SAN DIEGO — Some African-American journalists and public relations professionals expressed mixed feelings over Shirley Sherrod’s plans to sue conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart.
“What does she expect to get out of it?” asked Drew Watkins, of Turner Sports in Atlanta, Ga. “I’d have to know what she’s going to get out of it to know if it’s a good idea or not.”
Sherrod was the center of a political and racial firestorm this month when Breitbart released a heavily edited speech she made before an NAACP audience several months earlier that appeared to be racist. Sherrod was forced to resign from her position in the Agriculture Department, was condemned by the NAACP and said she has received hate mail and harassing calls in the scandal’s wake.
Sherrod announced Thursday of her intent to file the lawsuit during a talk at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention at the Hyatt Manchester Hotel in San Diego.
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“I will definitely do it,” she said of pursuing a suit, but did not say whether she would sue the government, Breitbart, or others involved in the incident.
Sherrod also blasted Fox News for its initial reporting of the out-of-context speech, and said she will never speak to the news entity.
“I will not give Fox an interview—period,” she said. “They had a chance to get the truth out.”
Michael McCarter, director of visuals for the Cincinnati Enquirer, said the entire debacle should never have happened, but questioned whether a lawsuit was the answer.
“I don’t think that anybody ever wins in the long-term when you start litigating issues like this,” he said. “I guess it’s a little naïve to hope that we could ever sit down as one big happy family and work through these issues.”
“But at the same time,” McCarter added, “I do understand the position in needing to see if there is anything, based on what happened to her, that she could do to make sure it doesn’t happen to others.”
Christina Cobb, who sat in on the Sherrod’s talk and works with APCO Worldwide, a public relations firm based in Washington D.C., said while she thinks that it may be difficult for Sherrod to win a lawsuit, the legal action would raise important questions about the blogosphere, people’s ability to “make” their own news, and how that can impact other people’s lives.
“I wish her the best,” she said, “and I think in the future, there will be a lot more conversations had about how blogs and online news are affecting the world.”
Damaso Reyes, freelance reporter for the New York Amsterdam News, said although it’s unclear who Sherrod plans to sue, she has been treated poorly by both the government and the media.
“I don’t think a lawsuit is going to change anything or make people feel better,” he said, ” but I think she is still looking for resolution on an emotional level. And I don’t blame her at all. I would feel very ill-used.”