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While I think The Intercept is the most important news organization and overall a profoundly beneficial force in the world, I think it's important to note that

While I think The Intercept is the most important news organization and overall a profoundly beneficial force in the world, I think it's important to note that The Intercept has been on a path to discredit Peter Thiel as retaliation for his support of the lawsuit against Gawker. Several of The Intercept's reporters are former Gawker reporters and clearly carry a grudge against Thiel. The Intercept has offered brave and groundbreaking reporting on the illicit surveillance operations conducted by the US Government, but has recently adopted the tactic of blending its reporting warning about surveillance with a focus on Palantir, likely due to its notable name and affiliation with Thiel. Palantir got traction because it was able to meet existing government RFPs at lower cost than existing competitors. Palantir is not the only company building tools for the surveillance state, only the most notable in Silicon Valley. I wish even a single news organization could keep its personal gripes/grudges out of its reporting. Suggesting that Palantir is unique in its catering to surveillance overreach is disingenuous. I also, fwiw, think that Thiel was within his right to help fund an adversarial lawsuit against Gawker. Gawker capitalized on its own large legal war chest, and it's fair that it suffered the same fate. It was not ideal, as Gawker was a source of good reporting and brave disregard of certain unfortunate laws, but nonetheless fair and not unethical. If all parties in lawsuits had a benefactor many miscarriages of justice would be avoided. This is a flaw of our legal system and nothing else.

ng12 10y ago
> While I think The Intercept is the most important news organization and overall a profoundly beneficial force in the world The rest of your post makes me totally disagree with this sentiment. If they fail to meet the most basic litmus test for impartiality I don't see how they're any more important than any other news organization. EDIT: I really, really hope you're not referring to the Hogan case as "brave disregard of certain unfortunate laws".
- grandalf 10y ago
  It's a new trend, and to date the reporting has been so strong that it will take more than a few Thiel stories to tip the balance. I'm hoping they come to their senses. They've been doing a lot of "in group" focused stories, which are very annoying. I think most rational readers don't want in-group stories they want solid reporting and clear analysis. Sure, most people who want to read Greenwald's reporting about the surveillance state also don't mind reading a story implicating Thiel in the overreach, but that doesn't mean they ought to stoop to the level of calling out Tiel and not calling out the A list investors, established larger firms, and government officials who are all part of the reason we should all be concerned about the likely misuse of Palantir's (and a lot of other) tech. To be fair, The Intercept does great investigative journalism, but as a whole does not position itself as a completely objective source. There are a fair number of "awareness" oriented stories published, and even a few rants. Rants can be very informative but it's important to differentiate them from what is supposed to be unbiased/objective news or analysis. Sadly, clickbait-oriented metrics likely suggest to the editors of all news-ish publications that the in-group stories are what readers demand.
masonic 10y ago
I think The Intercept is the most important news organization and overall a profoundly beneficial force Does that include Juan Thompson[0]? [0] http://www.businessinsider.com/intercept-reporter-juan-thompson-accused-of-making-jcc-bomb-threats-2017-3 http://www.businessinsider.com/intercept-reporter-juan-thomp...
- grandalf 10y ago
  No, he was not really ever a reporter there, just an intern briefly, who overstated his involvement on his resume.
  - masonic 10y ago
    quoting from the article I linked: "The tweet was sent by the Twitter handle @juanmthompson, which is listed on the Intercept's website as belonging to the reporter..."
    - grandalf 10y ago
      He was listed as one of the reporters, but was actually an intern and was released. Clearly the guy is an activist, it just seems he's got a very unusual system of ethics that guide his activism, which most people would consider over the top or abhorrent. I'm certainly not defending him, I chalk it up to an HR mistake by The Intercept and nothing more.

ng12 10y ago

> While I think The Intercept is the most important news organization and overall a profoundly beneficial force in the world The rest of your post makes me totally disagree with this sentiment. If they fail to meet the most basic litmus test for impartiality I don't see how they're any more important than any other news organization. EDIT: I really, really hope you're not referring to the Hogan case as "brave disregard of certain unfortunate laws".

grandalf 10y ago
It's a new trend, and to date the reporting has been so strong that it will take more than a few Thiel stories to tip the balance. I'm hoping they come to their senses. They've been doing a lot of "in group" focused stories, which are very annoying. I think most rational readers don't want in-group stories they want solid reporting and clear analysis. Sure, most people who want to read Greenwald's reporting about the surveillance state also don't mind reading a story implicating Thiel in the overreach, but that doesn't mean they ought to stoop to the level of calling out Tiel and not calling out the A list investors, established larger firms, and government officials who are all part of the reason we should all be concerned about the likely misuse of Palantir's (and a lot of other) tech. To be fair, The Intercept does great investigative journalism, but as a whole does not position itself as a completely objective source. There are a fair number of "awareness" oriented stories published, and even a few rants. Rants can be very informative but it's important to differentiate them from what is supposed to be unbiased/objective news or analysis. Sadly, clickbait-oriented metrics likely suggest to the editors of all news-ish publications that the in-group stories are what readers demand.

masonic 10y ago

I think The Intercept is the most important news organization and overall a profoundly beneficial force Does that include Juan Thompson[0]? [0] http://www.businessinsider.com/intercept-reporter-juan-thompson-accused-of-making-jcc-bomb-threats-2017-3 http://www.businessinsider.com/intercept-reporter-juan-thomp...

grandalf 10y ago
No, he was not really ever a reporter there, just an intern briefly, who overstated his involvement on his resume.
- masonic 10y ago
  quoting from the article I linked: "The tweet was sent by the Twitter handle @juanmthompson, which is listed on the Intercept's website as belonging to the reporter..."
  - grandalf 10y ago
    He was listed as one of the reporters, but was actually an intern and was released. Clearly the guy is an activist, it just seems he's got a very unusual system of ethics that guide his activism, which most people would consider over the top or abhorrent. I'm certainly not defending him, I chalk it up to an HR mistake by The Intercept and nothing more.