Glenn Greenwald blasts NY Times, WaPo for following ‘elite-protecting script,’ painting selves as ‘victims'

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Propaganda is powerful, 'be mindful about what we're being told': Greenwald

Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald weighs in on combatting misinformation and propaganda surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald ripped into liberal media outlets, including The New York Times and Washington Post on Saturday, accusing them of following an "elite-protecting script" and painting the country’s most powerful and influential as "victims" of attacks by everyday Americans. 

In an April 2 Substack post, Greenwald began by revisiting the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign trail. The former Guardian writer turned independent journalist asserted that former candidate Hillary Clinton and her campaign worked alongside "pro-Hillary corporate journalists" and invented a "moving morality tale" in which Clinton, a woman, was being viciously, verbally abused by a group of "misogynistic" online Bernie Sanders supporters, in order to salvage her endangered chances at the presidency.

"This storyline—and especially the way it cleverly inverted the David v. Goliath framework of the 2016 campaign so that it was now Hillary and her band of monied and Ivy-League-educated political and media elites who were the real victims, was irresistible to Harvard-and-Yale-trained journalists at NBC, CNN, The New York Times, and Washington Post op-ed pages who really believe they are the truly marginalized peoples," wrote Greenwald. 

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Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during a press conference ahead of the screening of a movie “Hillary” within the 70th International Berlinale film festival in Berlin, Germany on February 25, 2020.   (Abdulhamid Hosbas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images )

According to Greenwald, this media narrative promoted the idea that everyday Americans, scorned by the policies of rich politicians, were the real perpetrators in this equation, which enabled influential media personalities and political powerhouses to "lay claim" to "the most valued currencies in American political life: victimhood."

"Their anger towards elites was not valid or righteous but dangerous, abusive and toxic. The real victims were multimillionaire hosts of MSNBC programs and U.S. Senators and New York Times columnists who were abused and brutalized by those people’s angry tweets," Greenwald sarcastically added. 

In his analysis of this cultural phenomena, Greenwald subsequently called out a number of prominent media and political figures who he accused of utilizing this tactic, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz, who in a Friday MSNBC segment emotionally claimed she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as a result of online harassment. 

FILE PHOTO: The New York Times building is seen in Manhattan, New York, U.S., August 3, 2020. (REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo)

Greenwald also thrashed corporate journalists for "destroying the lives" of powerless people while also "never meaningfully" challenging anyone in real power or face any actual threat of repercussion for their opinions. When they are challenged, Greenwald said, they accuse others of abuse and harassment. But, according to Greenwald, journalists’ subservience to the elites also more seriously and perniciously fortifies the "caste system" that has placed them within the orbit of the rich and famous.

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"Somehow, the bullies have converted themselves into the bullied," Greenwald wrote to conclude his piece. "Your deepest concern and compassion must be directed to the riches, most powerful and most privileged members of society."