As Twitchy reported at the end of October, journalist Glenn Greenwald resigned from The Intercept — which he co-founded — after the editors there “censored an article I wrote this week, refusing to publish it unless I remove all sections critical of Joe Biden.” Greenwald said he’d be posting his work on Substack from now on, and the Columbia Journalism Review now has a very lengthy piece out critical of Substack.
For one thing, as Ross Douthat highlighted, several of the writers on Substack are conservative.
"several are conservative"https://t.co/u3eRi4jDs8 pic.twitter.com/GwHFlEq32d
— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) November 16, 2020
Clio Chang notes that “most are white and male; several are conservative,” and adds that “Matt Taibbi, Andrew Sullivan, and most recently, Glenn Greenwald—who offer similar screeds about the dangers of cancel culture and the left—all land in the top ten.” You kind of know with whom you’re dealing when they name Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Greenwald as the leading conservative voices on the site; Chang also notes that Jonah Goldberg’s The Dispatch is the most popular newsletter on Substack.
So, is this a problem in the same way that a very concerned Brian Stelter thought that conservatives moving from Twitter to Parler was just Trump voters creating their own echo chamber?
It’s only a matter of time before the media tech hall monitors turn their attention to substack. https://t.co/I5thHFFK4k
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) November 16, 2020
Speaking of hall monitors, Greenwald used the same terminology in his thread, which is abbreviated here.
Very disappointed to see @cliomiso is angered by LGBT journalists having a platform on which to be heard and write independently. Homophobia still strong.
It was only a matter of time before people started demanding Substack be censored: hate nothing more than free expression. https://t.co/u2HpeO9Qss
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 16, 2020
The key point about journalism is this:
Journalists on the payroll of mainstream media corporations hate most that which enables people to be heard independently & without needing to depend upon the structure & constraints of NBC, CNN, NYT, etc. That's why they want it censored.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 16, 2020
CNN and NBC and others now employ little hall monitor dweebs whose only purpose is to pressure other platforms to censor or block the voices that are most threatening to them. It's not journalism: it's quashing of dissent. That's their function: it's vital to see that clearly. pic.twitter.com/vOMhohPUpi
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) November 16, 2020
We love how Greenwald pulled out a photo of Oliver Darcy for his tweet about little hall monitor dweebs.
The whole piece is saturated with critical theory. That's all they know.
— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) November 16, 2020
Mistakes were made.
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) November 16, 2020
Mon dieu!! I'm glad I wasn't wearing my monocle when I read that.
— RP (@PendermanRobert) November 16, 2020
The horror.
— William Dunne (@WilliamHDunne) November 16, 2020
Good heavens!
— Juan Pablo (@metdinov) November 16, 2020
— Sith Khan (@sithkhan) November 16, 2020
— Donald Gooch (@GOOCH1701) November 16, 2020
— John Eaton (@heartyeaton) November 16, 2020
— a thing (@Neman1234) November 16, 2020
It's also weird that the next sentence would seem to be giving examples of such conservative writers… but neither Tabbi nor Greenwald is conservative
— Minervas Muse (@minervas_muse) November 16, 2020
Well, they are right from Chairman Mao….so…
— ?? Алєѯандръ (@temporalsin) November 16, 2020
time to shut the site down
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) November 16, 2020
ah yes, the extremely conservative Existing Media Power Structure.
As we know, the Existing Media Power Structure will stop at nothing to push conservative narratives, conservative priorities, and conservative ideas.
— BayCoalition (@BayCoalition) November 16, 2020
As they proceed to name exactly ZERO conservatives…
As if that would even make the vacuous point they are trying to advance…?
— David Simon ?? (@Senator_Simon) November 16, 2020
Columbia Journalism Review.
Elite university, packed with trust-fund kids.
Wants any opinion other than Leftism to be verboten.
— Bernard Devlin (@BernardDevlin) November 16, 2020
Is anybody stopping the liberals or the radicals from writing?
The platform is equally open and opportunistic for any gender or race.
— The Thinking Bat (@thethinkingbat) November 16, 2020
Who is going to stop conservatives from writing and publishing their work seems to be the question.
Related:
‘Whoa’: Glenn Greenwald resigns from The Intercept — which he cofounded — after editors censored his article critical of Joe Biden https://t.co/J0RbSv9TuQ
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 29, 2020
Join the conversation as a VIP Member