Interesting you had to go back to 2016 to find something to back you up. In more recent news:
The verdict against Project Veritas underscores that James O’Keefe never had credibility as a journalist
9/27/22 wrote:A federal jury found last week that the methods used by Project Veritas in the group’s 2016 sting operation on progressive consulting firm Democracy Partners were unlawful, further tarnishing an organization notorious for its undercover gotcha videos. The ruling confirms what watchdogs have been saying for years about founder James O’Keefe and the nefarious tactics he employs, even as right-wing and even some mainstream media have irresponsibly treated Project Veritas videos as legitimate sources.
On September 22, a jury declared that O’Keefe’s operatives had unlawfully recorded the consulting firm in the leadup to the 2016 election, and that those same operatives had fraudulently identified themselves in the process of infiltrating the group. O’Keefe says he will appeal. Much like in the group’s other sting operations, Project Veritas operatives had used false identities to secure meetings and an internship with Democracy Partners. Evidence for the trial included emails written by O’Keefe showing that he had offered cash bonuses to any employee who could provide content that implicated Democracy Partners in committing voter fraud, along with court documents detailing a voter fraud scheme that operatives attempted to plan within Democracy Partners.
This verdict serves as a damning indictment of O’Keefe and his legacy. The tactics condemned in the Democracy Partners verdict mirror those that Project Veritas has employed for years in its theatrical crusades and smear campaigns, which have included concocting fake stories and schemes and arranging dates and other personal meetings under false identities. This should put to bed any of the organization’s claims that it operates as a legitimate journalistic enterprise.
While the actions undertaken by Project Veritas against Democracy Partners have resulted in its most substantial legal backlash so far, the group has a long and storied history of similarly outlandish stunts. In the past few years alone, the group has:
Apparently attempted to give The Washington Post false sexual assault allegations against then-Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore in 2017.
Spurred a woman’s arrest by editing a video to give the appearance that an act of voter fraud was being committed.Launched a campaign to push COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, often bypassing bans on affiliated accounts.
Released secretly recorded tapes of an ABC news anchor making reasonable criticism of the network, resulting in his suspension and subsequent removal from political coverage.
Accused a public official of back-dating mail-in ballots, even though the source recanted his claims.
Caused harassment and threats of violence against multiple educators and school officials.
Project Veritas is an organization built on deceitful tactics that lack journalistic merit, and last week’s finding should demolish any shreds of credibility it retained with mainstream media.
Reminder: James O'Keefe has a history of failing to discredit journalists
10/26/22 wrote:t is time for the media to stop talking about James O'Keefe. The fact that the conservative documentarian's work is still regarded as newsworthy borders on journalistic malpractice on a massive scale.
In 2017, O'Keefe got in trouble when his organization, Project Veritas, was exposed in an attempt to trick The Washington Post into believing a fake story from a woman claiming to have been impregnated by Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. The woman, Jaime T. Phillips, who had ties to Project Veritas, told reporters from the Post that she had had an abortion after sleeping with Moore in 1992.
After the Post discovered inconsistencies in her story — including a GoFundMe account she had forgotten to take down that detailed her ambition to "work in the conservative media movement to combat the lies and deceit of the liberal MSM" — they confronted Phillips about them and eventually saw her walk into Project Veritas headquarters on Monday. Later, a reporter and videographer from the Post confronted O'Keefe about his attempt to entrap their organization.
O'Keefe was caught in a transparent attempt to frame The Washington Post for journalistic irresponsibility, and it was virtually certain that his organization selectively edited whatever footage they have and released it in a deceptive fashion, so that it could hurt the Post's reputation. That was proven when the Post released the full, uncut version. How do we know this? Because O'Keefe has done this many, many times before.
In 2009, O'Keefe paved the way for the destruction of ACORN — a collection of community-based organizations that helped register low-income voters — by deceptively editing footage to make it look like one of its chapters was willing to help a pimp (played by O'Keefe) smuggle young girls into the United States as prostitutes. In 2010 he pleaded guilty, along with three co-defendants—two of whom posed as telephone repairmen in the scheme—of entering the office of Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., in New Orleans' Hale Boggs Federal Building, under false pretenses. That same year, they tried to trick CNN Correspondent Abbie Boudreau into going on a boat filled with adult devices and then record her.
By 2014, O'Keefe was caught releasing deceptively edited audio footage about Josh Fox, the director of the anti-oil documentary "Gasland." O'Keefe tried to depict Fox as being interested in accepting money from a shady company, even though Fox released undoctored footage proving that O'Keefe had cut Fox turning them down. He was also caught in attempts to trap the Hillary Clinton campaign, billionaire George Soros' nonprofit Open Society Foundations, the League of Conservation Voters and the Michigan affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers.
No reputable media outlet, regardless of its political views, has the right to cover as serious or reliable any of the work produced by this man or his cohorts. He has been exposed as a liar many times before and, while it is unlikely that he will stop his pernicious activities in the near future, the very least the media can do is dismiss any material produced by him or Project Veritas as toxic to the touch.
And if you still want to claim O'Keefe is legitimate, consider this. The organization he founded, Project Veritas, stripped him of all duties and suspended him for financial fraud uncovered by audits showing he dipped into organization finances for personal use. They have since sued him and he is under criminal investigation for fraud. This supposed "scoop" of his is a desperate attempt by him to get back into the good graces of right wingers. Interesting that before he posted this scoop, he claimed that he might be killed for breaking the story but he's not afraid to die. The crowning touch was when he crowed about how he was able to fool Kraiger and hide his identity by wearing a pair of glasses. O'Keefe isn't a celebrity except in the right wing media fringes. I doubt that one person in a thousand outside that group would know who he was, glasses or no glasses. And by the way, on his video showing the Kraiger "expose," he includes an ad telling people how they can buy his fake glasses with camera attached on his website. Another grifter, just like Trump.
