Smear campaigns, or the systematic destruction of one's political career are not new to this country. There seems to exist a double standard between conservative public figures and more liberal figures, regarding the ethics of retracting smear campaigns.
In the case of Shirley Sherrod, the official was taped at an NAACP dinner addressing racism to a white farmer, which was then heavily edited and skewed to appear "racist."
Despite the basic journalistic principles of ensuring facts of a story are correct and cooberated, conservative media producers ran wild with the story. How could they not? In the era of Obama in which post-racialism is an insidiously expanding ideology and the protected interests of White, conservative elites is being challenged, a story of a black official appearing "racist" towards a white man served as a jackpot.
Rush Limbaugh utilized the smearing of Sherrod to say the NAACP "is as racist an organization as there has been and is in this country."
Limbaugh must have suffered historical amnesia and forgot about the most racist and murderous organization in the United States, the Ku Klux Klan and its descendant the police force.
The smear campaign successfully ruined Sherrod's career, forcing her to resign.
Later, a few news organizations and distributors apologized for not getting the facts straight. Bill O'Riley apologized for "not doing [his] homework."
Despite this apology, many conservatives were unapologetic to Sherrod and the damage these accusations had caused. I am nearly certain if the tables reversed, any liberal outlet would be forced to issue a large apology to a conservative official, and his or her mistake would be highly publicized.
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