinton saying things like ‘I'm beginning to worry more about Rubio than the others’ and describing him as ‘very inspiring at his best.’” (Washington Post, October 25, 2016)
  • The activist who worked with Breitbart News to disrupt Rubio’s events was employed by a subcontractor retained by Democrats. “The activist who coordinated with Breitbart, Aaron Black, is not an employee of the Clinton campaign or the Democratic National Committee; he works for a DNC contractor called Democracy Partners, the target of a recent sting operation by James O'Keefe's Project Veritas. O'Keefe's conservative group secretly filmed Black and another liberal activist who worked with Democracy Partners bragging about inciting violence at Trump rallies. But Black went looking for trouble at events put on by Trump's Republican opponents, too, according to Politico, including at one Rubio rally where he dressed in a robot costume and got into a physical altercation with the director of Rubio's campaign in New Hampshire. Politico reported that Black was in the habit of ‘tipping [Breitbart] off about his stunts, exchanging raw video and coordinating coverage.’ After the robot episode in New Hampshire, Breitbart touted its ‘exclusive’ video but did not mention any collaboration with Black.” (Washington Post, October 25, 2016)
• Breitbart News also sought to encourage and amplify dissident supporters of Bernie Sanders in their efforts to disrupt Democratic campaign events, consistent with a larger strategy to disrupt the events of Trump opponents. “Black would not be Breitbart's only strange bedfellow. The site cozied up to Bernie Sanders supporters who protested during the Democratic National Convention. [….] Working with Black and giving a ‘voice’ to angry Sanders backers appear connected by a single objective: amplifying moments of chaos at events staged by Trump's opponents. If you can help Breitbart help Trump, the site seems happy to work with you - regardless of motive or ideology.” (Washington Post, October 25, 2016)
• During the 2016 campaign, Breitbart News played a key role in spreading baseless rumors that Hillary Clinton was suffering from ill health. “Breitbart and other sites have also helped bring rumors and conspiracies closer to the mainstream. The latest rumor to reach Trump's rhetoric: Clinton's allegedly failing health. In two speeches last week, Trump said she ‘lacks the strength and stamina’ to fight terrorism. The comments alluded to unsubstantiated speculation on conservative websites, highlighted by Breitbart, that Clinton is too ill to serve as president. Clinton fainted and suffered a concussion in 2012; her doctor wrote later that she suffered symptoms, including a blood clot and double vision, that were resolved within two months. But that did not quell speculation that has circled since. The rumors have festered, relying on forged documents, speculation from doctors who never examined Clinton and pictures showing Clinton sitting on a stool or using a pillow during events. One Breitbart story quoted a former New York City police officer who had no direct knowledge of Clinton's health but claimed in a tweet that another unnamed ‘strong source’ told him Clinton took a long bathroom break during a debate in January due to a ‘flare-up of problems from brain injury.’” (Chicago Tribune, August 24, 2016)

