Glenn Greenwald is pushing back against the idea that he resigned from The Intercept as a marketing ploy, saying he gave up a huge salary, as well as a team of lawyers and a security detail for a legal fight currently ongoing in Brazil.
Greenwald, the co-founder of The Intercept who resigned on Thursday, said he gave up his job in response to censorship by the outlet’s editorial staff about a story critical of Hunter and Joe Biden. In the piece, Greenwald went after both the Biden family and the media, saying the latter refused to ask important questions and seek the truth due an affinity for the Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
A response from the staff at The Intercept implied Greenwald left the publication motivated by financial reasons.
“We have no doubt that Glenn will go on to launch a new media venture where he will face no collaboration with editors — such is the era of Substack and Patreon. In that context, it makes good business sense for Glenn to position himself as the last true guardian of investigative journalism and to smear his longtime colleagues and friends as partisan hacks,” wrote Betsy Reed, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. “We get it. But facts are facts, and The Intercept’s record of fearless, rigorous, independent journalism speaks for itself.”
.@ggreenwald on the absurdity of ex-colleagues' smears: "The Intercept is a place probably more so than anywhere else in media where you make an obscene amount of money, for doing very little if you want… Money is the reason to stay at the Intercept." pic.twitter.com/Dr0HVtTlzF
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) October 30, 2020
Greenwald pushed back on the idea, saying that he was paid extremely well at the publication and that “The Intercept is, probably more so than anywhere else in media, where you make an obscene amount of money…for doing very little.”
Greenwald said the publication was paying him a “huge salary,” as well as providing him with lawyers and a security team for a criminal case he is fighting in Brazil. He was charged in Brazil earlier this year for cybercrimes for his role in a story published by The Intercept Brazil. Federal prosecutors in the country allege Greenwald facilitated the hacking of several politicians’ phones, according to The New York Times.
“I was making not just a huge salary — more than I need in life — but The Intercept was providing enormous amounts of resources for things that I need. If I were motivated by the money, I would have just sat at The Intercept until something better came along. It was a huge gamble for my family and a huge risk, and I can’t imagine anyone thinks that money is the reason to leave The Intercept. Money is the reason to stay at The Intercept.”
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Jordyn Pair is a reporter with The Ohio Star. Follow her on Twitter at @JordynPair.
Photo “Glenn Greenwald” by David dos Dantos. CC BY 3.0. Background Photo “The Intercept” by The Intercept.
