October 29, 2020

"The investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald has resigned abruptly from the Intercept, the news website he co-founded, and accused the organization of seeking to censor him over a planned article critical of the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden."

"Greenwald, who was a vital part of the Guardian US team that broke the Edward Snowden whistleblower story in 2013, released a statement online that blasted the editors of the Intercept as being in hock to Biden and the Democratic party. 'The Intercept’s editors, in violation of my contractual right of editorial freedom, censored an article I wrote this week, refusing to publish it unless I remove all sections critical of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, the candidate vehemently supported by all New-York-based Intercept editors involved in this effort at suppression,' he wrote in a lengthy resignation post.... In a sharply worded statement, the Intercept’s editor-in-chief, Betsy Reed, said that the charge that the Intercept was censoring its staff was 'preposterous' and that Greenwald’s main problem had been a desire to have his work published unedited. 'The narrative he presents about his departure is teeming with distortions and inaccuracies – all of them designed to make him look like a victim, not a grown person throwing a tantrum,' she added."


From Greenwald's statement:
The censored article, based on recently revealed emails and witness testimony, raised critical questions about Biden’s conduct. Not content to simply prevent publication of this article at the media outlet I co-founded, these Intercept editors also demanded that I refrain from exercising a separate contractual right to publish this article with any other publication....
As of now, I will be publishing my journalism here on Substack.... I am voluntarily sacrificing the support of a large institution and guaranteed salary in exchange for nothing other than a belief that there are enough people who believe in the virtues of independent journalism and the need for free discourse who will be willing to support my work by subscribing. Like anyone with young children, a family and numerous obligations, I do this with some trepidation, but also with the conviction that there is no other choice.... 
[T]he pathologies, illiberalism, and repressive mentality that led to the bizarre spectacle of my being censored by my own media outlet are ones that are by no means unique to The Intercept. These are the viruses that have contaminated virtually every mainstream center-left political organization, academic institution, and newsroom. I began writing about politics fifteen years ago with the goal of combatting media propaganda and repression, and — regardless of the risks involved — simply cannot accept any situation, no matter how secure or lucrative, that forces me to submit my journalism and right of free expression to its suffocating constraints and dogmatic dictates.... 
Fifteen years ago, I created a blog on the free Blogspot software when I was still working as a lawyer: not with any hopes or plans of starting a new career as a journalist, but just as a citizen concerned about what I was seeing with the War on Terror and civil liberties, and wanting to express what I believed needed to be heard... 
The current iteration of The Intercept is completely unrecognizable when compared to that original vision. Rather than offering a venue for airing dissent, marginalized voices and unheard perspectives, it is rapidly becoming just another media outlet with mandated ideological and partisan loyalties, a rigid and narrow range of permitted viewpoints (ranging from establishment liberalism to soft leftism, but always anchored in ultimate support for the Democratic Party), a deep fear of offending hegemonic cultural liberalism and center-left Twitter luminaries, and an overarching need to secure the approval and admiration of the very mainstream media outlets we created The Intercept to oppose, critique and subvert....

I'll make a separate post for Greenwald's article about Biden. Please use the comments here to talk about his dispute with The Intercept and the problem of  journalism's "deep fear of offending hegemonic cultural liberalism and center-left Twitter luminaries."

ADDED: Greenwald has put up "Emails With Intercept Editors Showing Censorship of My Joe Biden Article."

40 comments:

eddie willers said...

And the editors of the Intercept posted a really snarky response on Twitter. Showed no class at all.

RK said...

No way -- I've been assured for decades that there's no liberal bias in journalism.

Drago said...

Not to worry Althouse lefties.

We have already been assured by all the legacy media hucksters that Glenn Greenwald, along with Aaron Mate, Matt Taibbi et al, are all russian assets and operatives and have been since the 1980's, just like Trump!

So, you know, more "'truth' over facts".

Political Junkie said...

Glenn is a lefty, but I respect him. I agree with his points, but I have no idea how to resolve the issue. I believe in "markets", but in the "market place of ideas", IMO, there is an L/D near monopoly.

If "Supply & Demand" is economic science, then decreasing low skilled legal and illegal immigration into U.S. should be a valid proposition for public discourse. However, the D's want the voters and the Chamber of Commerce portion of the R's want greater labor choices, thus lower wages, and greater profits. Lastly, defense of America's culture and language is categorized as hate/racist speech.

This will not end well.

Vance said...

The leftist media is going all in. Here in Utah, the allegedly "conservative" paper, the Deseret News, has abruptly stopped running ads for the local Republican race, one of the big nationwide house races as it's a toss up every year.

