First, they came for Alex Jones, precisely because Alex Jones is a loon that nobody wants to be seen defending.
That said, if you think that this was limited to Twitter, then you are more naive than a four week old kitten whose eyes have barely opened.
Note how Big Tech took coordinated action to ban deemed Bad Actors. And you can be sure that similar mechanisms existed in MSM outlets to transmit the Party Line.
Twitter just happens to be the one where we have proof.
"When the First Amendment was enacted, it was designed not to protect some special credentialed corporate priesthood called “journalists” but was instead designed to protect the act of journalism, which all citizens, regardless of your title, with a printing press or a pen, not only had the right to do but were more than capable of doing."
The growing realization that the legacy/corporate media is a gaggle of elitist, careerist whores sucking up to the powerful has made this truth more important than ever. The gigantic edifice of honesty that they were able to create thanks to their mythology and their huge audiences has been burned down. We are now witnessing a de-centralization of news, thank god.
Few remember when each little Podunk had its own newspaper or even when most major cities had two or more competing dailies. We have lived through the consolidation of news outlets and the homogenization of their content. Now they are being exposed as PR for the powerful and continue the self-destruction that began with their Trump hysteria.
We are returning to the spirit of the free press as it may have been envisioned by the framers of the Constitution, rejecting the "special credentialed corporate priesthood" and supporting via subscription some highly talented independent citizen writers and reporters like Mr. Greenwald here.
Wikipedia does not permit citations to Substack articles (like this one) because it is on the Substack platform and Substack is considered by Wikipedia to be self-published and thus cannot be cited.
The Wikipedia article mainly quotes major media sources if they are critical of the Twitter Files. Major media outlets have not written articles that look at the Twitter Files in the manner of the analysis here.
If anyone is interested in discussing the coverage of the Twitter Files at Wikipedia you can create an account and participate on the "Talk" page about the way the "Twitter Files" article is being developed:
No need to ride the rail, pretending these big-media folks are jealous of real journalists ("enraged that they were left out of the reporting").
Their jobs are CIA et al. Full stop.
Sure, they may not admit it, even to themselves, because their loved ones think they're putting their Columbia degree to good use. But deep down, they must know -- and they obviously are -- fully a component of the corporate security state.
Any emotions, apparent or actual, tied to denunciations of actual journalism are irrelevant. These are not independent actors. If they were, they wouldn't have their jobs. It's not a choice within the job; the choice comes before taking the job. Join the security state / CIA and pretend to be a successful journalist; or be a journalist and live in the margins and be treated like a pariah.
Indeed, why care about the personalities at all. Mr. Wurtzel would be Mr. Brown, or Ms. Jackson, or whoever if Mr. Wurtzel didn't take the job. It's not like Mr. Wurtzel is exercising any judgment that exceeds a GM factory worker putting rivets in cars.
One of Smith's assertions is that President Trump's Attorney General William Barr knew that the Hunter Biden laptop was authentic before the 2020 election, but instead of saying so, authorized a team of 80 FBI agents in the Baltimore office to work to suppress the laptop story on Twitter, and the MSM in general.
One of the many reasons that I read Glenn is to get a cogent synopsis of what the Wurtzel's of the world are saying as this saves me the pain of reading them myself.
It's been many decades since I had ANY trust in the MSM. Basically the same for western politics and I used to be a card carrying member of the NDP, in Canada; a very moderate social democratic party. I would contribute my time and treasure in ridings that were hopelessly conservative. I've been "declining my ballot"; a way of protesting the system that has absorbed and corrupted everything. I'm ashamed that I let AOC and Bernie Sanders fool me, even doing some phone banking for Bernie Sanders. I actually purchased a physical copy of Matt Taiibis book "Griftopia" and the title summs up, not just the US but the whole western world. The regulatory agencies, CDC, FDA, FAA, everything connected to the financial industrial complexes and the food industrial complexes and everything else are hopelessly compromised and corrupted. Everything is a lie and not Plato's Noble Lie, just corrupt self serving lies. Social can not function without a commonly held mythology and that's where we're heading. Compare western feckless corrupt leadership where everything getting worse for the working classes to Russia or China where everything is getting better for the working classes where the leadership is real and corruption is being reduced to us in the western world. Perhaps when the "free lunch" ends in the western world things may change for the better but I'm not hopeful.