Breitbart News Had Long History Boosting GOP Propaganda Campaigns

• Breitbart News was founded in 2007 by Andrew Breitbart, who died from a heart attack in 2012. “The Breitbart News Network, usually just called Breitbart, is a conservative-leaning news website. It was founded in 2007 by Andrew Breitbart, a former liberal from Los Angeles who became a conservative standard-bearer until his death from heart failure at 43 in 2012. The site that bears his name comprises about a dozen different verticals that feature original reporting and commentary, including three of its most prominent sites: Big Government, Big Journalism and Big Hollywood. A fourth ‘Big’ site, BigPeace.com, now redirects to Breitbart's National Security section.” (New York Times, August 18, 2016)
• Breitbart News played a critical role in publicizing the James O’Keefe videos that appeared to portray ACORN volunteers giving advice on how to engage in criminal enterprises. “In 2009, on his site Big Government, Mr. Breitbart released videos of workers for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (better known as Acorn) that appeared to show employees of the community organization advising clients on criminal activities. The videos, filmed by conservative activists, led contributions to Acorn to plummet, and the organization announced in 2010 that it was closing all its offices.” (New York Times, August 18, 2016)
• Breitbart News publicized a misleadingly edited video in 2010 that portrayed the antiracist message of an Obama Administration public official as a statement of racist sentiment. “In 2010, Breitbart published a video of an Agriculture Department official, Shirley Sherrod, in which she seemed to make prejudiced remarks about a white man. The video was edited in a misleading manner to disguise the message of Ms. Sherrod's speech, which was about her own personal growth. Ms. Sherrod was fired after the clip was published. She was later offered a new job, which she declined to take.” (New York Times, August 18, 2016)
• Breitbart News broke the 2011 story of Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner posting sexually explicit photographs of his genitalia online. “In 2011, a tipster sent Mr. Breitbart the sexually explicit photos and text messages the New York congressman and rising Democrat star Anthony D. Weiner had sent to women online. The story, broken by the website, soon caused Mr. Weiner to resign.” (New York Times, August 18, 2016)

