NPR sting raises questions about media ethics, influence

The hidden-camera exposé of shady business practices is a staple of sweeps week on local TV news. But when the target is National Public Radio and the videomaker is a practiced political provocateur, the 11-minute takedown of a fundraising executive has reverberations well beyond simple consumer outrage.

An 11-minute, edited video of a meeting between supposed Muslim donors and NPR fundraisers, posted last week on the conservative political news site the Daily Caller, was quickly picked up by news organizations. The fundraiser's anti-Republican, anti-Tea Party comments cost the head of NPR her job. Today, the House will likely vote on yanking NPR's public funds — a speedy reaction that few mainstream media investigations achieve.

James O'Keefe, the political activist who orchestrated the sting, says his video is investigative journalism. Many journalists say it absolutely is not, because O'Keefe used false identities and misleading editing.

The video follows a long, if not always honorable, tradition of muckraking exposés. It also is a stepchild to the political tactic of tracking an opponent with video until a gaffe occurs, then capitalizing on it. The sting's impact was magnified by the quick dissemination-without-scrutiny that is a hallmark of Internet-driven media.

O'Keefe, 27, previously made a video about ACORN, the voter-registration group that disbanded after fraud allegations, and audio recordings about Planned Parenthood. He and colleagues dressed as phone repairmen to get into the office of Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and unsuccessfully tried to get CNN reporter Abbie Boudreau to do an interview on a boat loaded with sex toys. He says he launched the NPR project after the news organization fired commentator Juan Williams last fall for saying on Fox News that he was afraid of Muslim passengers on airplanes.

O'Keefe's tactics combine "the guerrilla of Borat, the gotcha of Dateline ... and the gonzo approach of Hunter S. Thompson," O'Keefe said in an interview. "It doesn't matter what title you use to label us. ... We try to get to the truth, and we believe that it's morally necessary and justified to use these tactics."