A lot to digest but much better that anything "reported" by the general media. The entire industry has been exposed as a manipulative, lying organized group of disinformation specialists. Just wondering after Musk's purchase of Twitter what happened to that network of government/media censors operating on a daily basis to mislead and lie to the American public. Is the structure and bureaucratic organization still intact? Can and will they be called before an investigative committee to explain their roles in this trashing of the First Amendment and what if any violations of law were being carried out by taxpayer funded government drones? This onion will take some experts and considerable time to fully expose and understand. If the legacy media keeps up their smokescreen they like the buggy whip of old will fade into oblivion and be relegated to the dustbin of history.
If this can't happen because of government/media actions then the basis for American freedom will cease to exist and any revolution will be easily be explained and justified by those seeking to preserve the Constitutional Republic any means necessary. Politicians and their lack of integrity are then usual cause for any government to fall or be removed by aggrieved citizens. The clock is ticking let's hope the voters can reverse this dangerous course.
"The Advertising Model" = federally subsidized nonsense ads. The Universal Service Fund pays a network of shell telecom companies to deliver the fake ads under the guise of delivering "rural broadband" service. Once the money starts flowing regular, the working stiff journalists fall in line. The companies creating fake ads are compensated by the telecom shell companies for their content and the shell companies are subsidized based on how much content they deliver. Twitter and the other social media companies are getting their USF money from the fake ad creators. Everybody is getting a cut, no questions are being asked.
Someone should consider a Freedom of Information Act inquiry as to how many FBI agents were assigned to this, for each major news outlet, and what the legislative authorization for the expenditure was. Alternatively, if some reader actually had a tweet silenced, they might litigate, including forcing the disclosure of the name of the person who sent the suppression notice, so that the person may be sued.
First, they came for Alex Jones, precisely because Alex Jones is a loon that nobody wants to be seen defending.
That said, if you think that this was limited to Twitter, then you are more naive than a four week old kitten whose eyes have barely opened.
Note how Big Tech took coordinated action to ban deemed Bad Actors. And you can be sure that similar mechanisms existed in MSM outlets to transmit the Party Line.
Twitter just happens to be the one where we have proof.
Operation Mockingbird has evolved over the years not gone away
This passing comment is extremely important:
"When the First Amendment was enacted, it was designed not to protect some special credentialed corporate priesthood called “journalists” but was instead designed to protect the act of journalism, which all citizens, regardless of your title, with a printing press or a pen, not only had the right to do but were more than capable of doing."
The growing realization that the legacy/corporate media is a gaggle of elitist, careerist whores sucking up to the powerful has made this truth more important than ever. The gigantic edifice of honesty that they were able to create thanks to their mythology and their huge audiences has been burned down. We are now witnessing a de-centralization of news, thank god.
Few remember when each little Podunk had its own newspaper or even when most major cities had two or more competing dailies. We have lived through the consolidation of news outlets and the homogenization of their content. Now they are being exposed as PR for the powerful and continue the self-destruction that began with their Trump hysteria.
We are returning to the spirit of the free press as it may have been envisioned by the framers of the Constitution, rejecting the "special credentialed corporate priesthood" and supporting via subscription some highly talented independent citizen writers and reporters like Mr. Greenwald here.
Yes, the failure of major media outlets to cover the Twitter Files has resulted in it being very difficult to document the Twitter Files.
Wikipedia will be the platform most people will go for an overview.
Here is the Wikipedia article on the Twitter Files:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter_Files
Wikipedia does not permit citations to Substack articles (like this one) because it is on the Substack platform and Substack is considered by Wikipedia to be self-published and thus cannot be cited.
Also, most of the media that have covered the Twitter Files--are not considered reliable sources by Wikipedia: HERE are Reliable sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reliable_sources
The Wikipedia article mainly quotes major media sources if they are critical of the Twitter Files. Major media outlets have not written articles that look at the Twitter Files in the manner of the analysis here.
If anyone is interested in discussing the coverage of the Twitter Files at Wikipedia you can create an account and participate on the "Talk" page about the way the "Twitter Files" article is being developed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Twitter_Files
It is very helpful to review the "Talk" pages to understand the process.
I believe it is important to become experienced in editing Wikipedia as it is the #1 place the general public goes for information overviews.
Wikipedia strives for a NPOV (neutral point of view) but editors who are all volunteers must be there to work on the articles.
If you are not yet an editor at Wikipedia (an editor is anyone who edits, so anyone can be an editor) --Here is how to start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Introduction
They're literally paid to not cover the stories, so they won't cover the stories. That's why journalism is being done on places like Substack instead!
Corporate journalism has been captured just like all other white collar professions. All have to be rebuilt from scratch.
No need to ride the rail, pretending these big-media folks are jealous of real journalists ("enraged that they were left out of the reporting").
