In the old days, writing a factually correct news story would not be something that a journalist would sprint to a microphone and announce at a news conference. But conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart's impromptu presser shows how much media has changed.

And Breitbart—who did dash to the mic Monday afternoon to claim the high ground in the congressman Anthony Weiner scandal—exemplifies a media world sliced and diced between the left and the right, liberals and conservatives, bloggers and mainstream journalists, analysts and commentators. It's a murky place in which journalists are not just chasing stories, but trying to figure out which outlet has what agenda.

In that vein, here's the scoop on Breitbart. He is a conservative blogger and a protégé of Matt Drudge who founded the website BigGovernment.com, and spawned a series of sites all with muckraking bent: BigHollywood, BigJournalism and BigPeace, in addition to an eponymous video site.

Breitbart's gained a reputation as a go-to guy for scandalous stories that not only appeal to conservatives, but are getting the media at large talking. He's someone who criticizes the mainstream media for ignoring the type of stories that are important to the right. When the first bulging crotch underwear photo from Weiner's Twitter account surfaced, a Twitter user sent it to Breitbart directly. Breitbart reported it, as well as the New York City Democrat's claims that his account was hacked.

The story, as everyone knows by now, didn't stop there. Breitbart then correctly verified even more shenanigans by securing more lewd photos from one young woman who received them from Weiner and was told by a friend to share them with Breitbart. He partnered with ABC News on its interview with that woman, Megan Broussard, an alliance that he later said was his way to prove to the mainstream media types that have scorned him in the past (and vice versa) that he wasn’t just a right-wing scandal sheet writer out to nail a Democratic lawmaker.

The same went for his mic grab Monday: “I’m here for some vindication,” Breitbart told reporters as he took to the lectern at Weiner’s own news conference to discuss the racy photos that Weiner, by then, had acknowledged as his, and that Breitbart had run online as proof.

In an interview with the New York Times, he again made a pitch for journalistic non-bias on the story. “One of the reasons I went to ABC, believe it or not, was to take this out of the partisan rancor realm,” he told the Times.

After Breitbart left the microphone at the Weiner press conference, the congressman himself walked up and admitted inappropriate communications with six or more women via social media. The representative from New York City's eyes welled up at the podium, perhaps in the hopes that the story that has delighted headline writers— the New York Post was using a “Battle of the Bulge” kicker on all of its stories—would come to an end.

Weiner then did something surprising. He actually apologized about being dishonest with Breitbart, a move that no doubt boosted Breitbart's ego but also legitimized his style of entrepreneurial journalism.

Breitbart, who appeared later that evening on Fox News’ Hannity program, explained that he didn’t realize that he was on live TV when he spoke to reporters from Weiner's podium, and that he was just looking to amplify his voice after being swarmed. Among the photos that Breitbart obtained was an X-rated one that he wouldn’t share with the media. Why not? Breitbart says he actually started to feel bad for Weiner.

“And I'm torn between, you know, my desire to forgive the man for whatever private sins he had. But if I had not shown these photos today, he would have continued down a campaign—of smearing me,” Breitbart said on Hannity.

Some might not take kindly to Breitbart playing the role of victim, since it was he who first ran footage of government worker Shirley Sherrod's speech before the NAACP which was edited—either purposefully or through negligence is unclear— in a way that made her statements sound racist. It was later determined to have been taken out of context.

If Breitbart gained any kind of grudging respect from his media colleagues, post-Weiner, as he may have hoped, it certainly wasn't universal. The Washington Post ran a story from CBS News headlined "Breitbart boosts cred with Weiner confession."

But Salon had a sharp-knives-out take on Breitbart's efforts:

“The press is aiding in the reputation-rehabilitation of an unstable, manic, self-aggrandizing right-wing provocateur with a history of botched attack jobs and a fungible personal interpretation of "truth," because they love a comeback story. Sure, the last time everyone began treating Andrew Breitbart as something other than a sideshow performer, they all got burned, but hey, this Weiner thing held up!”

As the Times points out, Fox News was the only cable channel to carry extended footage of Breitbart’s remarks at the Weiner press conference. CNN and MSNBC played the video but their anchors talked over the blogger.

No doubt that if something like this happens again, no one will pull away when Andrew Breitbart seizes control of the microphone.

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Teresa Novellino writes for Portfolio.com