re: #125 Justanotherhuman

Journalism is a discipline which can be learned or experienced. Greenwald has done neither, and I agree with what you said. He is a polemicist by nature, and his training as a debater (just an extension of his lawyering/advocacy). He won’t ever be “objective” in the true meaning of what journalism is supposed to be.

I don’t call myself a journalist, and wouldn’t, even if I had my own site. Just because I worked on the 9th grade school paper and was an editor in college doesn’t make me a journalist by any means. Journalists put in long hours, most of the time with little reward, don’t appear on TV shilling their own writing, and don’t actively seek the limelight. A real journalist is not a “TV personality” IMHO.

OTOH, I think I have more of an understanding of journalistic ethics than GG does, even if I did learn them in the 9th grade. : )

Bingo! on the bolded part. A journalist, ideally, lays out the facts, organizes them and tries to connect the dots so that the readers can draw their own conclusions. His or her prose is ideally supposed to be neutral, partly for ethical and professional reasons and partly to avoid potential libel suits. Editors are there to make sure the articles in question meet these standards before they go to press. And corporate lawyers are often consulted, too. It’s a group effort, in other words. It’s also time consuming and at times mind-numbingly dull, because every quote and every fact has to be (ideally) double- and triple-checked before the article is published.

I did this for a living for a time. So I know.

Compare this situation with Greenwald’s MO. He’s got a treasure trove of documents that were basically dropped in his lap — an Exclusive! Were he working for a real media outlet, his editors would make sure he followed best practices before anything went to press. But he isn’t. He’s a one-man show — writer, reporter, editor, publicist — with an axe to grind. No one is looking over his shoulder to vet his stuff, and if anyone dared, he’d probably ignore and fire them. Based on what I’ve read, Julian Assange is a similar character. They both believe they are above all those petty rules about professional responsibility. Assange and Wikileaks at least just releases shit, and let’s others figure out what it’s all about. Greenwald has appointed himself the keymaster and the gatekeeper for everything Snowden gave him. He’s also the principal benefactor, because he can dribble those documents out for the next several years, making dough off of them.

Sooner or later, his dudebro fans are going to realize Greenwald is playing them for fools. He’s not a journalist, or a whistleblower, or someone who believes that information should be free. Wikileaks would have released all of Snowden’s shit all at once, or in several large blocks. Greenwald won’t. He’s only in this for his own self-aggrandisement.