Their jobs are CIA et al. Full stop.
Sure, they may not admit it, even to themselves, because their loved ones think they're putting their Columbia degree to good use. But deep down, they must know -- and they obviously are -- fully a component of the corporate security state.
Any emotions, apparent or actual, tied to denunciations of actual journalism are irrelevant. These are not independent actors. If they were, they wouldn't have their jobs. It's not a choice within the job; the choice comes before taking the job. Join the security state / CIA and pretend to be a successful journalist; or be a journalist and live in the margins and be treated like a pariah.
Indeed, why care about the personalities at all. Mr. Wurtzel would be Mr. Brown, or Ms. Jackson, or whoever if Mr. Wurtzel didn't take the job. It's not like Mr. Wurtzel is exercising any judgment that exceeds a GM factory worker putting rivets in cars.
Lee Smith in Tablet magazine has a good description of the DOJ/FBI conspirators revealed by the Twitter files https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-the-fbi-hacked-twitter-lee-smith.
One of Smith's assertions is that President Trump's Attorney General William Barr knew that the Hunter Biden laptop was authentic before the 2020 election, but instead of saying so, authorized a team of 80 FBI agents in the Baltimore office to work to suppress the laptop story on Twitter, and the MSM in general.
Thanks a lot !!!
FYI - a great interview with Rumble CEO on TC Today: "The Rise of Rumble"
Thank you Mr. Greenwald for the depth you add to this important story.
How absurd it is, to have the media that passed off this as conspiracy theory, now call it "old news".
One of the many reasons that I read Glenn is to get a cogent synopsis of what the Wurtzel's of the world are saying as this saves me the pain of reading them myself.
Thanks Glenn!
It's been many decades since I had ANY trust in the MSM. Basically the same for western politics and I used to be a card carrying member of the NDP, in Canada; a very moderate social democratic party. I would contribute my time and treasure in ridings that were hopelessly conservative. I've been "declining my ballot"; a way of protesting the system that has absorbed and corrupted everything. I'm ashamed that I let AOC and Bernie Sanders fool me, even doing some phone banking for Bernie Sanders. I actually purchased a physical copy of Matt Taiibis book "Griftopia" and the title summs up, not just the US but the whole western world. The regulatory agencies, CDC, FDA, FAA, everything connected to the financial industrial complexes and the food industrial complexes and everything else are hopelessly compromised and corrupted. Everything is a lie and not Plato's Noble Lie, just corrupt self serving lies. Social can not function without a commonly held mythology and that's where we're heading. Compare western feckless corrupt leadership where everything getting worse for the working classes to Russia or China where everything is getting better for the working classes where the leadership is real and corruption is being reduced to us in the western world. Perhaps when the "free lunch" ends in the western world things may change for the better but I'm not hopeful.
A lot to digest but much better that anything "reported" by the general media. The entire industry has been exposed as a manipulative, lying organized group of disinformation specialists. Just wondering after Musk's purchase of Twitter what happened to that network of government/media censors operating on a daily basis to mislead and lie to the American public. Is the structure and bureaucratic organization still intact? Can and will they be called before an investigative committee to explain their roles in this trashing of the First Amendment and what if any violations of law were being carried out by taxpayer funded government drones? This onion will take some experts and considerable time to fully expose and understand. If the legacy media keeps up their smokescreen they like the buggy whip of old will fade into oblivion and be relegated to the dustbin of history.
If this can't happen because of government/media actions then the basis for American freedom will cease to exist and any revolution will be easily be explained and justified by those seeking to preserve the Constitutional Republic any means necessary. Politicians and their lack of integrity are then usual cause for any government to fall or be removed by aggrieved citizens. The clock is ticking let's hope the voters can reverse this dangerous course.
"The Advertising Model" = federally subsidized nonsense ads. The Universal Service Fund pays a network of shell telecom companies to deliver the fake ads under the guise of delivering "rural broadband" service. Once the money starts flowing regular, the working stiff journalists fall in line. The companies creating fake ads are compensated by the telecom shell companies for their content and the shell companies are subsidized based on how much content they deliver. Twitter and the other social media companies are getting their USF money from the fake ad creators. Everybody is getting a cut, no questions are being asked.
Someone should consider a Freedom of Information Act inquiry as to how many FBI agents were assigned to this, for each major news outlet, and what the legislative authorization for the expenditure was. Alternatively, if some reader actually had a tweet silenced, they might litigate, including forcing the disclosure of the name of the person who sent the suppression notice, so that the person may be sued.
Can't express how grateful for those like Glenn, Bari and Matt that promote real journalism. Alex also