They haven't stopped running ads for the Democrat though. The reason given as to why no more Republican ads (For Burgess Owens)? Owen's ads suddenly stopped meeting some vague journalistic "standard" that the paper refuses to reveal.

The paper has also only run two stories on the Hunter Biden thing: both stories like "Is the backlash real?" and not what the Hunter Biden allegations actually are.

The bias is astonishing. I'm not at all surprised at the Intercept: the media appears to have en mass decided that they are Pravda.

Voluntarily decided they were Pravda. That's the astonishing thing. Who would so openly tie yourself to one political party like that?

Earnest Prole said...

Trust me: Not a wasted minute in this three-hour discussion of the cultural and political importance of free expression.

Joe Rogan Experience #1556: Glenn Greenwald

OSU '92 said...

Yet another reporter with tons of Democrat/Liberal street cred being run out of a newsroom for daring to report something that does not reflect well on Democrats. Bari Weiss, Matt Taibbi, Glenn Greenwald, Andrew Sullivan etc.

Keep in mind, these are not conservatives who are being run out of these newsrooms, but Democrats/Liberals who evidently are not 100% compliant with peddling "The Narrative".

The echo-chamber continues unabated. Boy are they in for a surprise on Tuesday.

OldManRick said...

Given Twitter, Facebook, the Washington Post, the NYT, there is really nothing new here on the part of the intercept. Glen and Johnathon Turley pass the classical liberal test - they believe in open communication and combating inaccurate speech with more speech.

It's becoming more and more obvious that the accusations against Biden are true, if not in every detail, then in the overall direction they have taken. Just like the sexual harassment stories, we are finding Biden to be a despicable second rate politician. If he hadn't coat-tailed Obama and became vice president, no one would consider him to be presidential material.

I am still amazed and sadden by the classical liberals who would rather vote for him (or sit out the election) rather than vote for Trump. In the best case, Trump has accomplished more to help the United States, than anyone since Reagan won the cold war. In the worst case, Trump is clearly the lessor of two evils. The last is especially true, given the evil behavior of the press and tech giants.

Big Mike said...

In a sharply worded statement, the Intercept’s editor-in-chief, Betsy Reed, said that the charge that the Intercept was censoring its staff was 'preposterous'

Betsy Reed won’t publish his article, but it’s “preposterous” that he’s being censored. Uh huh.

Wa St Blogger said...

Independent Journalism would be a great thing these days. Not sure if it is even possible. First, anything that is not one side or the other will get "bias" attacks from both sides. Rich owners might also try and drive the agenda. Best case option is a deep libertarian pocket to launch, draw in credible people from both sides, then go public with no one person able to hold more than 10%, and no more than 40% held by the top 50 owners. Something like that.

Michael K said...

I haven't agreed with Greenwald much but he is dead right about this. He is finding his allies on the left were just grifters and money seekers.

Jeff Vader said...

Don’t have to agree with his or Matt Taibi’s politics but they are lefties with integrity

Marshall Rose said...

They fear the public, they think we are ignorant reactionaries. They view their job is to present us the proper information so that we reach the proper decision.

If you go counter to that purpose you will be ostracized because you contribute to the reactionary unwashed masses reaching the wrong decisions.

chickelit said...

How important was Greenwald to the overall success of "The Intercept"? I hope he was crucial and his integrity seems to support that. Consequently, I wish abject failure for "The Intercept" he created.

It's too bad that Matt Drudge is such a bought-off pussy and refuses to distance himself from "The Drudge Report."

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

This is fine. No reason to vote for that icky Trump and his declasse tweets. The loss of our liberal traditions is well worth send OrangeManBad back to Queens where he belongs.

hawkeyedjb said...

The Intercept, a newly-acquired and wholly owned subsidiary of the Democratic National Committee...

The formerly-independent portions of the American press are being absorbed and brought to heel. Even counterculture outfits like The Intercept now roll over to have their tummies rubbed. They must think they'll have an abundant future as part of state-controlled media. It won't be as much fun as they think.

Unknown said...

w

William said...

This reminds me of Jerry Maguire's principled letter of resignation. It won't make much of a wave among the people who are buoyant in waves. They probably won't openly criticize him. They'll just ignore him....You can do something like this in pursuit of a purer, cleaner leftist cause, but not for such as this. He'll gently fade away pixel by pixel.

Unknown said...

Greenwald's Statement here is THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT STATEMENT about the media and the election this year, bar none.

Gahrie said...

It's easy to understand not wanting to vote for trump, especially from a life long Lefty.

But how at this point can you justify not voting against Biden?

PJ said...

He has called it by its name. Bravo, Mr. Greenwald.

Yancey Ward said...

