From his substack (the bit I can read without paying):
I was just informed by Max Alvarez, the Editor-in-Chief at The Real News, that they will no longer run my show. The reason for the cancellation, he said, is that my critiques of Biden, especially for the genocide in Gaza, jeopardizes his nonprofit status. My last show with Dennis Kucinich, who is running as an independent for Congress in Ohio, was removed from the site.
I will resurrect the show on an independent platform, although it may take me a few weeks to get this set up.
Land of the free. USA! USA! USA! What a shitshow....no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
Re: Chris Hedges cancelled (again) for criticising Genocide Gumby
Indeed, an ordained minister and man of God preaching radical moral philosophies is a dangerous man - I suppose Jesus was too, and look what happened to him...
Whilstthe idiot brigade, both Dems and Republicans accuse Trump of being fascist and a threat to democracy, the genuine threat to democracy, and those espousing fascism actually comes from the very Democrats and Republicans attacking not only Trump, but anyone who questions the US Regime.
Its been a truism since the 1920s that Liberals issue support to anti-democracy forces if the prevailing ststus quo is threatened, Democray Now and Real News Newtwork epitomise this fact, i.e., Norman Finkelstein has been banned from Demecracy Now for many years, whilst the Real News Network, like all liberal organisations, has zero backbone and is afraid to challenge the censorship that is apparent across most of the media in the USA.
Would Chris Hedges is better advised to join forces with The Greyzone, rather than start from scratch again, i.e., building out The Greyzone and encouraging more views would be a better option and Hedges brings the views whilst The Greyzone has an existing platform.
The principal funder of The Real News, T.M. Scruggs, once demanded Bob Scheer delete from Scheerpost a column I wrote defending the writer Alice Walker from charges of antisemitism. When Bob refused, Scruggs said he would no longer support Scheerpost, of which he was a major donor. His animus towards me, also apparently driven by my critiques of the Democratic Party and support for third party candidates, did not go away once RT, where I hosted a show, was shut down, my six years of archives were disappeared from YouTube, and I arranged to move to The Real News.
Although Max Alvarez at The Real News insists that the reason for canceling the show was that it jeopardized his nonprofit status, I find it hard to believe that Scruggs’ hostility towards me did not play a significant factor in his decision. Scruggs, according to Alvarez, has made it clear that if The Real News does anything, in his eyes, that contributes to the election of Donald Trump, he will pull the funding. This is an inverted way of saying, support Joe Biden and the Democrats. That such a stance is anathema to journalism is obvious.
I did not endorse Dennis Kucinich in the last show I did on The Real News, but he is running for Congress in Ohio as an independent, and is critical of the two ruling parties. I did not violate guidelines for nonprofits. Nevertheless, the episode with Kucinich was removed from the site, and immediately afterwards my program was terminated.
The model of wealthy people and corporations owning and funding news organizations does not work. The wealthy patrons who own sites such as Salon or Truthdig, or control sites such as The Real News, or the corporations that own news outlets such as CNN and MSNBC, too often interfere in ways that cripple honest inquiry and reporting.
As A.J. Liebling said, “Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.”
*****
Max Blumenthal comments:
'After the highly suspect ouster of The Real News founder and longtime director Paul Jay, Chris Hedges' departure will deliver the nail in the coffin to a once-trailblazing alt-media organization. T.M. Scruggs, the lone sugardaddy of The Real News, has driven this outlet into the ground with his erratic personality and reflexively imperialist views. The Real News will now follow hollowed-out or defunct online "progressive" outlets like AlterNet, Salon, Truthdig and many others into oblivion. These organizations rose to prominence during the GW Bush/post-9/11 era, marketing themselves as antiwar alternatives to the establishment, then gradually collapsed under the weight of liberal foundation donors, Obama worship, then Trump-era Russiagate hysteria, while their staff became infested with dysfunctional conformists driven by The Current Thing. I have known Hedges for about two decades, and learned a lot from him throughout that time. I'm excited for his next act as a truly independent journalist.' - https://nitter.poast.org/MaxBlumenthal/status/1786277854155530640#m
To treat one of the greatest journalist of any time (imo) but easily one of the best we have today like this because a donor didn't like the truths he told is pathetic and a massive moral failure.
Things really do seem to be descending at a gathering pace.
...no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party...So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.
Getting a 403 | Forbidden on the Blumenthal link. Nm
After the highly suspect ouster of The Real News founder and longtime director Paul Jay, Chris Hedges' departure will deliver the nail in the coffin to a once-trailblazing alt-media organization. T.M. Scruggs, the lone sugardaddy of The Real News, has driven this outlet into the ground with his erratic personality and reflexively imperialist views.
The Real News will now follow hollowed-out or defunct online "progressive" outlets like AlterNet, Salon, Truthdig and many others into oblivion. These organizations rose to prominence during the GW Bush/post-9/11 era, marketing themselves as antiwar alternatives to the establishment, then gradually collapsed under the weight of liberal foundation donors, Obama worship, then Trump-era Russiagate hysteria, while their staff became infested with dysfunctional conformists driven by The Current Thing.
I have known Hedges for about two decades, and learned a lot from him throughout that time. I'm excited for his next act as a truly independent journalist.
on May 4, 2024, 8:48 am