Why has it been so easy?

Lila Rose and James O'Keefe have caught elite institutions with their pants down.  They've done it with vaguely unethical 'stings' - ones that mainstream news outlets wouldn't use.  But that's not what's interesting:  what's interesting is how could a few kids barely out college fool (not once but over a dozen times) politically and socially sophisticated elites into saying the most damning and corrupt things again and again?  Glenn Reynolds has a theory:

WHY IS IT SO EASY for Lila Rose and James O’Keefe? “Why has this been so easy? Because until now Planned Parenthood, ACORN, and NPR have not experienced real media accountability or real journalistic scrutiny — at least not to the extent that conservative politicians and organizations do. The mainstream media (and NPR is obviously part of the MSM) is sympathetic to their goals and purposes, and reporter calls tend to come from friendly voices seeking talking points rather than skeptical reporters demanding answers. In the MSM’s eyes, those organizations were the good guys, part of the home team. . . . Thus, they enjoy the casual confidence and sometimes-startling honesty that comes when one feels they’re ‘among friends.’ They fall for the crudest of tricks and don’t bat an eye at the incongruity of slamming the alleged intolerance of Christian conservatives while courting funding from self-described members of the Muslim Brotherhood.”