David Gregory Doesn't Understand David Gregory's Snowden Question

[G_j]

http://www.fair.org/blog/2013/06/24/david-gregory-doesnt-understand-david-gregorys-snowden-question/

David Gregory Doesn't Understand David Gregory's Snowden Question

Posted by Peter Hart

<snip>

The thing is, Gregory didn't just "ask a question." He said, "To the extent that you have aided and abetted Snowden, even in his current movements…" To Greenwald, the assumption is that he is involved in a crime–aiding and abetting–and the question Gregory is pondering is the extent of his wrongdoing.

If Gregory did not intend to put the question that way, he should say that–not criticize Greenwald for accurately understanding the question as it was posed.

It's not as if Gregory was alone in wondering about Greenwald's role. As his NBC colleague Chuck Todd put it later on in the show:

Glenn Greenwald, you know, how much was he involved in the plot? It's one thing as a source, but what was his role –did he have a role beyond simply being a receiver of this information? And is he going to have to answer those questions? There is a point of law. He's a lawyer. He attacked the premise of your question. He didn't answer it.

When Gregory and Todd suggest that Greenwald is not an actual journalist–"someone who claims that he is a journalist," or someone "involved in the plot"–what they ware really saying is that Glenn Greenwald is not their kind of journalist.

And that's true. During the Lewis "Scooter" Libby trial, Gregory's predecessor Tim Russert revealed, as Greg Mitchell noted (Huffington Post, 6/13/08), that "he considered his chats with sources all off-the-record unless put on the record, the opposite of the usual journalistic approach." Likewise, when former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford was embroiled in a bizarre extramarital affair saga, Gregory emailed Sanford's office to extend a helping hand, letting him know that "coming on Meet the Press allows you to frame the conversation how you really want to…and then move on." And, of course, there's Gregory's backup dancer performance piece with George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove at the 2007 correspondents' dinner.

You see, that's how real journalists behave.

Today the Washington Post (6/24/13) has a piece headlined, "On NSA Disclosures, Has Glenn Greenwald Become Something Other Than a Reporter?" If the standard for "reporter" is the likes of Gregory and Chuck Todd, Greenwald is certainly more than a reporter. Thank goodness.

[moondust]

1. "Hit piece journalism"

If that's all you do then I don't consider you a "journalist." You're doing nothing but advocating against something/everything. As such you're not entitled to a journalist's protective veil of impartiality/untouchability. And you certainly do not get to decide what the questions to you shall be, Glenn.

[G_j]

2. sometimes called investigative journalism

depending of course on whose sacred cow is being put in the spot light.