Journalist Glenn Greenwald recently left The Guardian after breaking the massive NSA leak story through Edward Snowden, and a recent “hit piece” on The Daily Beast sparked a Twitter firestorm from the American reporter.
Greenwald was the safest source Snowden felt he could entrust his cache of data to after failing to obtain assistance from NSA higher-ups, and the Guardian report on the massive leak made a worldwide impact.
In recent days, support to repatriate Edward Snowden with minimal or no consequence due to the scope of the abuses revealed in his leak has reached a fever pitch, and even the New York Times — where Greenwald recently sparred with Bill Keller over journalism and security — advocated for at least partial clemency in a recent, lengthy piece by their Editorial Board.
On Twitter, Greenwald has been addressing a scantly sourced piece in The Daily Beast aimed at inhibiting the momentum Snowden’s case has received in recent days — and as is often the case with the plainspoken writer, the gloves are off.
In response to the argument against clemency for Snowden, Greenwald tweeted today:
Such crappy “journalism”: to smear govt critics with lies, claim you have an unnamed “source” whispering in your ear https://t.co/1yE90CzyO9
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 3, 2014
DailyBeast: we’re giving platform to a Glenn Beck regular to spew evidence-free innuendo based on an invisible source https://t.co/1yE90CzyO9 — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 3, 2014
Would any self-respecting editor publish innuendo like this – “according to one of my sources in Hong Kong”? https://t.co/1yE90CzyO9 — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 3, 2014
“He may also have been a spy.” Or he may not have been. Who knows? Just print it – #SomeoneToldMe #Journalism https://t.co/1yE90CzyO9
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 3, 2014
Daily Beast “journalist” RT @curiouser_georg His “most famous book” predicted China would collapse by 2006.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 3, 2014
He continues:
Major momentum is created supporting Snowden, and *the next day* a right-wing IC source pops up to say: an invisible friend said he’s a spy! — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 3, 2014
Not needed at Daily Beast to spew innuendo based on secret sources RT @JamesFallows also story’s author has no reportorial background — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 3, 2014
Agree-Heavy charges to rest on ‘source’ 1/2 MT@ggreenwald: crappy “journalism”- smear gov critic w unnamed “source” https://t.co/dH3VwtWGPD
— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) January 3, 2014
The Daily Beast can adopt that as their motto RT @SaltPotatoes “we can only speculate”. Only truthful phrase in the piece.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 3, 2014
Greenwald adds:
So now we get to switch again from “He’s a Russian spy” back to “He’s a Chinese spy” – until we switch back again on Tuesday or so — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 3, 2014
US “officials have found no evidence he had help either within the NSA or from adversary spy agencies” https://t.co/pENJObQUO5 #DailyBeast — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 3, 2014
Of all the shoddy journalism I’ve read in the last 7 months, that Daily Beast article is in a league of its own https://t.co/L8t3URMYtc
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 3, 2014
The piece to which Greenwald is responding comes as a worldwide protest for Snowden’s clemency has gone viral:
@sikorskiradek @MSZ_RP @EdwardSnowden2 #WaitingForEd @jlipszyc pic.twitter.com/HHn6047M89
— Fundacja Panoptykon (@panoptykon) January 3, 2014
In addition to Greenwald’s vocal dissent, the New York Timeshas published additional pieces reiterating that when “someone reveals that government officials have routinely and deliberately broken the law, that person should not face life in prison at the hands of the same government.”
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