Journalist Glenn Greenwald on Tuesday lamented how historically trustworthy major corporate news outlets have destroyed their own credibility, especially during the years of the Trump administration.
“I’ve been a critic of corporate media outlets for 15 years but always assumed one could get basic facts (even if flawed) by reading them. I now no longer think this,” Greenwald tweeted. “Their journalistic and business model makes me distrust everything I read there.”
“Every major outlet has some good reporters trying (and sometimes succeeding) to do good journalism,” he continued. “But the ideological and business model of these outlets, developed from the Trump years, makes most of what they publish unreliable. That’s not something to celebrate. It’s tragic.”
Every major outlet has some good reporters trying (and sometimes succeeding) to do good journalism. But the ideological and business model of these outlets, developed from the Trump years, makes most of what they publish unreliable. That's not something to celebrate. It's tragic.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 6, 2021
Greenwald’s tweet was in response to a post from New York Post opinion editor Sohrab Ahmari, who claimed that not only does he no longer trust the legacy media, he even assumes what they are reporting is “bullsh*t.”
“I’ve worked in mainstream media for a decade,” Ahmari reflected. “I used to see NYT/WaPo/network stories and generally assume they were basically true, even if the outlets made mistakes from time to time (we’re all human). Now I think, “What kind of bullsh*t are these ideologues pulling on me now?”
“The old establishment regime was thoroughly liberal, to be clear. It was the air they breathed. But you couldn’t imagine the old regime straight-up fabricating s**t or claiming, as CNN did in a recent news story, that there is no scientific consensus for determining a baby’s sex,” he added.
The old establishment regime was thoroughly liberal, to be clear. It was the air they breathed.
But you couldn't imagine the old regime straight-up fabricating shit or claiming, as CNN did in a recent news story, that there is no scientific consensus for determining a baby's sex
— Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) April 6, 2021
Ahmari was referencing a recent CNN story that claimed “there is no consensus criteria for assigning sex at birth.”
As The Daily Wire reported:
CNN reported as fact on Tuesday that the meaning of “biological sex” is disputed and that “no consensus” exists for knowing a person’s sex at birth.
The network published the claims in a news piece on South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s ongoing battle over legislation that would ban biological males from participating in women’s sports in her state. The piece, titled “South Dakota’s governor issues executive orders banning transgender athletes from women’s sports,” was written by breaking news reporter Devon Cole.
Cole wrote:
Though the two executive orders signed by Noem do not explicitly mention transgender athletes, they reference the supposed harms of the participation of “males” in women’s athletics – an echo of the transphobic claim, cited in other similar legislative initiatives, that transgender women are not women. The orders also reference “biological sex,” a disputed term that refers to the sex as listed on students’ original birth certificates.
It’s not possible to know a person’s gender identity at birth, and there is no consensus criteria for assigning sex at birth.
CNN updated the article on Wednesday after it received blowback online “to provide additional explanation as to the distinctions between gender and sex,” according to an editor’s note. The claim about “no consensus for assigning sex at birth” was removed from the new version of the article, and an explanation for why “biological sex” is a disputed term was added.
Related: Glenn Greenwald Explains How Multiple Media Outlets Can ‘Independently Confirm’ False Information