Breitbart Turned Against Reporter Assaulted by Trump's Campaign Manager

• The Trump campaign issued a flat-out denial that campaign manager Corey Lewandowski had manhandled Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields, despite bruises on Fields and an eyewitness account. “When a protester was kicked and punched at a Donald Trump rally in November, the candidate's excuse was that the activist deserved it. Now that a reporter has been grabbed - hard enough to leave bruises - by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, the Republican presidential front-runner is trying an even more audacious defense: Saying it never even happened. That's right. Fort Trump is accusing Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields - and Washington Post reporter Ben Terris, who saw Lewandowski grab her roughly after a Tuesday-night press conference - of fabricating the whole thing. After remaining silent on the incident for almost two days, the campaign issued a statement on Thursday afternoon, declaring Fields's accusation to be ‘entirely false.’” (Washington Post, March 10, 2016)
• Lewandowski implied on Twitter that Michelle Fields had a history of fabricating assault allegations by referencing an earlier account of being manhandled at an Occupy rally and a sexual harassment complaint. “Lewandowski on Thursday tweeted a link to a 2011 article in which Fields, then at another conservative publication, the Daily Caller, said she and a videographer were struck by police batons while covering an Occupy Wall Street demonstration. He also tweeted links to two other stories that referenced complaints by Fields, one of which involved sexual harassment.” (Washington Post, March 10, 2016)
• Breitbart News issued a statement claiming that Corey Lewandowski would owe Fields an apology *if* he was the one who had grabbed her arm and injured her. “What might be worse is that Fields hasn't even received strong, across-the-board support from her own employer, which has mastered the art of excuse-making on Trump's behalf in this election. The conservative news site's first statement on the incident, issued by chief executive Larry Solov, left open the possibility that Lewandowski might not have put his hands on Fields. (Our emphasis added below.) ‘It's obviously unacceptable that someone crossed a line and made physical contact with our reporter. What Michelle has told us directly is that someone ‘grabbed her arm’ and while she did not see who it was, Ben Terris of The Washington Post told her that it was Corey Lewandowski. If that's the case, Corey owes Michelle an immediate apology.’” (Washington Post, March 10, 2016)
• Breitbart News suspended one of its own reporters, Patrick Howley, for sending tweets that cast doubt on the veracity of Fields’ account. “Then, one of Fields's Breitbart colleagues, Patrick Howley, fired off a series of tweets casting doubt on her story. He deleted the messages, but nothing ever actually disappears from the Internet, does it? Breitbart quickly announced it was suspending Howley indefinitely and came down more firmly on Fields's side, saying in a statement Thursday that it ‘continues to stand 100 percent with Michelle Fields and believes that Corey Lewandowski must accept responsibility for his actions and apologize.’” (Washington Post, March 10, 2016)
• Fields filed a report regarding the assault with local police. “As reported by the Independent Journal Review, Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields has filed a report with the Jupiter, Fla., police department regarding an assault on Tuesday night following a Donald Trump press conference. ‘Someone had grabbed me tightly by the arm and yanked me down. I almost fell to the ground, but was able to maintain my balance. Nonetheless, I was shaken,’ wrote Fields in a first-person story on the episode. Based on an eyewitness account from Washington Post reporter Ben Terris, Fields has identified Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski as the person who grabbed her. Lewandowski has denied the allegation via Twitter:” (Washington Post, March 11, 2016)
• Fields filed a report regarding the assault with local police. “Fields filed a report with the Jupiter, Fla. police department Friday, according to the Associated Press. That same day, she did an interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly explaining her decision. She said that she'd contacted her editor [Washington Political Editor Matthew Boyle] and told him what happened, and that Boyle contacted Lewandowski, who allegedly admitted to grabbing Fields. ‘He did not deny it,’ Fields said. ‘He said that he didn't realize that I was a Breitbart reporter.’ Fields said she was told she would receive an apology, but one never came. Instead, on Thursday campaign released a statement denying her allegations. ‘They have basically done a character assassination on me,’ she told Kelly.” (Washington Post, March 14, 2016)
• Reporting indicated that Lewandowski privately admitted to senior officials that he had manhandled Fields, despite publicly denying that he had ever touched her. “On Wednesday, however, Lloyd Grove of the Daily Beast reported that, according to ‘sources,’ ‘Lewandowski acknowledged to Breitbart's Washington political editor, Matthew Boyle, that he did manhandle Fields. Lewandowski's explanation to Boyle, said these sources, was that he and Fields had never met before and that he didn't recognize her as a Breitbart reporter, instead mistaking her for an adversarial member of the mainstream media.’” (Washington Post, March 11, 2016)
• A public affairs consultant representing Breitbart News resigned after the publication sought to cast doubt on Fields’ contention that Lewandowski had assaulted her, accusing the publication of knowingly publishing lies. “Kurt Bardella, a political consultant who resigned Friday as spokesman for Breitbart News over the organizations's handling of the Michelle Fields-Corey Lewandowski situation, on Friday night accused his former client of lying about it. ‘You're saying they're lying?’ CNN host Don Lemon asked Bardella, who barely hesitated. ‘Yes, I am,’ Bardella said. […]Breitbart on Friday morning ran a story suggesting someone besides Lewandowski probably was responsible for the bruises on Fields's arm, but she and Washington Post reporter Ben Terris remain steadfast that it was Lewandowski. Lewandowski and the Trump campaign have denied the entire episode and sought to impugn Fields's character.” (Washington Post, March 12, 2016)
