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The Media News

Glenn Greenwald Leaves the Guardian To Start His Own Site 94

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the turns-out-it-was-just-dailykos dept.
sfcrazy writes "Glenn Greenwald, the thorn in the proverbial back of NSA and its colonial cousin GCHQ, is leaving the Guardian to start his own news organization. Greenwald said 'My partnership with the Guardian has been extremely fruitful and fulfilling: I have high regard for the editors and journalists with whom I worked and am incredibly proud of what we achieved. The decision to leave was not an easy one, but I was presented with a once-in-a-career dream journalistic opportunity that no journalist could possibly decline. Because this news leaked before we were prepared to announce it, I'm not yet able to provide any details of this momentous new venture, but it will be unveiled very shortly.'"
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Glenn Greenwald Leaves the Guardian To Start His Own Site More

Glenn Greenwald Leaves the Guardian To Start His Own Site

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  • Recruited by NSA? (Score:5, Funny)

    by hawkinspeter ( 831501 ) on Wednesday October 16, 2013 @07:56AM (#45141973)
    So, it has come to this.

    • kind of ironic the story leaked. I don't see why he can't tell us everything... right now... he's kinda made a living on doing that.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        You do know that's not true?

        They have lots of highly sensitive material and have to carefully vet everything they release as to not cause any serious harm to either national security or private individuals.

      • No, he's been making his living sitting on a giant trove of secret documents, and doling them out bit by bit in a way that creates the desired narrative. Early on we were told about some parts of the surveillance, leading to widespread speculation about other parts. Those other parts were already known to Greenwald. He just sat there quietly while everybody ran in circles speculating. Then after they stop speculating, he doles out the answer. And everybody just responds to the "latest leak," even though it

    • Step 1 Use an NSA contracter leak to establish credentials using older operations and long suspected systems.
      Step 2 Create a new centre of leaking excellence.
      Step 3 Request any new leakers give identity and full encrypted data dump first.
      Step 4 Round up majority of new leakers on average but know to keep up appearances with via outraged sock puppets, MI5,6, NSA and congresscritters.
      Step 5 Work with govs on any 'show' releases over many tens of years, questioning all encryption, spreading doubt.
      Step

      • You forgot the FSB, who's to say he can't play well with others?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AHuxley ( 892839 )
          The FSB is already running too many GCHQ, MI6, MI5, CIA, ASIO and NSA full term employes with real long term career advancement opportunities.
          Where the NSA and CIA went for signals intelligence contractors, FSB stayed with the skilled gov staff.

  • Doesn't seem like the best idea (Score:5, Informative)

    by barlevg ( 2111272 ) on Wednesday October 16, 2013 @07:57AM (#45141983)
    IIRC the Guardian has been him with some protection (legal teams and such) to combat against government harassment / retaliation. Will his new venture be able to do the same?

    • Exactly, new sites, even for popular people can take awhile to get up and running. What's to stop someone from just flooding them in legal issues and cause them to bankrupt?

      The Guardian likely has a team of layers on staff to deal with them, but I doubt even Glenn would have the capital to pay for that for possibly months while his user base is built up.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Maybe that's why he's doing this...to protect others (the Guardian staff)who were previously associated with him.

        Here's to Greenwald and his sticking it to the imperialist dogs of the Five Eyes and One Chest Crapper (Germany).

        -- Ethanol-fueled

      • Re:Doesn't seem like the best idea (Score:4, Funny)

        by Captain Hook ( 923766 ) on Wednesday October 16, 2013 @08:17AM (#45142161)

        The Guardian likely has a team of layers on staff to deal with them

        It wouldn't be the first sex sting against members of the government run by a news organisation but how do they get around the pimping laws?

    • Seeing as how we're not in on most of the conversations that took place, we can only guess. It's possible they said they weren't going to do that for him anymore. It's also possible they will STILL do this for him, but as a separate organization on paper, there is less risk to the parent organization. I guess sort of like a shell corporation.
    • It goes beyond legal protection...to eliminate the Guardian from the scene, it is a big organisation - hard work, but a guy starting out on his own (or with a small team), he might just find himself floating the wrong way up in the Thames, after all it is spy agencies he is working against and they have many creative ways (poisoned umbrella, radioactive drink just to name a few Russian favs).

      • These days in Western intelligence, rape charges and other smear tactics are the preferred assassination technique. Why deal with something as messy as bullets and poisons when a nasty sex-offender charge can do the job just as well? Assassination by character assassination.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          Issue is, this guy is openly gay and has a partner. He is also in a country that doesn't like NSA very much right now. It's much more difficult to frame someone who's like that than someone who is single, visits a country bought and paid for and actually has sex with people he doesn't know very well.

    • Mostly the guardian has had to protect themselves from their own government in relation to his leaks, and to protect him while he is traveling to their location in the UK. Greenwald is Brazilian, and presumably his own government loves his work.

  • Infamy, infamy. They've all got it In fer me!

  • Shielding The Guardian from the government? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by intermodal ( 534361 ) on Wednesday October 16, 2013 @08:04AM (#45142047) Homepage Journal

    I have a feeling Mr. Greenwald's articles will continue in The Guardian, but being external may help them avoid some of the legal hassles they are presently subjected to.

  • Adversarial Journalism (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MCSEBear ( 907831 ) on Wednesday October 16, 2013 @08:06AM (#45142069)
    I find the thought of a well funded media outlet staffed by people who don't see their most important job as being subservient to those in power and corporate interests quite appealing.

    Pro Publica has been doing good work in this arena as well.
  • The NSA would be the Colonial Cousin, not GCHQ. As far as I know, the UK has never (officially) been a colony of the US!