I am just going to say that Reed is almost certainly lying. Greenwald's essay was surely anathema to the rest of the Intercept's editorial staff. It is difficult to figure out exactly what it was that Reed is claiming needed editing that wouldn't have basically gutted the entire essay. Reed is perfectly free to take the Substack version Greenwald published and point out exactly the parts she thought needed to some revision, and what those revisions were going to be. I expect nothing but the sound of crickets.

Original Mike said...

Betsy Reed: "The narrative Glenn presents about his departure is teeming with distortions and inaccuracies — all of them designed to make him appear as a victim, rather than a grown person throwing a tantrum. It would take too long to point them all out here, but we intend to correct the record in time."

Uh huh. Let me guess Betsy; in about 6 days.

How stupid do you have to be to buy this shit?

Kevin said...

Greenspan is a former attorney who will show his work and cite his sources.

There won’t be a question about what happened when he’s done.

And I doubt he’ll be sitting out the election given what’s happening.

chuck said...

It is impossible to stay with the left and stay honest. Every lefty has to eventually choose, and most give up honesty. I congratulate Greenwald for taking the path of most resistance.

Original Mike said...

How can a free speech advocate sit out this election?

Rory said...

"I agree with his points, but I have no idea how to resolve the issue"

3 starting points:

1. Resolve the publisher/platform issue;
2. Take away the near-immunity against libel suits by public figures;
3. Reduce the copyright period to match the patent period of 20.

In short, make these people work for a living, instead of managing content portfolios.

historyDoc said...

Journolist may have gone underground, but its clearly stronger than ever. They are all marching lockstep to the same tune, by some miraculous co-incidence.

Achilles said...

There is no going back.

The Democrats have declared open war on freedom.

They have used violence to get their way.

If you reward Democrat violence you will get violence from the people who want freedom.

Michael K said...

Omidyar funded the Intercept. He is also funding the The Bulwark and he is obviously the one who pulled the plug on Greenwald's piece. It's The Golden Rule. The one with the gold makes the rules.

MikeR said...

"the charge that the Intercept was censoring its staff was 'preposterous'" Now that Greenwald has posted the email exchange, anyone can see that the charge was just the opposite of preposterous. Greenwald's claim was completely correct, and they cut him off when he pointed that out, in detail. And when he told them why they were doing it.
Devastating.

bagoh20 said...

No matter who wins the election, this problem with our press is going to be serious for a long time. The first step to fixing it is to make sure the lies and obfuscation don't work for those doing it. If we let it work for them, they will never stop. If I was on the fence on this election, this would be overwhelming reason to vote against the press's preferred candidates. It would be hard to imagine a candidate so bad that I would still vote for who they are trying to protect like this.

I've been talking to some foreigners friends, and they generally respect the lawfulness of the American system and elections. They expect this kind of thing in other countries, but a few of them have told me they really can't believe how fast it turned here into what they see in their own countries where it is completely fraudulent and everyone knows it. They are disappointed in us, as they always saw us as a standard to look to for what could be in their own country. I'm embarrassed by it.

Jupiter said...

"... in violation of my contractual right of editorial freedom, ..."

That would seem to be a fairly substantial tort, if he describes it accurately.

Lurker21 said...

'The narrative he presents about his departure is teeming with distortions and inaccuracies – all of them designed to make him look like a victim, not a grown person throwing a tantrum,' she added."

The womansplaining lives loudly within her.

And who is it who throws tantrums?

Homophobia much?

Tom said...

He says he’s releasing all his communications with the editors. Good. Embarrass them

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

We need a tsunami of hostile workplace suits and maybe even bari Weiss might wake up and see who really is threatening her and free speech (hint he ain’t the orange one).

DeepRunner said...

I disagree with Glenn Greenwald on a lot of things, but I've always had a somewhat-curious admiration for his willingness to stand by his principles on the ability to expose corruption and inform the people on issues that could affect them. He just doesn't consider the ramifications sometimes; the end doesn't always justify the means. But he's right on this one...the media...including social media...are all-in for Biden, and they ain't hidin' they're for Biden.

mezzrow said...

Why is it that the words "Augean Stables" keep running through my mind?

It is hard to hold onto the thought that this capture of our public media by the "successor ideology" is bigger than the election itself, but there you are. There's a war hiding in this, unless we find another way to make the problem we see heal itself.

I'm not optimistic, irrespective of whether Trump should win or lose. The people behind this are in Brother Malcolm territory, and they are committed to make their ideology triumph by any means necessary.

It's for our own good, you see.

wendybar said...

Go back to sleep Democrats...Nothing to see here. Soon you will be bowing down to your new masters...China....Go back to sleep.

Russell said...

Hey remember when Howard Dean wondered if The Intercept was funded by Russia because of Greenwald's writing? Does he apologize for that now since clearly it wasn't Russia in charge?