• Bardella claimed that Breitbart News decided to support Lewandowski’s account over Fields’, despite substantial evidence backing up Fields because they didn’t want to see their investment in promoting Trump “derailed.” “Bardella said he thinks Breitbart is waffling because it simply has too much invested in Trump, who it has openly and unabashedly supported for months. ‘When you've gone all in so much for a candidate, when you have that kind of skin in the game, you don't want to see that derailed,’ said Bardella, who added that he personally doesn't support Trump and that it was part of his problem with Breitbart. […] ‘Donald Trump makes me embarrassed to say that I'm a Republican,’ Bardella said.” (Washington Post, March 12, 2016)
• Breitbart News continued to challenge Fields’ allegations, even as video evidence emerged showing that Lewandowski was the one who had grabbed Fields. “Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields is demanding the apology she thought she would receive two days ago, as new video appears to support her charge that Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski forcefully grabbed her by the arm - leaving bruises - after a press conference on Tuesday night. […] But on Friday morning, Breitbart published a story that challenged the assertions by Fields and Terris that Lewandowski was the offender. Based on an elaborate reconstruction of the media scrum that followed Tuesday's press conference, the report concluded that another member of Trump's entourage was probably the guilty party. […] Later in the morning, C-SPAN digital and social media specialist Jeremy Art posted footage of the moment when Lewandowski appeared to grab Fields's arm. Daily Beast senior editor Andrew Kirell slowed the video down to make the grab easier to see.” (Washington Post, March 12, 2016)
• Breitbart News’ chief political editor published flattering paeans to Trump’s political campaign that illustrated the news site’s transparent bias in favor of Trump. “To understand Breitbart.com's relationship with Donald Trump, it helps to follow the work of Matthew Boyle, the site's Washington political editor. In a long series of fast-twitch posts on the unfolding 2016 presidential campaign, Boyle has roared about Trump's success and smarts. After the candidate's win in the New Hampshire primary, for instance, Boyle wrote a summation under this headline: ‘It's A Revolution: Donald Trump More Than Doubles the Competition in New Hampshire.’ Not only did the headline borrow from the fact that Trump had played the Beatles' ‘Revolution’ during his rally, but also the Boyle write-up did everything in its power to suck up to Trump.” (Washington Post, March 4, 2016)
• Michelle Fields resigned from Breitbart News, claiming she felt the organization had not “adequately stood by me during the events of the past week.” “Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields and editor-at-large Ben Shapiro have resigned from the conservative site over its handling of an alleged assault on Fields by Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. ‘I don't think they took my side,’ Fields told The Washington Post early Monday. ‘They were protecting Trump more than me.’” (Washington Post, March 14, 2016)
• Ben Shapiro, one of the right’s most noteworthy stooges, also resigned from Breitbart News over the incident, denouncing Steve Bannon personally and accusing him of shaping the publication into “Trump’s personal Pravda.” “Breitbart editor-at-large Ben Shapiro also resigned. In a statement, he ripped away as only he knows how: ‘Andrew's life mission has been betrayed. Indeed, Breitbart News, under the chairmanship of Steve Bannon, has put a stake through the heart of Andrew's legacy. In my opinion, Steve Bannon is a bully, and has sold out Andrew's mission in order to back another bully, Donald Trump; he has shaped the company into Trump's personal Pravda, to the extent that he abandoned and undercut his own reporter, Breitbart News' Michelle Fields, in order to protect Trump's bully campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who allegedly assaulted Michelle.’” (Washington Post, March 14, 2016)
• Breitbart News responded to Ben Shapiro’s resignation by publishing a highly critical article about him under the pseudonymous byline ordinarily used by Ben Shapiro’s father, David. “Judge for yourself which tack Breitbart chose. ‘Former Breitbart News editor-at-large Ben Shapiro announced Sunday evening via left-wing Buzzfeed that he is abandoning Andrew Breitbart's lifelong best friend, widow, hand-picked management team and friends in pursuit of an elusive contributorship at the Fox News Channel,’ read the top of a piece published under the byline of William Bigelow, which turns out to be a pseudonym employed by Shapiro's father, David Shapiro. The piece contained a number of shots at Shapiro -- as well as BuzzFeed -- and concluded with this note on Fields herself: ‘Alleged Fox News contributor Michelle Fields also resigned.’” (Washington Post, March 14, 2016)
• Breitbart News took down the article attacking Shapiro and published an apology. “Later in the morning, Breitbart took down the article and replaced it with an apology to Shapiro and Fields. But it's too late to salvage dignity in this fiasco. Breitbart has shown itself to be exactly the kind of blind loyalist Trump was talking about when he bragged that he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and not lose support.” (Washington Post, March 14, 2016)
