Internet Takes Smears Against Glenn Greenwald And Make It An Awesome Meme

from the #ggscandals dept

Ah, the days when you love “the internet.” We already wrote about how some in the mainstream media — including the NY Times and the NY Daily News — had decided to pursue what were clearly smear pieces on reporter Glenn Greenwald, who broke the NSA surveillance story with leaks from Ed Snowden. The smear campaign involved digging way back into the past and dredging up a couple of completely minor things that weren’t newsworthy when they happened and aren’t newsworthy now. What was encouraging was reading the comments on the NYDN piece, which we won’t give traffic to by linking from here, where most of the commenters condemned the paper and the reporter for the smear campaign.

However, “the internet” knows how to take something stupid and turn it into an awesome meme. Witness the #ggscandals hashtag on Twitter, in which people are coming up with a variety of fake “scandals” that involved Glenn Greenwald, highlighting just how ridiculously petty the claims being levied against Greenwald really are. The tweets are coming fast and furious. Here’s just a random sample of tweets that came in on the tag over the course of less than a minute:

In one simple move, a ton of people on the internet are showing the mainstream media that is trying to smear Greenwald what they think of them — picking up on random tiny petty issues from his past and trying to make it out like it has any news value these days. Maybe, next time, instead of digging into Greenwald’s past to try to make something out of nothing, reporters from the NY Times and the NY Daily News could, maybe, look into the NSA’s surveillance efforts. You know, the story they didn’t break and have been slow to report on.

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Companies: ny daily news, ny times

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Comments on “Internet Takes Smears Against Glenn Greenwald And Make It An Awesome Meme”

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47 Comments
DannyB (profile) says:

Re: Mainstream media -- selective coverage

The evidence that got me was how silent major outlets were about SOPA until the blackout. Then CNN begrudgingly reported on it, but made sure to tell you that their parent company was in favor of SOPA.

Now after the NSA scandal and how they’ve reported on it, I have lost any confidence I had.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: More evidence that "the media"

Indeed, 90% of the US media is owned by just 5 big corporations, hence a lack of any real diversity in US media.

If you want real diversity in news, either read specialized online blogs, or foreign news websites. Even if the foreign news websites are owned by some of the same giant corporations, they’re at least trying to cater to a different audience and culture.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

“The NY Times is owned by News Corp”

I was unaware of this.
There seem to be contradicting claims, for example wikipedia

The Ochs-Sulzberger family trust controls roughly 88 percent of the company’s class B shares. Any alteration to the dual-class structure must be ratified by six of eight directors who sit on the board of the Ochs-Sulzberger family trust. The Trust board members are Daniel H. Cohen, James M. Cohen, Lynn G. Dolnick, Susan W. Dryfoos, Michael Golden, Eric M. A. Lax, Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr. and Cathy J. Sulzberger.[38]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times#Ownership

Liz (profile) says:

Re: Re: Re:

My mistake. Murdoch owns the NY Post and not the NY Times.

The Wiki article you’ve linked mentions Murdoch in the Dual-class shares section just below. Which is what most likely stuck in my head when I composed my sleep-addled comment.

I usually read more carefully when trying to confirm my own statements before hitting the Submit button.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Post#Murdoch_ownership

Wolfy says:

And that is why I watch the BBC and AlJazeera for news. In the US, we didn’t even HEAR about “Occupy Wall Street” for TWO WHOLE WEEKS. Corporate Amerika didn’t want us to know about the protest against the people WHO TANKED THE ECONOMY…

A little aside.. if you’re pissed at the big banks and wall street asshats, STOP USING YOUR PLASTIC… use a check or cash. Hit the fuckers where it hurts… the bottom line.

St. Patrick says:

Glenn Greenwald...

…prefers the cookie part of an Oreo.

***

When Glenn Greenwald was working at McDonald’s in his formative years, a customer once asked him for a medium soda and Glenn gave him a large.

***

Glenn Greenwald thinks The Godfather Part III is the best one.

***

Jar Jar Binks is Glenn Greenwald’s favorite Star Wars character. Also, Glenn insists Greedo shot first.

I could do this all day, people.

Anonymous Coward says:

Again the main reason that like Wolfy, I no longer pay any attention to US MSM news. It’s no longer relevant as a news source unless I want the government propaganda. If I want to know what is going on in the world, I have to get my news sources from other places.

Somehow MSM wants to cry that it’s losing income and isn’t any longer profitable. Well when eyeballs leave because you’re no longer reporting on the news people want to know about, that’s what happens.

The real reasons behind why news media is in dire straits now comes out. It has more to do with not reporting on the news that is real news than anything.

LVDave (profile) says:

Call me extremely puzzled why we haven’t started referring to the MSM by their FAR more accurate name.. namely the defacto US Department of Propaganda.. They have been acting like a cabinet-level administration department since at least Clinton.. I recall distinctly hearing CNN referred to as the “Clinton News Network” back then… of course, now its the “Communist News Network”….

Anonymous Coward says:

I knew the DOJ was incompetent, I knew the MPAA dn the RIAA were liars, but to make Kim Dotcom look good and make people root for him is just too much.

These people accomplished the impossible, but shear stupidity alone that is incredible.

Bad news for every American law abiding citizen, but great for all pirates in the world.

LoL

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