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Greenwald: The Leading Activists for Online Censorship Are Corporate Journalists

99 points by paganel 6y ago

paganel 6y ago
This part stood out to me, and might be more relevant to the HN crowd: > But the broader context for the bill is the one most interesting and the one on which I focused in my opening statement and testimony: namely, the relationship between social media and tech giants on the one hand, and the news media industry on the other. Contrary to the popular narrative propagated by news outlets — in which they are cast as the victims of the supremely powerful Silicon Valley giants — that narrative is sometimes (not always, but sometimes) the opposite of reality: much if not most Silicon Valley censorship of political speech emanates from pressure campaigns led by corporate media outlets and their journalists, demanding that more and more of their competitors and ideological adversaries be silenced. Big media, in other words, is coopting the power of Big Tech for their own purposes. If it matters, I learned about this link/post via /r/stupidpol.
- addicted 6y ago
  This excerpt makes little sense to me. It says that “sometimes” it’s news media that’s driving SV censorship. It’s quite pointless having this discussion until there is more evidence as to how large “sometimes” is. If the corporate media outlets are doing it 1%, social media companies 80% and Random YouTube influencer 15%, then spending time discussing corporate media outlets’ influence seems more than a little pointless. If it’s up at 70% or the times, then yes, it becomes urgent to discuss this.
cbradford 6y ago
This is one of the few people willing to speak truth to power
setpatchaddress 6y ago
This is buzzword-laden gobbledygook, and I tend to think Greenwald is butthurt on “online censorship” because he got called on his shit. https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/glenn-greenwald-quits-intercept/ https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/glenn-greenwald-quits-inte...
- b215826 6y ago
  The article you linked is almost 6 months old and says absolutely nothing about recent events related to Substack and the calls for censoring certain writers. And where does it call Greenwald's "bullshit"?
ajarmst 6y ago
Greenwald is currently going through what appears to be some sort of public breakdown that features poorly supported claims of conspiracies and vendettas---including multiple reports that he views any editorial process as 'censorship'. He is not, at least at the moment, a reliable source, especially on this topic. This makes me sad, given the good work he has done in the past. I hope he finds his way back.
- jxding 6y ago
  Agreed, I got into reading Greenwald because of his generally sane viewpoints and his good work with the Snowden leaks in the past. Yet he now seems to be going down a rabbit hole I can't follow. I wonder what happened to him?
- whatthesmack 6y ago
  Can you be more specific? He's describing what a lot of us are seeing in the media these days. I closely identify with and agree with what he has written here. It seems like he is one of the few in the industry that actually has some level of self-awareness. Also, what would he have to do to "find his way back"?
  - ajarmst 6y ago
    Stop going on the Daily Caller to praise Tucker Carlson would be a good first step.
    - finnthehuman 6y ago
      What's the point of championing a position if you're not going to do it towards the opposition? And encourage your cohort to understand what the opposition is thinking? We don't need yet another ineffectual nobody telling people predisposed to hate Carlson that Tucker Bad. Edit: This submission got me reading some of Greenwald's other recent posts, here's a comment from one: >Glenn, I am a life-long conservative who recently found you here on Substack after seeing you on TC Tonight a couple of times. Your work is remarkable. In just a short time you have opened my eyes to a lot of new issues and perspectives. [...] >Turns out, us conservatives have a lot in common now with true liberals, and we are going to have to find ways to work together to deal with [...]
megaman821 6y ago
I hardly read the news anymore since there is so much outrage journalism. The tone of the news has very much changed and the press seems to be at war with everyone. Just in the last year there have been fights with the White House, social media, Substack writers, and probably more than I am forgetting. Are there any good news sources left if I never what to read anything outrage or culture wars?
- crocodiletears 6y ago
  NHK (the Japanese BBC) is reasonable.They focus on east-asian news, but they're a breath of fresh air every once and a while.
- cheshireoctopus 6y ago
  > the press seems to be at war with everyone This is the focus of Matt Taibbi's "Hate Inc."
- DaedPsyker 6y ago
  Wire services like reuter or AP are still fairly decent since it's mostly a straight reporting of events.
  - loudtieblahblah 6y ago
    Reuters pushes propaganda https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/20/reuters-bbc-uk-foreign-office-russian-media/ https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/20/reuters-bbc-uk-foreign-of...
- dclusin 6y ago
  I subscribe to the Financial Times. Decent journalism. Mostly business focused tho.
throwawaymanbot 6y ago
The attention... give him it... all the attention... waaaaaaahh!!
jetume 6y ago
I just find it ironic that a few comments are being down voted on an article about censorship.