• Ben Shapiro’s father, David, resigned after it emerged that someone else had written the article bylined by his pseudonym attacking his son. “The site, founded by the late Andrew Breitbart, is known for its iconoclasm and caustic tone. In the Fields saga, there were more oddities to come - none stranger than the publication on Monday morning of a column attacking Shapiro for resigning. […] It ran under the byline of William Bigelow. Bigelow, it turns out, is the pseudonym of David Shapiro, the father of Ben Shapiro. The elder Shapiro, who is a musician and also a writer at Breitbart, had chosen the name as an homage to the character Billy Bigelow in the musical "Carousel," his son said in an interview. The column was later removed from the site. (Online sleuths recovered a copy.) Nonetheless, David Shapiro has resigned as well. Breitbart officials said the column, which was penned by Pollak, was meant as a joke and was not intended for publication.” (Washington Post, March 15, 2016)
• Joel Pollack, an editor at Breitbart News, also applied for a position as one of Trump’s speechwriters and urged reporters not to publicly defend Fields in her contretemps with Lewandowski. “One of the Breitbart editors who was quoted in the story, Joel Pollak, has contacted the Trump campaign about a possible speechwriting job in January, BuzzFeed reported. BuzzFeed also reported that he urged staff not to publicly defend Fields last week.” (Washington Post, March 14, 2016)
• Pollack published an article suggesting it was impossible that Lewandowski was the man who had injured Fields. “Trump and Lewandowski vehemently denied the accusation, and on Friday Breitbart - which has been sympathetic to Trump throughout the campaign - published a long post by senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak that painstakingly pieced together the event in question before concluding that the altercation couldn't have happened the way Fields described it. Ultimately, Pollak suggested that perhaps Terris mistook Lewandowski for a security official, or that her injuries were an accident incurred in the press scrum.” (Washington Post, March 14, 2016)
• Pollack urged Breitbart journalists not to defend Fields publicly. “Pollak also reportedly instructed Breitbart staffers not to publicly defend their colleague. In internal messages originally obtained by Buzzfeed, a staffer Brandon Darby wrote that Lewandowski's behavior was ‘a declaration of war’ and ‘silence is abandoning our team member.’ Pollak responded, ‘In war, we wait for orders that are based on a careful plan. So wait.’” (Washington Post, March 14, 2016)
• Breitbart News denied that Lewandowski had assaulted Fields and published articles attacking its own reporter’s credibility despite the fact that Lewandowski had admitted to Breitbart’s political editor that he was the one who assaulted Fields. “The lengths Breitbart went to in covering for the Trump campaign are almost unimaginable. Fields told Fox News Channel host Megyn Kelly that Lewandowski admitted grabbing her arm in a conversation with Breitbart's Washington political editor Matthew Boyle last Wednesday, one day after the incident. Yet when the Trump campaign publicly denied that Lewandowski had touched Fields - and sought to smear her reputation - Breitbart responded by publishing a story from Pollak that contended that Lewandowski was innocent and the victim of mistaken identity. Only when video evidence emerged Friday to back up Fields's and Terris's version of events did the site acknowledge the truth of what Fields had said all along. That same day, though, the site put out a brief statement saying that it stood behind Fields, though it did not demand an apology from the Trump campaign or assert that Fields was correct in identifying Lewandowski.” (Washington Post, March 14, 2016)
• Breitbart News’ editor-in-chief, Alex Marlow, denied that the publication had failed to support Fields. “In an email to Politico, Breitbart editor-in-chief Alex Marlow denied Fields' claim that the company didn't plan to defend Fields or demand an apology. ‘By 2:10am Wednesday, we had released a statement calling any physical contact 'unacceptable' and demanding an apology,’ he wrote. ‘We have clearly expressed that the Trump campaign's claims against the Breitbart News reporter contradict the evidence and that we stand with Michelle.’” (Washington Post, March 14, 2016)
• Breitbart News reporters Jordan Schachtel and Jarrett Stepman also resigned in the wake of the publication’s attack on the credibility of Fields’ account. “The day after the Republican debate, the cascade of resignations began. Kurt Bardella, a former congressional aide who served as the site's spokesman, quit Friday. […] Other resignations would follow in the coming days: Fields's, and those of reporters Ben Shapiro, Jordan Schachtel and Jarrett Stepman.” (Washington Post, March 15, 2016)
• Upon resigning, Schachtel declared that Breitbart News was “no longer a journalistic enterprise” and had become “something resembling an unaffiliated media Super PAC for the Trump campaign.” “‘Some of us have been fighting behind the scenes against the party-line Trump propaganda for some time, but without any success, unfortunately,’ one reporter, Jordan Schachtel, said in a statement after resigning Monday. ‘Breitbart News is no longer a journalistic enterprise, but instead, in my opinion, something resembling an unaffiliated media Super PAC for the Trump campaign.’” (Los Angeles Times, March 18, 2016)
• Asked whether the mass resignations from Breitbart News would impact the publication’s reputation and influence, then-CEO Steve Bannon responded, “we hire people who are freak … they don’t have social lives.” “Even as commentators were picking over the details of the controversy, a larger - and still unanswered question - hung over the entire affair: What would be the long-term ramifications for Breitbart? Would it remain a force on the right? And would anyone still want to work there? A hint at the answer to one of those questions might be found in comments made by the site's top executive. ‘We hire people who are freaks,’ executive chairman Stephen Bannon told The Post in an interview earlier this year. ‘They don't have social lives. They're junkies about news and information.’” (Washington Post, March 15, 2016)

