What will Glenn Greenwald's new venture be?

And, who's going to fund it?

He's leaving the Guardian: http://bit.ly/16e81Cd

 

eBay founder Pierre Omidyar is the one backing this. He's worth $8.5B.

Greenwald says it will cover all kinds of news -- even sports.

 

I'm sure the NSA already knows.

 

A part of me wishes this whole thing is a NSA/CIA operation to fool Greenwald into thinking he's working with Omidyar, while it's really them he is dealing with.

 

He looked into buying the Washington Post. Instead, he'll launch his own news organization:

 

Of course you would, Donald Trump. You POS.

 

Huh?

First of all, Donald Trump? What, is that like the ultimate putdown?

Second, I was joking, as in it would be an awesome plot twist. It's not something I'm actually rooting for.

 

I think some front office will hire him. No one thinks of James Dolan as a wise personnel man.

 

No worse than Dave Checketts.

 

The Intercept debuted today.

* sweet aerial night photos of the NSA, NRO and NGA: https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/02/10/new-photos-of-nsa-and-others/

* the drone thing: https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/02/10/the-nsas-secret-role/

 

Based on Z Magazine article by Michael Albert, Truthdig.com's Alexander Reed Kelly delivers heavy concern porn about Greenwald, his overlord Omidyar, the new EIC of First Look Media, John Cook (coming over from Gawker) and aspirations of First Look Media vis-a-vis its growing pen of combative journalists such a Taibbi and Poitras and others.

Is FLM trying to become the high-end Walmart or, I suppose, the Amazon of adversarial journalism by poaching progressive writers like Taibbi and Poitras et al? Why the Gawker editor if FLM isn't planning on cheap revenue and, ultimately, conformity?

Will poaching other progressive journalism outlets Rolling Stone or the Guardian equate to fewer important works by said outlets? And if that's the case doesn't that hurt progressive journalism more than it helps?

There's the concern about letting a Gawker gossiper rogue the joint up.

Should a place like First Look Media aid independent journalists and their outlets?

Some of the top comments are intriguing, including one by Wichmann, who wonders if there may not be enough balls for the growing mountain of ego at FLM, and then the screed just below by Cohen railing against Omidyar and the corrupt shill-bidding at eBay.


http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/some_important_questions_about_greenwalds_first_look_media_20140525#

 

Jason Votesgreenparty Bickford of Facebook:

More worrying still are Pierre Omidyar’s role in this saga. That this billionaire co-founder of eBay is suddenly so concerned with the state of journalism that he is willing to drop a quarter of a billion dollars purchasing the services of the very man who is sitting on a trove of tens of thousands (or more) NSA documents is odd, especially considering that Omidyar’s record on civil liberties and his network’s connections to the NSA and Booz Allen Hamilton are enough to raise serious red flags about his new venture.

As principal shareholder and chairman of eBay, Omidyar controls eBay’s child company, PayPal. PayPal has recently made headlines for prosecuting the so-called “PayPal 14,” the hacktivists who staged a virtual ‘sit in’ in protest of PayPal’s decision to cut off Wikileaks’ funding by organizing a Denial of Service attack on PayPal’s website. PayPal was co-founded by Max Levchin, a dedicated NSA supporter.

More worrying still, Sal Gambianco, one of the principal investment partners with the Omidyar Network, actually sits on the board of advisors of Globant, a software company in which both the Omidyar Network and Booz Allen Hamilton, Snowden’s former employer, are major shareholders. Philip Odeen, one of the Booz Allen Hamilton board members, also sits on the Board of Directors of Globant. The Omidyar Network and Booz Allen Hamilton are also both major investors in Innocentive.