Sunday, December 1, 2013; 10:06:50 PM Eastern
Greenwald, Pando, the hero and the billionaire
- A quick note about the Pando piece and Glenn Greenwald, Edward Snowden and the new journalism startup founded by Greenwald and Pierre Omidyar.
- 1. Is Greenwald a principal in the new journalism company, or an employee?
- 2. Of course it would have been impossible for Snowden to profit from the leaks, or even be compensated for them.
- 3. So while, of course, it's not wrong for Greenwald to be paid for his journalism work, it does seem wrong for him to get rich off it, in this case.
- 4. Would Omidyar have rushed to start a business with Greenwald if he didn't have the scoop on the Snowden leaks? No one knows for sure, but in journalism appearances are important.
- 5. I am a longtime fan of Greenwald's and honestly I've never liked Pando -- but I did not like the way Greenwald dismissed their criticism. I thought they asked important questions. It didn't seem likely other journalists would, given their conflict of interest. As Greenwald himself said, reporters would likely be interested in working for a fresh startup founded by an Internet billionaire. I don't think people take this into account, but reporters tend to go easy on rich tech people because they're potential employers. Reporters are human beings too.
- 6. How news organizations deal with criticism is crucial. This is not a good start!