Breitbart's Business Practices and Financial Support Are Secret

• Breitbart News refused to disclose its finances or the identity of its financial patrons. “As a matter of policy, Breitbart doesn't discuss its inner workings and finances. It doesn't have digital subscriptions and makes most of its money selling advertising. […] In a series of interviews, leaders sounded a confident and defiantly unapologetic note. As a company, it is aiming for no less than the world. ‘The goal is to become a global news network,’ said Larry Solov, the company's president and chief executive.” (Washington Post, November 20, 2016)
• The economic impact of advertisers withdrawing sponsorship of Breitbart was hard to ascertain because the company is privately held and does not have to report its business performance. “In October, the site drew 19.2 million unique visitors, up nearly 50% from 12.9 million visitors in the same month last year, according to data from ComScore. […]It remains unclear how much the loss in ad revenue will hurt Breitbart. The media company is privately held and doesn't discuss its business operations. But Chief Executive Larry Solov recently told the Los Angeles Times that the company relies on advertising for the majority of its revenue and that it uses multiple ad networks. The company said Wednesday that Kellogg's decision ‘will make virtually no revenue impact.’” (Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2016)
• Conservative billionaire Robert Mercer was rumored to be a key source of financial support for Breitbart News. “Breitbart is rumored to receive significant backing from hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, who has been a key supporter of Trump. The site was founded a decade ago by journalist Andrew Breitbart, who died in 2012, and has an editorial staff of about 100 worldwide.” (Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2016)
• Robert Mercer was believed to be a secret funder of Breitbart News. “It is rumored that hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer has been a major backer of Breitbart. Mercer, who couldn't be reached for comment, was a major supporter of Trump's campaign, and his daughter, Rebekah, has been a part of the president-elect's transition team. Experts say there is an increasing opacity in media ownership and funding as private equity buys up more news organizations.” (Washington Post, November 20, 2016)
• Following Trump’s election, Breitbart News announced expansion plans. “Breitbart, the website at the center of the self-described alternative online media, is planning to expand in the United States and abroad. The site, whose former chairman became the chief executive of Donald J. Trump's campaign in August, has been emboldened by the victory of its candidate.” (New York Times, November 10, 2016)
• Breitbart News had greater levels of engagement on social media platforms like Facebook than many established and widely-respected news organizations did. “A sample ranking of the most-shared sites on Facebook from January had Breitbart at No. 14, just behind ABC and The Washington Post, but ahead of Bleacher Report, Comicbook.com, Yahoo and The Hill. The month before, the site ranked between the BBC and The Guardian, just behind The New York Times, which was at No. 7. These told, narrowly, the story of reach on a new platform - one that the news industry was still coming to terms with as it redefined the terms of consumption. At the same time, they signaled much broader changes: On social platforms, all media had become marginal; elsewhere, much of the media was in structural collapse.” (New York Times, November 10, 2016)
• Breitbart News saw a huge surge in its online traffic during October of 2016. “Marlow sees an opportunity to lure Trump supporters put off by Fox News' ambivalent take on the Republican candidate, since ‘so much of their audience feels betrayed by how they covered this presidential race.’ As a result, he said, Breitbart is experiencing a surge in readership. The site drew 19.2 million unique visitors in October, up nearly 50% from 12.9 million visitors in the same month last year, according to data from ComScore. Breitbart easily beat conservative news sites The Daily Caller and The Blaze, whose October unique visitors were 10.2 million and 5.8 million, respectively. Breitbart's own metrics paint an even more robust picture. It estimates it has 1.8 billion page views so far this year, an increase from about 1 billion views for all of 2015. Those figures still pale in comparison to mainstream sites like CNN and Fox News, which see unique visitor traffic that is triple that amount or more. But Breitbart said it is confident it will continue to grow its readership even after the election bump.” (Washington Post, November 20, 2016)

