Glenn Greenwald Resigns From The Intercept
He's leaving the media outlet he co-founded for Substack - following in the footsteps of other high profile journalists and writers.
The Intercept is a media outlet founded on February 12, 2014. Glenn Greenwald, documentarian Laura Poitras, and fellow reporter Jeremy Scahill specifically designed the publication to be a place where journalists would be protected from editorial intimidation and interference. It was announced as an outlet who would set out to recruit many of the journalists whose work they have long respected and admired: "those who have a proven track record of breaking boundaries, taking risks, and producing innovative, rigorous journalism."
It was big news in the media world. Greenwald and Poitras helped former NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden come forward about a secret, illegal mass surveillance program conducted by the U.S. government. Once the story came to light, Snowden went into exile. Greenwald subsequently became the subject of denunciations by colleagues and politicians alike.
Wednesday, he resigned from his publication. He cited censorship by his own editors over an article concerning former Vice President Joe Biden.
He stated:
The final, precipitating cause is that 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.
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.
Greenwald will be publishing his future journalism here on Substack, the platform where you read Think Things Through. I've noticed a pattern over the past year or so. Numerous journalists have come to this platform to free themselves of the increasingly repressive climate engulfing national mainstream media outlets across the country. Matt Taibbi left Rolling Stone, Andrew Sullivan left The New Yorker, and I enjoy reading The Dispatch, a newsletter that began publishing last year.
The Dispatch is Substack’s most popular newsletter and was formed by Steve Hayes, the former editor in chief of The Weekly Standard, along with Jonah Goldberg, a former editor at National Review, and Toby Stock, a former executive at the American Enterprise Institute.
After I secured my own subscription to The Dispatch last year, I’ve enjoyed their content. I did some research to find out how they publish their newsletter. I figured I’d publish something similar, but with my own angle. That’s when I discovered Substack.
Today, The Dispatch has nearly 100,000 subscribers, almost 18,000 paid. It’s close to pulling in $2 million in first-year revenue. It's all based on subscriptions. Hopefully, I can get close to that someday. I have quite a few subscribers of my own, and I thank you all for your support. I truly appreciate it.
Consumers of information realize that there's a lot of value in going direct to individuals you find useful. No longer do you have to wade through legacy publications and media outlets to find information. This new platform appeals to journalists nowadays, partly because the news media business has been in a steady decline. From 2004 to 2019, roughly half of all newspaper jobs in the United States were eliminated. More than 30,000 journalists have been laid off, been furloughed, or had their pay reduced during the coronavirus pandemic.
Glenn Greenwald is taking a significant risk by leaving—especially during a time like this. He stated in his first post:
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. I could not sleep at night knowing that I allowed any institution to censor what I want to say and believe — least of all a media outlet I co-founded with the explicit goal of ensuring this never happens to other journalists, let alone to me, let alone because I have written an article critical of a powerful Democratic politician vehemently supported by the editors in the imminent national election.
But the 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.
Greenwald has been one of the louder voices to speak up about some of the bizarre claims made by Democratic Party partisans in the Trump era. Whether it the charges that Tulsi Gabbard is a Russian asset, or the pee tape, or walked-back stories like the Afghan bounty story. He constantly challenged prevailing wisdom. I admire people like that. It's one of the reasons why I write here in this newsletter.
It seems as if journalists working in companies they co-founded can't escape pressures to tow the company line. When Bari Weiss left The New York Times, she wrote a similar resignation letter. A theme runs through these departures; censorship, groupthink, and the need for journalists to write stories that fit the needs of a predetermined narrative.
In Bari's letter:
Showing up for work as a centrist at an American newspaper should not require bravery.
Part of me wishes I could say that my experience was unique. But the truth is that intellectual curiosity—let alone risk-taking—is now a liability at The Times. Why edit something challenging to our readers, or write something bold only to go through the numbing process of making it ideologically kosher, when we can assure ourselves of job security (and clicks) by publishing our 4000th op-ed arguing that Donald Trump is a unique danger to the country and the world? And so self-censorship has become the norm.
The Intercept and many media outlets have gotten turned around by the Trump phenomenon. It's a difficult time for reporters. For the past four years, they have wrestled with an unstable, irrational, and unpredictable president. Some have been convinced to change how they conduct business by reacting to his every whim and tweet. They have also gone out of their way to silence those who may have stories damaging to his opponents. They do whatever they can to make sure they are not accused of helping Trump get re-elected.
Three hundred thirty million citizens don't all think alike. We all aren't on the far left or the far right. Sometimes we want our information unfiltered. Just tell us what happened, and we’ll figure out the rest. Extreme voices and major media institutions have an outsized influence on our discourse. Extremists have attitudes that treat politics as core to their identity. Most people in the middle don't. Many centrists are not as engaged or closed-minded as more radical voices. Centrists can play an essential role in elevating our discourse.
There is a loud and engaged group of extreme ideologues who have an outsized voice despite their small numbers. It's not surprising how many people have no issue with cancellation or media suppression of viewpoints that differ from theirs. The Twitter mob isn't reality. Mobs have no desire to make society better. These trolls simply want to see what type of power they can have over celebrities and companies.
A larger group of reasonable and thoughtful centrists, who are far less engaged and divisive, exist in real life. The center is moving away from mainstream media and into platforms that can only be censored by its subscriber base. More moderate and unfiltered views need to be heard, not censored.
The silent center has ceded too much ground and agenda to the extreme. America has become a world where the minority rules over the majority. It doesn't have to remain this way. The more we hear from independent writers and journalists, the better-informed citizenry we'll have.
I’ll be looking forward to Mr. Greenwald’s journalism. There are a lot of great publications here on substack. I’m happy to see more people like him joining the next level of independent journalism.
Clayton Craddock is an independent thinker, father of two beautiful children in New York City. He is the drummer of the hit broadway musical Ain't Too Proud. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University's School of Business and is a 28 year veteran of the fast-paced New York City music scene. He has played drums in several hit broadway and off-broadway musicals, including "Tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical, and Lady Day At Emerson's Bar and Grill. Also, Clayton has worked on: Footloose, Motown, The Color Purple, Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Evita, Cats, Spongebob Squarepants The Musical and Avenue Q.