    • "Officially" being the key word. However, since Blair left, they seem to be acting a bit more like a sovereign country.

    • Dear IRGlover,

      In the future, please order your history books from amazon.com, not from amazon.co.uk.

      sincerely,
      W.Smith
      revisor, Ficdep, Minitrue

    • I think the roles were turned around after WWII. The UK has acted like a 51st state for a while now (the French call it "the state who didn't row fast enough"). Hence GCHQ being neck-deep in an NSA-driven surveillance scheme, not the other way around -- and ECHELON was the same.

      • You're still using the word colonial wrong even if you believe that. If you want to literally colonise the UK, it means you have to move back here, and live here. Forever. Enjoy the fucking weather.

        The submitter simply mixed up the fact that we are a country with a history of colonisation, with the fact that we are colonials. Which is a fair point if you acknowledge our origins in modern day Denmark and Germany...

  • Extra points if they add Greg Palast.

    P.S. Why is it that the best American investigative journalists work for British publications? Do British investigative journalists work for American publications?

    • Piers Morgan?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )
      Your mistake is the assumption that American publications do investigative journalism. At this point just about the only publications/news sources that do any kind of investigation are SI and ESPN.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      MI6 knows from the Russians to look after the tame US press. A good MI6 press asset can subject the entire US population to creative UK propaganda over a life of quality work.
      Where the CIA has to publicly get the US to befriend a world of juntas and dictators, MI6 just has to befriend a few in the press to shape nations.

    • Re:Greg Palast (Score:5, Informative)

      by coolmadsi ( 823103 ) on Wednesday October 16, 2013 @09:53AM (#45143161) Homepage Journal

      P.S. Why is it that the best American investigative journalists work for British publications? Do British investigative journalists work for American publications?

      The Private Eye (UK publication) seems to do a lot of the investigations into British affairs that a lot of the rest of the British media avoid.

      • +10 Informative.

        Private Eye very often uncovers wrongdoing that other papers simply won't touch.

        And beware the curse of Gnome !

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Nyder ( 754090 )

      ...

      P.S. Why is it that the best American investigative journalists work for British publications? Do British investigative journalists work for American publications?

      Yes, John Oliver works for the Daily Show.

      Oh, wait, you said investigative journalists and he's a comedian, well, that about the same these days.

  • Congratulations (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Bob9113 ( 14996 ) on Wednesday October 16, 2013 @08:28AM (#45142263) Homepage

    It has been said that the business of journalists is, "to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Modern American journalism has inverted that phrase, mocking the weak to help the masses feel better about their dreary normalcy and fawning over the elite in hopes of being granted the favor of an interview or the opportunity to ask a question at a press conference. Glenn Greenwald has shown himself to be cut from cloth more worthy of the journalist mantle.

    Thank you, Mr. Greenwald, and congratulations. "You earned it," has rarely sounded more apropos.

    • Unfortunately things can be a bit more complicated [nationalpost.com] than what the phrase about journalists and your praise of Greenwald suggests.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Bob9113 ( 14996 )

        Unfortunately things can be a bit more complicated than what the phrase about journalists and your praise of Greenwald suggests.

        I would rather die free than live in fear.

        • Something the U.S., as a nation, seems to not understand: by making a huge fuss about a "war on terror", they have, by definition, lost the war on terror.

        • I would rather die free than live in fear.

          I only wish so many governments weren't perfectly willing to help you with that.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Hatta ( 162192 )

        I'm not afraid of terrorists, I'm afraid of my own government. The threat from terrorism is negligible. The very real damage done by bad government is overwhelming. The only weapon we have in the fight against corruption is journalism, and Greenwald is the only real journalist we have left.

      • It's really not more complicated, at least in this case.

  • Greenwald's new media venture (Score:5, Informative)

    by gordona ( 121157 ) on Wednesday October 16, 2013 @08:51AM (#45142545) Homepage
    This venture is being funded by EBAY founder Pierre Omidyar (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/15/us-usa-security-greenwald-idUSBRE99E18D20131015).

  • And there's more... (Score:5, Informative)

    by hyades1 ( 1149581 ) <hyades1@hotmail.com> on Wednesday October 16, 2013 @09:22AM (#45142809)

    There are now reports that Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras, two journalists with serious cred in the area of spying and national security, will join Greenwald at the new site.

    From TFA:

    "Scahill, a dogged investigative journalist who focuses on national security, and Poitras, a filmmaker who has extensively covered surveillance issues, had already been in discussions with Greenwald about starting a venture together when Omidyar approached with a similar vision for a new media outlet, sources said. The Washington Post reported Tuesday night that Poitras and Scahill may be potential âoehiresâ at the new site. But according to sources, they were already in talks with Greenwald about working together and are not only now being recruited for the venture".

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/16/glen-greenwald-media_n_4107289.html [huffingtonpost.com]

    • Oh, that is interesting. Jeremy Scahill was one of Amy Goodman's star interns at Democracy Now!, and is the kind of person who would work very well within the kind of journalism that Greenwald does.

      As far as leaving the Guardian is concerned, the British government came in and literally smashed computers in the Guardian's own offices over Greenwald's work- having some organizational separation between Greenwald might be a good thing.

  • Bad move (Score:3, Informative)

    by koan ( 80826 ) on Wednesday October 16, 2013 @09:34AM (#45142943)

    Without the Guardian's rep he will be regulated to the conspiracy bin in no time at all.

  • "Attack what he loves", this would make it far easier to silence him that he thinks.

  • Hmmm... this once in a lifetime journalistic opportunity wouldn't happen to require him to take a quick little trip to the US or to some other US-associated (most of the developed world) country, would it? I'm thinking of the "you've won a prize!" traps that the police sets up once in a while to trap people that have arrest warrants.

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