BY ELAINE MAGLIARO
Yesterday, First Look Media (FLM) launched The Intercept, a digital publication created by Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, and Laura Poitras. According to the three creators/editors, The Intercept is the first “of what will be numerous digital magazines published by FLM.”
From The Intercept’s website:
The Intercept has a two-fold mission: one short-term, the other long-term.
Our short-term mission is limited but critically important: to provide a platform and an editorial structure in which to aggressively report on the disclosures provided to us by our source, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. We decided to launch now because we believe we have a vital and urgent obligation to this story, to these documents, and to the public.
Over the past seven months the journalists who have reported on these documents from the National Security Agency have been repeatedly threatened by a wide range of government officials. Sometimes, the intimidation campaign has gone beyond mere threats. These attempted intimidation tactics have intensified in recent weeks and have become clearly more concerted and coordinated…
Our longer-term mission is to provide aggressive and independent adversarial journalism across a wide range of issues, from secrecy, criminal and civil justice abuses and civil liberties violations to media conduct, societal inequality and all forms of financial and political corruption. The editorial independence of our journalists will be guaranteed, and they will be encouraged to pursue their journalistic passion, areas of interest, and unique voices.
For those who’d like to check out the new didgital publication’s website, click on the following link: The Intercept.
Nicole Plyler Fisk
Gene Howington
FFS Guest Blogger
Joy of Fishes
Chuck Stanley
shortfinals
Terry Welshans
ann li-summers
wordcloud9
Flowers For Socrates 
Great Elaine,
I just bookmarked it for every day reading on my Bookmarks Toolbar.
Did I just hear Clapper’s head explode?
BTW, Elaine and Mike, why don’t you repost the Intercept’s good stuff over here — no need for all of us to end up on the Friends of Glenn’s watch list.
Oro Lee,
I’m sure Mike and I are already on someone’s watch list.
😉
Not several?
Oro Lee,
I think I made it on the list in the 60’s because of the people I hung out with in my radical union.
Thanks for the info and the link. Just reading the bio’s of the Staff was fun. Now I’m moving on to the articles.
I am glad to see Marcy Wheeler on the masthead. This is her blog:
OT
Elaine, I hope you will take a look at the leading story over at Huff Po on PBS and a series it has produced on public pensions. I advise you to do this BEFORE you eat. Looks like Mike S. was quite correct when he wrote about his defunding of PBS…
http://pando.com/2014/02/12/the-wolf-of-sesame-street-revealing-the-secret-corruption-inside-pbss-news-division/
pdm,
One needs only to watch the opening credits of a PBS show on a news topic, discern who the various foundations represent and the bias is disclosed. That Pando article was a great catch.
pdm,
I read David Sirota’s article about PBS last night. I started doing some research on the subject this morning. Sirota also wrote a paper last year titled “The Plot Against Pensions” that you should read if you haven’t already. Here’s the link:
Click to access Plot-Against-Pensions-final.pdf
Elaine,
Glad to know you’re on it. I rely (and marvel) at your readiness to do battle with The Jerk over at the other place. Yesterday I was driven crazy by his linkage of Filner to the crazy cops who shot (130 times) at two women in a truck while on the lookout for Dohner. Filner! In office for 8 mos. but maybe he was responsible for one of the most corrupt police department in the US.
There is another issue perculating out there that might appeal to you….privatized probation officers. They have a strong incentive to keep poor folks in prision due to their inability to pay fees and fines. Have to admit that that story may cause some well-deserved heartburn over at the other place.
Watch it folks. The Guardian is about to start doing “native advertising”. From Andrew Sullivan 2/13/14:
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Much of the media isn’t covering the grotesque transformation of journalism into corporate public relations – well, they’re all in on it, aren’t they? – but the latest example is really rich. The Guardian – that lefty, anti-corporate, “comment-is-free” trans-Atlantic behemoth – is now merging with Unilever to produce “content”. What does that mean exactly? Well, follow the newspeak:
Guardian News and Media has signed a seven-figure deal to provide content about sustainability under the brand of household goods giant Unilever. It is the first deal for the new Guardian Labs division – which describes itself as a “branded content and innovation agency which offers brands bold and compelling new ways to tell their stories and engage with influential Guardian audiences”.
Guardian Labs employ some 133 staff including designers, video producers, writers and strategists who will work with The Guardian’s editorial, marketing and digital development teams.
A “content and innovation” agency. Helping “brands … tell their stories.” This is called public relations, guys. There’s nothing new or innovative about it whatsoever. What’s new is the deliberate attempt to merge this industry with journalism itself and to disguise the difference with bullshit. Smell the ordure:
The Guardian partnership with Unilever is said to be “centred on the shared values of sustainable living and open storytelling”.
Who knew that the giant manufacturer of such products as Axe Body Spray, Vaseline and Ben and Jerry’s has long been committed to “open story-telling,” whatever the fuck that means? Then check this out:
Anna Watkins, managing director, Guardian Labs said: “Our partnership with Unilever is a fantastic example of collaboration based on our shared values. Right from the start we brainstormed ideas, working across the whole of the Guardian, and built the campaign together. It represents a truly original way of working.”
So the entire paper is to be filled with a p.r. campaign disguised as journalism, in order to promote Unilever’s image as a green company. That’s called corporate propaganda. The key to all this is the old and simple trick of deceiving readers into thinking they are reading journalism when they are actually reading p.r. – especially when a single page can travel alone through the Interwebs and seem to most readers to be a Guardian article. And the end of all this will be the growing gnawing sense among Guardian readers that, unless they are very careful, they will have a very tough time telling the difference.
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Sic transit Guardian.