99 points by paganel 6y ago

This part stood out to me, and might be more relevant to the HN crowd: > But the broader context for the bill is the one most interesting and the one on which I focused in my opening statement and testimony: namely, the relationship between social media and tech giants on the one hand, and the news media industry on the other. Contrary to the popular narrative propagated by news outlets — in which they are cast as the victims of the supremely powerful Silicon Valley giants — that narrative is sometimes (not always, but sometimes) the opposite of reality: much if not most Silicon Valley censorship of political speech emanates from pressure campaigns led by corporate media outlets and their journalists, demanding that more and more of their competitors and ideological adversaries be silenced. Big media, in other words, is coopting the power of Big Tech for their own purposes. If it matters, I learned about this link/post via /r/stupidpol.

addicted 6y ago
This excerpt makes little sense to me. It says that “sometimes” it’s news media that’s driving SV censorship. It’s quite pointless having this discussion until there is more evidence as to how large “sometimes” is. If the corporate media outlets are doing it 1%, social media companies 80% and Random YouTube influencer 15%, then spending time discussing corporate media outlets’ influence seems more than a little pointless. If it’s up at 70% or the times, then yes, it becomes urgent to discuss this.

cbradford 6y ago

This is one of the few people willing to speak truth to power

setpatchaddress 6y ago

This is buzzword-laden gobbledygook, and I tend to think Greenwald is butthurt on “online censorship” because he got called on his shit. https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/glenn-greenwald-quits-intercept/ https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/glenn-greenwald-quits-inte...

b215826 6y ago
The article you linked is almost 6 months old and says absolutely nothing about recent events related to Substack and the calls for censoring certain writers. And where does it call Greenwald's "bullshit"?

ajarmst 6y ago

Greenwald is currently going through what appears to be some sort of public breakdown that features poorly supported claims of conspiracies and vendettas---including multiple reports that he views any editorial process as 'censorship'. He is not, at least at the moment, a reliable source, especially on this topic. This makes me sad, given the good work he has done in the past. I hope he finds his way back.

jxding 6y ago
Agreed, I got into reading Greenwald because of his generally sane viewpoints and his good work with the Snowden leaks in the past. Yet he now seems to be going down a rabbit hole I can't follow. I wonder what happened to him?
whatthesmack 6y ago
Can you be more specific? He's describing what a lot of us are seeing in the media these days. I closely identify with and agree with what he has written here. It seems like he is one of the few in the industry that actually has some level of self-awareness. Also, what would he have to do to "find his way back"?
- ajarmst 6y ago
  Stop going on the Daily Caller to praise Tucker Carlson would be a good first step.
  - finnthehuman 6y ago
    What's the point of championing a position if you're not going to do it towards the opposition? And encourage your cohort to understand what the opposition is thinking? We don't need yet another ineffectual nobody telling people predisposed to hate Carlson that Tucker Bad. Edit: This submission got me reading some of Greenwald's other recent posts, here's a comment from one: >Glenn, I am a life-long conservative who recently found you here on Substack after seeing you on TC Tonight a couple of times. Your work is remarkable. In just a short time you have opened my eyes to a lot of new issues and perspectives. [...] >Turns out, us conservatives have a lot in common now with true liberals, and we are going to have to find ways to work together to deal with [...]

megaman821 6y ago

I hardly read the news anymore since there is so much outrage journalism. The tone of the news has very much changed and the press seems to be at war with everyone. Just in the last year there have been fights with the White House, social media, Substack writers, and probably more than I am forgetting. Are there any good news sources left if I never what to read anything outrage or culture wars?

crocodiletears 6y ago
NHK (the Japanese BBC) is reasonable.They focus on east-asian news, but they're a breath of fresh air every once and a while.
cheshireoctopus 6y ago
> the press seems to be at war with everyone This is the focus of Matt Taibbi's "Hate Inc."
DaedPsyker 6y ago
Wire services like reuter or AP are still fairly decent since it's mostly a straight reporting of events.
- loudtieblahblah 6y ago
  Reuters pushes propaganda https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/20/reuters-bbc-uk-foreign-office-russian-media/ https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/20/reuters-bbc-uk-foreign-of...
dclusin 6y ago
I subscribe to the Financial Times. Decent journalism. Mostly business focused tho.

throwawaymanbot 6y ago

The attention... give him it... all the attention... waaaaaaahh!!

jetume 6y ago

I just find it ironic that a few comments are being down voted on an article about censorship.