Glenn Greenwald Praises Russia Today Anchor Who Spoke Out Against Invasion Of Ukraine

[frazzled]

37. I guess I'd go farther ...

and say that he's not actually a journalist. He was trained as a lawyer and started writing a blog from a libertarian perspective, eventually moving to do opinion-type pieces on Slate, etc.

That's a tricky thing these days, because anyone who writes anything on a blog or message board gets to be considered a journalist. But he certainly is not a journalist by training (which is why I guess he fucks up the Journalism 101 level stuff). That's true of a lot of people writing and yakking these days, though. Paul Krugman wasn't trained as a journalist either. Here's the difference, though: Krugman rightfully remains on the Op-Ed page, and he confines himself almost exclusively to commentary on economic issues (which, of course, can embrace a wide range of topics, but at least it's a subject he is eminently qualified to expound on, being a Nobel Prize winner in the area). So he's not really a journalist either, he's an opinion writer. GG, by contrast, is not presenting himself as an opinion writer, and does not confine himself exclusively to legal issues. He makes use of "first amendment" arguments to expound (not report) on subjects about which he has little professional knowledge: including national security and foreign policy. He's an opinion writer, not a journalist.