USA Today intern Brenna T. Smith has been taking some heat from critics thanks to her role in writing a piece smacking Capitol riot defendants for using crowdfunding sites to raise money for their legal defense.
And, to be sure, some of the pushback against Smith has been pretty vicious:
Our intern just published her first story with us and this is the vitriol she’s been met with. Just insane. Here’s the piece — it’s great and so is Brenna https://t.co/wTvnLxlrWi pic.twitter.com/tW28WcatJp
— Brett Murphy (@BrettMmurphy) March 28, 2021
But — without making excuses for the nastiness — criticism is to be expected when you put your name on a piece like that. A lot of people are going to take issue with you if you shame one side for crowdfunding after committing acts of violence but give the other side a pass.
For the record, though, Insider digital cultural reporter Rachel Greenspan doesn’t think Smith did anything wrong, and she certainly doesn’t believe that Smith deserves to be criticized, particularly by the likes of Glenn Greenwald and Jack Posobiec.
Sorry, Gl*nn Gr**nwald and J*ck Posobi*c:
gl*nn gr**nwald and j*ck posobi*c are directing insane harassment to a literal INTERN (!!!) at USA Today
what kind of grown adult speaks this way to random young women doing their job.. it’s sickening. love this cute industry where harassment is supposedly par for the course. pic.twitter.com/aVsPosKmJ3
— Rachel E. Greenspan (@rach_greenspan) March 29, 2021
of course the posobi*c tweet uses this intern’s first name, an extremely popular tactic on the far right to make their target seem/feel weak and unimportant. the amount of emails I get calling me rach.. ? pic.twitter.com/9VER3dqYmb
— Rachel E. Greenspan (@rach_greenspan) March 29, 2021
Dear God. Not the first name!
What about all the metaphorical interns? Are they okay?
— I got your #Unity right here (@jtLOL) March 29, 2021
One can only hope.
Journalist fragility https://t.co/Bn22y5pRwX
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) March 29, 2021
This is embarrassing, Rachel. https://t.co/jcykTb4TsC
— Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) March 29, 2021
Random young woman organizing against legal representation for defendants; she is not the victim here.
— Jay (@OneFineJay) March 29, 2021
She most certainly is not. But Rachel (may we call her Rachel?) wants us to treat her like one.
When they do it its ‘calling out’ or simply journalism, as the USA Today person was doing.
When *they* are called out its suddenly ‘harassment.’
?☕ https://t.co/yKJcoIWg9e— Chad Felix Greene (@chadfelixg) March 29, 2021
You don’t get to write publicly and then not take public criticism.
Unless you live in China. https://t.co/pFJ8KEetrA
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) March 29, 2021
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