Breitbart Advertisers Have Withdrawn Sponsorship

• Following the 2016 election, many advertisers withdrew their sponsorship of Breitbart News. “The Breitbart News Network has long prided itself on running inflammatory articles designed to trigger sensitive liberals. But since the election of Donald Trump, the conservative media company has also managed to trigger some of its advertisers, which have yanked their ads from the irreverent site in objection to its content. After recent decisions by companies such as the Kellogg Co. and Allstate to pull their ads, a number of German companies have followed suit, including BMW, T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom and the restaurant chain Vapiano.” (Los Angeles Times, December 8, 2016)
• Efforts to pressure advertisers to withdraw support from Breitbart were led by activism on Twitter, including the Sleeping Giants account. “In recent weeks, a number of anti-Breitbart efforts have emerged on Twitter -- including the account Sleeping Giants and the German hashtag #KeinGeldFuerRechts (No Money for the Right) -- that are aiming to pressure companies whose ads appear on Breitbart into boycotting the site. Sleeping Giants has said that Breitbart is a fake news site that engages in racist rhetoric. In response, Breitbart says left-wing activists are intolerant of conservative views and are attempting to censor them.” (Los Angeles Times, December 8, 2016)
• Many of the companies featured on Breitbart News claimed they were unaware that their money was being used to buy ads on Breitbart News. “Some advertisers have said they didn't know that their ads ran on Breitbart, and that they only discovered it after receiving screenshots from consumers and Twitter users. Many companies rely on third-party ad networks and exchanges to place their ads on sites. As a result, they aren't always aware of where their ads end up appearing.” (Los Angeles Times, December 8, 2016)
• Breitbart responded to the post-election withdrawal of advertising sponsors by calling for the boycott of Kellog’s, one of many companies that severed ties with the website. “The Breitbart News Network is seeing some of its advertisers head for the exit doors and is responding in typical Breitbart fashion: by going on the counteroffensive, labeling one of them as "un-American" and calling it a war on conservatism. […] Breitbart is fighting back at one of the advertisers -- the breakfast cereal maker Kellogg Co. -- by launching a Twitter campaign #DumpKelloggs that encourages its readers to sign a petition and boycott the maker of such favorites as Froot Loops and Apple Jacks. On Wednesday, Breitbart placed an article about its #DumpKellogs campaign in the top slot of its homepage. By early afternoon, the article had drawn more than 6,000 reader comments, many in support of the boycott. ‘Kellogg's decision to blacklist one of the largest conservative media outlets in America is economic censorship of mainstream conservative political discourse. That is as un-American as it gets,’ Breitbart said in a statement.” (Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2016)
• Allstate and AppNexus also withdrew advertising from Breitbart News, with a spokesman for AppNexus noting that the sit’s content “violates our hate speech prohibition.” “Other companies that have pulled their ads from Breitbart in recent weeks include insurance giant Allstate and the ad exchange AppNexus. ‘We determined that the site violates our hate speech prohibition,’ said Josh Zeitz, a spokesman for AppNexus. He said that Breitbart was never a direct client but that some of AppNexus' technology partners made Breitbart's inventory available on its exchange.” (Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2016)

