This is a post written with sadness. As stated in earlier posts I was a regular contributor to Breitbart until right after the 2012 Democratic convention. I like Joel Pollak who is taking the brunt of the news site’s failures, and I like Ben Shapiro who after my Breitbart stint ran Truth Revolt where I also worked. More than anything it hurts that the legacy of what Andrew Breitbart is in distress because of a lack of leadership by its management. In the end I report this because that’s what Andrew taught us to do.
Perhaps after he drops out of the race John Kasich can take control of Breitbart.com, because with each passing day it becomes clearer there is no adult running the show. As we reported earlier Michelle Fields and Ben Shapiro each resigned from Breitbart on Sunday evening.
The next morning Breitbart readers were treated with a classless response from the once respected website. The post was taken down,but thanks to archive.is the post still exists and is reproduced below.
The post was given the by-line of William Bigelow. Besides being the name of the male lead in the musical Carousel, William Bigelow is the pseudonym of Ben Shapiro’s father who also wrote for the site.
As reported by Politico
Shapiro’s father, the writer David Shapiro, also resigned from Breitbart on Sunday evening.
According to the younger Shapiro, his father was hired under the pseudonym to protect his safety since the younger Shapiro said he received so many death threats for his writings.
“Breitbart put this under his byline because they knew I’d have to out him,” Shapiro said in an interview on Monday, adding that by linking to his profile with the California State Bar the site exposed personal information, though that information is outdated. “The fact they would use my father’s pseudonym in order to attack me just exposes how despicable they are.”
The content of the article also has some “gems” knocking Shapiro.
For example “Friends of Hamas could not be found for comment.” refers to a story Ben published three years ago about Chuck Hagel donating to a group “Friends of Hamas.” But the person who gave Shapiro the lead was lying to hoax Shapiro and he was universally criticized.
In the Breitbart post about Ben Shapiro at the bottom of this page, there is a link which I identified as removed. It sent people to Shapiro’s page in the California Bar which provides his home address and private email, a very bush move which very possibly puts his family in danger.
It accuses Shapiro of quitting so he could pursue a career with Fox News, something that Shapiro denies.
Joel Pollak claimed responsibility for the post which he claims was put up accidentally.
Two other reporters resigned on Monday National Security correspondent Jordan Schachtel and Associate Editor Jarrett Stepman,
Schachtel’s resignation said in part:
Some of us have been fighting behind the scenes against the party-line Trump propaganda for some time, but without any success, unfortunately.
Breitbart News is no longer a journalistic enterprise, but instead, in my opinion, something resembling an unaffiliated media Super PAC for the Trump campaign. I signed my contract to work as a journalist, not as a member of the Donald J. Trump for President media network. As recent events have proven, there is no longer a point in trying to reform the company from within, so I must step aside with my dignity intact.
Stepman said:
In my opinion we are working with or perhaps even taking direction from a presidential campaign, which is unacceptable journalistic behavior. I believe Breitbart News is becoming less of a news site and more of a propaganda organization dedicated to the Trump campaign.
Breitbart News has also now openly embraced the “Nationalist/Populist” viewpoint, which is in direct opposition to limited-government conservatism that channels the philosophy of the Founding Fathers. It is becoming impossible for conservatives like myself to continue working for the organization, which now relentlessly pushes a perspective directly at odds with my fundamental beliefs.
In related news, IJ review published the entire exchange from the private message board conversation that BuzzFeed published snippets of on Saturday. Taken in full context, the exchange shows a Breitbart management too timid to make a decision and a staff in full revolt.
The chain begins with Breitbart Senior Editor-at-Large John Nolte messaging the editorial team the photo of Michelle Fields’ bruised arm after Lewandowski had manhandled it.
Pollak immediately orders editors and writers to not “retweet or respond” to the Fields tweet, with deep protest from reporter Frances Martel.
Now both Breitbart Texas Managing Director Brandon Darby and National Security reporter Jordan Schachtel openly revolt against Pollak on the silence toward Fields policy.
Darby says he is ashamed and Martel asks if there is a plan:
Pollak responds that even supportive statements about Fields will be “used against us.”
Pollak refuses to let reporter Lee Stranahan tweet a photo of Trump as Hitler and says the entire situation is “the Trump campaign’s problem.”
Darby asks what he can do to help Fields, Pollak says Trump has not responded, so nothing.
Mike Flynn, the Editor of Breitbart News adds that this is “Not a profile in courage moment”
This thread ends with Pollak admitting that Trump campaign manager is smearing his reporter, but not responding because he is “hanging himself.”
by WILLIAM BIGELOW 14 Mar 2016
LOS ANGELES — 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.
Screenshot / Buzzfeed
Baby Snake close-up
“I’m worried. I had enjoyed listening to Ben read Breitbart California stories, word for word, without attribution, on his morning radio show. Now what will he do for content?”
