Victory: HuffPost reverses course on Andrew Breitbart

In less than a day, you and more than 43,000 ColorOfChange members successfully demanded that The Huffington Post stop elevating Andrew Breitbart and deny his blog prominent placement on their site. After initial resistance,1 The Huffington Post complied. With their move, The Huffington Post reclassified Breitbart to the status he should have had from the beginning. He is now simply one of the more than 3,000 bloggers who contribute to the site and who write without the endorsement or validation of Huffington Post editors.

This is a huge victory. It's the second time within the last 6 months3 that Breitbart has tried to achieve validation by aligning himself with a credible news effort, and the second time ColorOfChange members have denied him the opportunity. To be clear, our petition called on Arianna Huffington and her editors to stop elevating Breitbart—not ban him from the site altogether. It's an important distinction to make, as The Huffington Post, in addition to serving as a news outlet, is an open platform for bloggers where anyone can create an account and post, with the user assuming the burden of marketing what they write.

The Huffington Post should never have elevated Breitbart in the first place given his track record of lies aimed at destroying Black leaders and institutions, and once they heard from tens of thousands of you, management at the site had to figure a way out. The problem was creating tensions within the Huffington Post, and we had several campaign tactics lined up to bring even more heat—both to The Huffington Post and to its parent company AOL. In the end, Breitbart's trademark acting out in response to our campaign made clear that The Huffington Post couldn't survive a relationship with the charlatan and keep its reputation intact. And his behavior gave them a way to pull back from their relationship with Breitbart, without having to admit that they made a poor decision in the first place.

Thanks again for helping to win this important victory. We couldn't have done it without you. Remember, ColorOfChange.org is powered by you, our members—your energy and your dollars. Our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. If you can support our work financially, whatever the amount, please click the link below:

http://www.colorofchange.org/donate

Thanks and Peace,

-- James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Matt, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
March 26th, 2011