Founder Andrew Breitbart Opposed Birtherism and Trump

• Andrew Breitbart was a sharp critic of the “birther” movement when it was led by Donald Trump. “Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart is a political gladiator. […] So it was a surprise to discover this past week that Breitbart has redirected some of his prodigious anger. As part of his book tour, Breitbart gave a series of interviews - some with the ‘Democrat-Media Complex’ he loves to demonize - criticizing his fellow conservatives. […] To test the newly fratricidal Breitbart, I went to his book talk at the Heritage Foundation on Thursday and invited him to dispense more friendly fire. He obliged, with complaints about Beck's rally on the Mall and the birther movement. [… The most obvious is the birther dispute, in which figures such as Donald Trump and Sarah Palin perpetuate the calumny that Obama wasn't born in the United States while Republican leaders urge sanity. […] I asked him to expand on his earlier criticism of friends - including his complaints about Beck's rally on the Mall in August. Breitbart obliged, taking issue with those who think the Tea Party ‘is really about God’ and those who claim ‘Obama may not have been born in the United States.’” (Washington Post, Dana Milbank, April 24, 2011)
• During the 2012 campaign, Andrew Breitbart published a book warning conservatives that if they didn’t learn to play the media “the way that Donald Trump is playing the election cycle, we’re going to probably get a celebrity candidate. “It's only a few weeks since Barack Obama declared his candidacy for re-election, and already the right is winning the best-seller list. […] Andrew Breitbart storms to No. 14 with ‘Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World!’ In a recent interview with ‘The O'Reilly Factor,’ Breitbart -- the gadfly proprietor of the Web sites Big Government, Big Journalism, Big Hollywood and Big Peace (which has called for Congressional hearings into ‘the religion of peace’) -- exhorted the dull but serious Republican contenders to neutralize Donald Trump before it's too late. ‘Celebrity is everything in this country’” Breitbart said. ‘And if these guys don't learn how to play the media the way that Barack Obama played the media last election cycle and the way that Donald Trump is playing the election cycle, we're going to probably get a celebrity candidate.’” (New York Times, May 8, 2011)

Other Links of Interest

The FBI has released investigative material related to an investigation of online attacks targeting Breitbart News. FBI Vault

Steve Bannon

• August, 2016: Donald Trump hired Steve Bannon to serve as the CEO of his presidential election campaign. “The Republican presidential nominee, Donald J. Trump, has hired a top executive from Breitbart News, Stephen Bannon, as his campaign's chief executive, raising expectations that Mr. Trump will adopt the more aggressive style that the site has championed.” (New York Times, August 18, 2016)
• Steven Bannon was a financier who later became an adviser to Sarah Palin and Donald Trump. “Mr. Bannon, a Navy veteran who has a background in finance and used to work at Goldman Sachs, was an adviser to Sarah Palin and has been a longtime adviser to Mr. Trump. He became the executive chairman of Breitbart in 2012, after Mr. Breitbart's death, and helped adapt the anti-Clinton book ‘Clinton Cash’ into a film.” (New York Times, August 18, 2016)

Alexander Marlow

• Alexander Marlow became the Breitbart editor-in-chief in 2013. “Marlow was a 21-year-old student at UC Berkeley when Andrew Breitbart hired him as his first employee. Now 30, the L.A. native, who attended Harvard-Westlake, became editor in chief in 2013 and is now based mostly out of Washington, D.C.” (Washington Post, November 20, 2016)

Milo Yiannopoulos

• Racist troll Milo Yiannopoulos rose to prominence as an employee of Breitbart News. “A technology editor at Breitbart, Milo Yiannopoulos, is one of the more well-known and provocative employees of the site. Last month, he was banned from Twitter, where he tweeted as @nero. Mr. Yiannopoulos was accused of helping to instigate a campaign of sexist and racist abuse against the actress and ‘Saturday Night Live’ comic Leslie Jones.” (New York Times, August 18, 2016)