One day after journalist Glenn Greenwald asserted during an appearance on MSNBC that the cable network promotes President Barack Obama "24 hours a day," he added further insult to injury.
Greenwald clarified his
discussion with MSNBC's Kristen Welker on
his personal blog Friday, pointing out that he did not accuse everyone at the network of protecting the president.
"The indisputable point is that many, many people calling themselves journalists on MSNBC do exactly that," wrote Greenwald, who broke some of the stories on National Security Agency surveillance programs based on leaks from former government contractor Edward Snowden.
Greenwald continued, "My main point was to note the stunning irony of being told on MSNBC — of all places — that a journalist 'crosses the line' by expressing opinions and having political agendas. The last outlet that ought to be trumpeting that obsolete myth is MSNBC."
To illustrate his point, he linked to a
Poynter Institute report showing that during the final week of the 2012 presidential campaign, MSNBC ran no positive pieces about Republican candidate Mitt Romney.
Greenwald also linked to a story on a
Pew Center survey that found the network had more negative coverage of Romney than the conservative Fox Network did of Obama.
In a final blow, he wrote "If you want to argue with someone who (unlike me) actually made absolutist claims about MSNBC's blinding pro-Obama hackery, go find these two individuals." He then provided links to remarks made by former President Bill Clinton and Obama himself.
Clinton noted in a 2012 Esquire interview that MSNBC "really has become
our version of Fox." And during his speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner in April,
Obama joked about his former campaign manager. "David Axelrod now works for MSNBC, which is a nice change of pace since MSNBC used to work for David Axelrod."
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