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Federal officials charged four men on Tuesday with entering under false pretenses the New Orleans office of Democratic Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu—dressed as telephone repairmen.

One of the men, James O’Keefe, is a conservative activist who gained fame last year after secretly recording members of the community group ACORN.

Now, some are criticizing the lack of response from those who in the past, promoted O’Keefe’s journalism as a new wave of investigative reporting.

We’re looking at sources from The Washington Times, FOX News, MSNBC, and The Atlantic.

When O’Keefe and friend Hannah Giles exposed an ACORN housing scandal last September by posing as a pimp and prostitute, a Washington Times column by Richard Rahn called them American patriots.

“We can hope that Ms. Giles and Mr. O'Keefe will serve as role models for millions of other young Americans… By using the new technologies, smart amateurs with courage and good judgment are becoming effective investigative journalists.”

Similarly, FOX News’ The O’Rielly Factor promoted O’Keefe and his partner Hannah Giles as pioneering new journalists.

O’RIELLY: “That’s right. Don’t do it. But don’t you admire these citizens. Don’t you admire these young people…”

FRANK: “I don’t know enough…”

O’RIELLY: “…going in there and rooting out corruption. Come on.”

FRANK: “Yes, I…”

O’RIELLY: “…You want to root out corruption.”

FRANK: “…Bill what’s? Come on. Bill please let me talk, let’s not get into this again…”

O’RIELLY: “I want you to admire them. I want you to admire…”

But after reports of O’Keefe’s arrest on Tuesday, Fox News was criticized for remaining quiet about the young journalist. Here’s FOX News correspondent Eric Shawn on O’Keefe’s involvement in the telephone incident.

“We will not know the nature of this apparent film project until he gets out of jail and we here from him.”

On MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, political analyst Richard Wolffe criticizes O’Keefe’s methods and unethical, while also taking a stab at those who previously praised his work.

“There is nothing investigative that allows people to impersonate people and attempt to wire tap any phone, never mind a federal office. So you know the interesting thing here is not what the conservatives would say about a hypothetical democrat for doing this, it’s what they said about O’Keefe at the time. This man was supposed to be the future of journalism.”

But an opinion piece on The Atlantic says many of the same people who once praised O’Keefe are in fact condemning his actions. The article provides examples notably conservative pundit Michelle Malkin, who notes:

"Let it be a lesson to aspiring young conservatives interested in investigative journalism: Know your limits. Know the law. Don't get carried away. And don't become what you are targeting."

So what are your thoughts on O’Keefe’s arrest? Will conservatives be revoking their former praises or are some news sources jumping to soon to accusations?

Writer: Amanda Klohmann

Producer: Newsy Staff