Journalist For Time Magazine Announces His Eagerness To Defend US Drone Strike Killing Julian Assange
from the journalism! dept
We've already discussed the odd and somewhat sickening way in which certain mainstream journalists have been clearly cheering on the criminalization of investigative journalism, but Time Magazine's Michael Grunwald took it to a new and incredibly disgusting level this weekend, with a now deleted tweet in which he gleefully announced his eagerness to see the US kill Julian Assange, and then to defend the government for doing so:In case you can't see that, it says:
I can't wait to write a defense of the drone strike that takes out Julian Assange.This isn't just cheering on despicable government actions -- including the extrajudicial execution of a fellow journalist -- but it's saying ahead of time that no matter what the situation, he'll be right there to back up the official party line from the government. Today's modern journalist, Michael Grunwald, is going beyond the typical stenographer role of so many journalists covering the government, to the point where he's directly letting the government know that he'll be their propagandist backing up a despicable and heinous act.
This has nothing to do with whether or not anyone likes Assange. From all the reports, he seems like a perfectly dislikable individual. I don't agree with many of his views on the world or how he goes about doing certain things that he does. But I certainly support his ability to stay alive.
Of course, this isn't new territory for Grunwald and Time Magazine. In "defending" his tweet, he pointed to a column he wrote a few months ago, in which he directly supports taking away Americans' rights if it means stopping terrorists.
Eventually, Grunwald deleted the tweet, but not so much because it's despicable and indefensible, but rather because leaving it up, according to Grunwald "gives Assange supporters a nice safe persecution complex to hide in." Only an hour later did he apologize, saying that the original tweet was "dumb."
Either way, why would Time Magazine employ someone who flat out joyfully proclaims his eagerness to support the US murdering the head of a competing news organization -- one that has shown what a joke Time Magazine has been in terms of holding the government accountable. What major government abuse stories has Time broken lately?
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Filed Under: drones, extrajudicial killing, journalism, julian assange, michael grunwald, propaganda, time magazine
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But seriously, though. He only thinks it's dumb because he aired it to a million people and was called out on his bullshit. And he'd be right. But I don't for one second think he actually didn't mean it.
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I cannot see why anyone would do that, least of all a journalist, but everybody has reasons.
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Grunwald's statement has no such ambiguity. It's obviously not a threat, nor is in incitement of anything at all.
(I hate being in the position of defending his speech, but defend it I must.)
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And, I said that because of the many times the US has taken someone in for speaking like that on the internet.
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Police state
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Re: Police state
Or the leader of a sovereign nation ... this guy has a lot in common with Pat Robertson
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Re: Police state
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Now before you all think I'm some super Obama supporter I'm not... but hate the guy for what he's done. Not for some tin foil nut case reasons which seem to flood the wacko market these days.
Hell sometimes the wackos come up with offences that fall far bellow the these horrifying NSA revelations.
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Our country is fast devolving into a fascist nightmare.
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It's not Fascism when we do it!
That sentence largely sums up a lot of US policy, especially anything 'security' related.
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Isn't Time Magazine...
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Re: Isn't Time Magazine...
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Because that's what this is.
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After all, regardless of what you think of his articles, he just broke the law.
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Grunwald's personal data.
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Re: Grunwald's personal data.
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- Anonymous Coward
You have to pick several very differently biased sources to see the objective information in a situation. Getting all information from a single source is just feeding the ideology the specific source holds.
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Unbiased news.
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So why isn't the FBI visiting this guy? I mean he's right out there on one of the most public of public places saying he'd like to see someone dead.
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The difference is:
If you say Someone should kill this guy, you're instigating terror.
If you say My government should kill this guy, you're advocating policy.
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And if you watch closely you can see the wild reporter in heat. Here he is presenting, showing the dominate ones he is receptive to receiving what they are willing to give him. See how he as assumed the submissive position, showing he is no threat.
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Rush LImbaugh was gleeful about the Gulf War.
If you're surprised to see this attitude among "mainstream" press, it's just insufficient cynicism combined with inability to see that your own buttons were pushed previously as gov't provided excuses for war that you accepted without too much questioning. But there's no "existential" threat to the US-superpower that's justified any war since Korea, at a stretch.
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Wikileaks is a news organization? Please.
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Yes it is. And you are welcome.
Just curious as to why you would think that Wikileaks isn't a new organization?
- they collect information
- they distribute that info
Or in your view of things do only organizations with White House press passes classify as news organizations?
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At this point
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bastard!
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Re: bastard!
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horse with no name just hates it when due process is enforced.
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Trolling much?
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You really can't stand any display of due process. My guess is that you have John Steele punish Otis Wright in your sick fantasy dream sequences so you can sleep at night.
You're not fooling anyone, Prenda fanboy. Enjoy the Streisand effect.
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You are a sick, twisted troll with nothing to add. Go away already.
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Indeed, why haven't you?
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Well, that's just fine and dandy, because that's what out_of_the_blue, average_joe, darryl and you do on a regular basis.
I would ask the admins to give you the same level of blocking I currently suffer.
You speak of these blocks. According to the timestamps your message came less than half an hour after the message you responded to.
Just like your previous messages, your rebuttal is a joke. This "blocking" clearly doesn't exist or isn't working like you claim it is.
Clearly you are a liar, nothing more and nothing less, and a troll bent on turning every discussion into something about me.
Maybe you should've considered not making every discussion on Prenda into a character assassination of Otis Wright and focus on the multitude of legal professionals that agree with the even-handedness of what he's done.
You're not fooling anyone, bobmail.
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Not about personalities
"I really wasn't sure about the wisdom of a massive US surveillance state, but since I saw that activist twerp leaker's annoying hair and oversized ego I've decided I need to white knight the NSA!"
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Media = Propagandist
Whether it's CNN, MSNBC, etc with their TOTALLY liberal agenda or FOX with it's obvious RIGHTWING slant, the fact is, the public can no longer count on journalism to be fair and objective.
Which means more and more sheople blindly accepting whatever idiotic propaganda they spew forth as REAL fact, rather than what it REALLY is... editorialize content with an agenda.
And why this current US administration seems to have the media as their personal lapdog Propagandists is beyond me.
We used to count on the media to keep the politicians honest... now they're just part of the problem.
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MikeGrunwald 18 Aug
Fair point. I'll delete. @rober1236Jua my main problem with this is it gives Assange supporters a nice safe persecution complex to hide in
MikeGrunwald 18 Aug
It was a dumb tweet. I'm sorry. I deserve the backlash. (Maybe not the anti-Semitic stuff but otherwise I asked for it.)
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And now you know...
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Well, he's writing Tim Geithner's book....
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/05/geithner-taps-times-grunwald-for-new-book-1647 48.html
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Tried to cancel my subscription to Time
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So write it
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Seriously tho, fuck that guy for even suggesting he would be all for that.
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The precedent-cat is already out of the bag.
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Honestly...
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