On 'The Ingraham Angle,' journalist discusses the botched CNN story:
Greenwald explained his decision in a scathing blog post
that blasted his former company for censoring an article that was
critical of the Democratic presidential nominee and his alleged overseas
business dealings.
He called the current iteration of The
Intercept “completely unrecognizable when compared to that original
vision” because it no longer offers a venue for airing dissent,
marginalized voices and unheard perspectives.
‘LAPDOG PRESS’ BLACKS OUT EXPLOSIVE TONY BOBULINSKI CLAIMS AS CNN, MSNBC, NYT, WAPO SKIP STORY
“Today
I sent my intention to resign from The Intercept, the news outlet
I co-founded in 2013 with Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras, as well as
from its parent company First Look Media,” he wrote.
“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.”
Greenwald
explained that the censored article was “based on recently revealed
emails and witness testimony, raised critical questions about Biden’s
conduct,” which has been an ongoing issue among the mainstream media.
Many outlets, including CNN, MSNBC, NPR, The New York Times and
Washington Post, had opted against reporting on certain stories related
to Biden’s alleged overseas business practices.
“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 wrote.
'PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY': TONY BOBULINSKI CLAIMS BIDEN FAMILY SHRUGGED OFF CONCERNS ABOUT RISK TO 2020 BID
“I
had no objection to their disagreement with my views of what this Biden
evidence shows: as a last-ditch attempt to avoid being censored, I
encouraged them to air their disagreements with me by writing their own
articles that critique my perspectives and letting readers decide who is
right, the way any confident and healthy media outlet would,” he
continued. “But modern media outlets do not air dissent; they quash it.
So censorship of my article, rather than engagement with it, was the
path these Biden-supporting editors chose."
Greenwald posted the censored story on his personal Substack blog and said his work will land there for the immediate future.
“This
was not an easy choice: 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,” Greenwald wrote. “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.”
HUNTER BIDEN BUSINESS ASSOCIATE'S TEXT MESSAGES INDICATE MEETING WITH JOE BIDEN
He
feels The Intercept censored the article because it was “critical of a
powerful Democratic politician vehemently supported by the editors in
the imminent national election,” but doesn’t think the behavior was
unique to The Intercept.
“These are the viruses that have
contaminated virtually every mainstream center-left political
organization, academic institution, and newsroom,” Greenwald wrote. “ 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.”
The
Intercept’s editor-in-chief Betsy Reed defended her organization in a
statement to Washington Post media reporter Erik Wemple. She
said Greenwald's decision to resign stemmed from "a fundamental
disagreement over the role of editors in the production of journalism
and the nature of censorship."
BIDEN STAYS SILENT ON BOBULINSKI CLAIMS ABOUT FAMILY'S BUSINESS VENTURES
Reed
called the claim that The Intercept’s editors are all pulling for Biden
“preposterous” and said a brief glance at her website would refute
those claims. “Facts are facts and The Intercept record of fearless,
rigorous, independent journalism speaks for itself,” she wrote.
“The
narrative he presents about his departure is teeming with distortions
and inaccuracies – all of them designed to make him appear a victim,
rather than a grown person throwing a tantrum,” Reed wrote. “While he
accuses us of political bias, it was he who was attempting to recycle a
political campaign’s – the Trump campaign’s – dubious claims and launder
them as journalism.”
The
harsh rebuttal to Greenwald’s resignation failed to mention anything
specific about the controversy surrounding Hunter Biden’s alleged
overseas business associates that was first reported by the New York
Post, instead chalking them up to “dubious claims” pushed by the Trump
campaign.
However, Hunter Biden’s former business associate
claimed he met twice in the past with the former vice
president -- despite past statements from Biden that he had no
involvement with or discussions about his family's overseas ventures.
That associate, Tony Bobulinski, gave
an interview on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Tuesday
and detailed his alleged meetings with the Democratic presidential
nominee—one of which took place on May 2, 2017, according to text
messages first reported by Fox News last week.
Those
messages indicated that the meeting did, in fact, take place.
Bobulinski claimed Tuesday that it was Hunter Biden and Jim Biden, the
brother of the former vice president, who had pushed the meeting and
dismissed concerns that it could hurt the family politically.
Speaking
with Carlson, Bobulinski also claimed Biden’s denials of knowledge in
his son's foreign dealings during the presidential debate was "a blatant lie."
The article that Greenwald said was censored
by The Intercept was posted on Subbstack, headlined, “THE REAL SCANDAL:
U.S. MEDIA USES FALSEHOODS TO DEFEND JOE BIDEN FROM HUNTER’S EMAILS,”
and detailed recent developments to the ongoing controversy such as
mainstream media outlets refusing to cover the story.
Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
