Three Cheers for Lib Defectors

Laura Hollis   "Conservative journalists, commentators and on-air talent have been working for years to break the stranglehold that the Left has on the media, and therefore news and culture. They have made remarkable strides, and their impact is growing every day.

"More recently, a less-frequently discussed but equally notable phenomenon has been taking place. Over the past few years, a notable number of left-wing authors have broken ranks with their comrades in pursuit of a work environment free of the censorship and bias that has been throttling real reporting.

"Bari Weiss left The New York Times, moved to Substack, and then founded a new online newsletter called The Free Press that features writers of a variety of political persuasions. Glenn Greenwald was one of the co-founders of The Intercept, created purportedly in response to a perceived need for independent journalism. Greenwald subsequently left The Intercept, citing editorial censorship; he, too, moved to Substack. Michael Shellenberger, who used to describe himself as a progressive, wrote a scathing piece for Forbes magazine in 2019, criticizing so-called progressive policies in California that were contributing to the homelessness crisis in that state. Shellenberger has since authored two bestselling books, "Apocalypse Never" and "San Fransicko," exposing the deceit and damage inflicted by the environmental and homelessness policies espoused by the Left. Matt Taibbi was once a contributing editor for Rolling Stone magazine. He now publishes his popular online newsletter, The Racket, via Substack.

"Greenwald has become a relentless critic of American media, newly popular on the Right and now loathed by the Left. Weiss, Taibbi and Shellenberger have also made themselves personae non grata on the Left by helping Twitter's new owner Elon Musk reveal the extent of the censorship that was taking place in the social media behemoth. Twitter's former executives — often at the behest of Democrat operatives in government — were falsely labeling political conservatives as Russian operatives, suppressing truthful but damaging information about Joe Biden and his son Hunter in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, and shutting down the accounts of anyone with questions or information that ran counter to the "official narrative" about the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, alternative treatment protocols, the efficacy of masks or the risks of vaccines.". . .