Noel Sheppard of Newsbusters spots far left gadfly Glenn Greenwald asking, “Who needs the government to try to criminalize journalism when you have David Gregory to do it?”
NBC’s David Gregory is taking a lot of heat for asking the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald on Sunday’s Meet the Press if he should be charged with a crime for aiding and abetting National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.
Greenwald and a host of folks struck back at Gregory on Twitter (video follows with transcript and commentary):
DAVID GREGORY, HOST: To the extent that you have aided and abetted Snowden, even in his current movements, why shouldn’t you, Mr. Greenwald, be charged with a crime?
GLENN GREENWALD: I think it’s pretty extraordinary that anybody who would call themself a journalist would publicly muse about whether or not other journalists should be charged with felonies. The assumption in your question, David, is completely without evidence, the idea that I’ve aided and abetted him in any way.
The scandal that arose in Washington before our stories began was about the fact that the Obama administration is trying to criminalize investigative journalism by going through the emails and records of AP reporters, accusing a Fox News journalist of the theory that you just embraced, being co-conspirator in felonies for working with sources.
If you want to embrace that theory, it means that every investigative journalist in the United States who works with their sources, who receives classified information, is a criminal. And it’s precisely those theories and precisely that climate that has become so menacing in the United States. It’s why the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer said investigative reporting has come to a standstill, her word, as a result of the theories that you just referenced.
GREGORY: Well, the question of who’s a journalist may be up to a debate with regard to what you are doing. And of course anybody who’s watching this understands I was asking a question. That question has been raised by lawmakers as well. I’m not embracing anything, but, obviously, I take your point.
As Noel writes, “Greenwald fired back on Twitter,” asking, “Who needs the government to try to criminalize journalism when you have David Gregory to do it?”
Who indeed? On the other hand, Gregory in particular has a fair amount of prior experience breaking the law as an activist masquerading as a “journalist” himself:
Related: At Twitchy, “Bluster fail! Schumer: Putin knew of Snowden’s flight; What about know-nothing Obama?”
Update: Ace of Spades has a lengthy round-up of angry reaction on Twitter to Gregory, much of it from his fellow leftists, including former NBC hack David Shuster gleefully sticking it to his former colleague:
.@DavidGregory Not sure you should be suggesting criminal charges for a journalist. http://t.co/AkOIvnVkry #irony http://t.co/nJeSwPMYf2
— David Shuster (@DavidShuster) June 23, 2013
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