As he’s watched the Sordid Saga of Hunter Biden continue to unfold, Glenn Greenwald can’t help but make some observations. Not about Hunter Biden, though there are certainly many observations to be made about him — including some stuff we wish we could un-observe. No, these observations concern our media. Our sad, pathetic, shameful excuses for media.
The journalistic class has been given ample opportunity to show us why we’re wrong to have so little faith in them, and they’ve squandered it over and over again. They demand respect from the public, yet they don’t have enough respect for the public to be honest or admit to their mistakes when called out.
Greenwald, as is his wont, went after the media today in another typically brutal thread:
I would like to note that — shortly before the 2020 election — numerous large media outlets ratified the CIA lie that the documents on Hunter Biden's laptop were "Russian disinformation." Even today — after the NYT & WPost both authenticated them — not *one* has retracted it.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 18, 2022
Because that would require admitting that they screwed up, and there are just too many members of our legacy media who are fully convinced that they’re infallible.
Hunter's private left is irrelevant. But the attempts to trade on his dad's name for deals in China and Ukraine, with his dad's participation, were *highly relevant*. That's what makes that media/CIA lie, and their censorship, one of the worst journalistic scandals in decades.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 18, 2022
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And considering the number of journalistic scandals in recent years, that’s really saying something.
Beyond the revolting and steadfast refusal of *even one* of these outlets to retract that pre-election lie or even account for what they did — a gigantic scandal — the Guardian to this very day has this article up which everyone knows is a lie. No retraction or editor's note: pic.twitter.com/O1eVsZ3Caf
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 18, 2022
I stopped practicing law to do journalism because I really believe journalism is virtuous, noble, necessary. These media corporations have destroyed it. The public despises them: with good reason.
These are not mistakes. These are lies. And they are lies they *refuse* to admit.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 18, 2022
That’s the really infuriating part. People make mistakes all the time. It’s how they handle it that ultimately speaks to their character. And given so many in the media’s refusal to admit to wrongdoing, we’re left with little choice but to conclude that they have no character.
Look at this. When a journalist has a book to sell — as @KatyTurNBC does now — they're admit the public no longer trusts a word they say. They'll lament it.
But the one thing they *never* do is engage in self-reflection, ask what they do to cause it:https://t.co/yNLaVYrfpZ
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 18, 2022
Media malpractitioners, heal thyselves. Until then, wallow in the swamp you’ve built for yourselves.
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Related:
Glenn Greenwald calls out the ‘DNC disinformation agents’ in the media who pushed the Alfa Bank hoax
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