'I mean this is humiliating': Glenn Greenwald absolutely wipes the floor with Brian Stelter in back-and-forth over CNN's ratings

The Daily Beast has a new, extensive piece out on independent investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald, and they’re going at him pretty hard:

NEW: Glenn Greenwald has admitted that Fox News airs “horrific, toxic, damaging, destructive, and bigoted” content. Yet he’s racked up 72+ appearances on Fox in recent years. https://t.co/m5zYLaifez

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) June 2, 2021

It’s one of the many ways in which Greenwald, once a progressive star, appears to be pulling the strings behind right-wing media, @justinbaragona and @TheLloydGrove report. https://t.co/Q4yyPfs831

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) June 2, 2021

Greenwald is operating as something of a Fox News assignment editor, with his posts serving as the basis for dozens of articles on Fox’s website—sometimes multiple per day. https://t.co/Q4yyPfs831

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) June 2, 2021

Greenwald’s attacks on his former Intercept colleagues have become regular Fox News fare. He’s gone particularly hard after the man who was essential to his biggest journalistic triumphs. https://t.co/Q4yyPfs831

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) June 2, 2021

The piece focuses heavily on Greenwald’s Fox News appearances … which would explain how the article got CNN hall monitor Brian Stelter’s attention:

The Intercept EIC @betsyreed2 talking about Intercept founding co-founder, now critic, @ggreenwald: "He's become a practitioner of manufactured controversy in the service of the hard right in this country." https://t.co/qyOVegCn9C

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 2, 2021

Thank you for bringing that Betsy Reed quote to everyone’s attention, Brian.

"Anything I disagree with is far right."

— Ewan MacKenna (@EwanMacKenna) June 2, 2021

A "practitioner of manufactured controversy" sounds like something CNN would want to see on a new host's resume

— Geoff Stoddart (@GeoffStoddart) June 2, 2021

If I were @brianstelter and hosted a weekend show that has fewer viewers than the average Manhattan street — all while watching my network collapse — I'd guess I'd also be doing things like tweeting random insults about me from obscure Intercept editors. Have to numb the pain.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 2, 2021

Oh yeah? Well, in your face, Glenn Greenwald:

You know very little about television ratings. @ReliableSources had more than 900,000 viewers via TV last Sunday, according to Nielsen, and an even greater total when adding up online views. So don't worry about my weekend show.

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 2, 2021

More than 900,000 viewers, eh? That’s substantially fewer than Brian Stelter initially suggested in his now-deleted original response to Greenwald:

https://twitter.com/philllosoraptor/status/1400201726053994502

Hundreds of millions of viewers!

Guys, we can’t. Seriously, we can’t.

OK, maybe just a little bit more:

They're all captive viewers in nursing homes, which is fine: they need to be entertained, too. But your network is a collapsing failure because you don't have Trump to talk about any more – he saved all your jobs, and you know that. I mean this is humiliating: pic.twitter.com/ubXmVlQTdf

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 2, 2021

Guys:

Your vitriol can't hide your ignorance about the TV business. Ratings rise and fall in cable news. It's been this way for decades. It's normal. Only crazed partisans claim otherwise.

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 2, 2021

Just take the L, Brian.

It's going to be fun to watch 'Shark Week' beat out all of CNN's programming once they are folded into the documentary company.

— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) June 2, 2021

I was just on a podcast today and one of the questions was: "what's your prediction for media for 2022?" I said: many of the liberal mainstays who got enriched by the Trump era won't be on TV any more, and that seems like an easy bet.

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 2, 2021

Can we get in on that?