Glenn Greenwald announced he is resigning from The Intercept, an outlet he co-founded, after it censored his articles.
Most known for his reporting on documents revealed by Edward Snowden that pertained to U.S. surveillance, Greenwald said his decision came after his outlet censored an article he wrote this week. In his Thursday announcement, the journalist said there were editors who demanded that he “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.”
“The current iteration of The Intercept is completely unrecognizable when compared to that original vision. Rather than offering a venue for airing dissent, marginalized voices and unheard perspectives, it is rapidly becoming just another media outlet with mandated ideological and partisan loyalties, a rigid and narrow range of permitted viewpoints (ranging from establishment liberalism to soft leftism, but always anchored in ultimate support for the Democratic Party), a deep fear of offending hegemonic cultural liberalism and center-left Twitter luminaries, and an overarching need to secure the approval and admiration of the very mainstream media outlets we created The Intercept to oppose, critique and subvert,” Greenwald wrote announcing his resignation.
He also said he plans to do his own journalism on Substack for the foreseeable 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 said.
The Washington Examiner reached out to The Intercept for comment.
“The final, precipitating cause is that The Intercept’s editors censored an article I wrote this week, refusing to publish it unless I remove all sections critical of Joe Biden, the candidate vehemently supported by all Intercept editors involved in this effort at suppression.”
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) October 29, 2020
In his announcement, Greenwald attached a textual copy of a letter sent to Michael Bloom, the president of First Look Media, noting his intent to resign. In the letter, he blasted the “increasingly authoritarian, fear-driven, repressive editorial team,” which he said publishes nothing that “contradicts their own narrow, homogenous ideological and partisan views: exactly what The Intercept, more than any other goal, was created to prevent.”
“I have asked my lawyer to get in touch with FLM to discuss how best to terminate my contract. Thank you,” Greenwald continued.
