Journalist and media personality Glenn Greenwald did not hold back his criticism of tech journalist and author Kara Swisher when he described her as a “gigantic fraud.”
Greenwald ripped Swisher for her seemingly cozy relationship with Silicon Valley insiders during a segment of his show SYSTEM UPDATE on March 25. “The leading cheerleaders for Kara Swisher generally, and for her new book in particular, are and always have been the very leaders of the industry she claims to subject to such harsh and unrelenting and critical journalistic scrutiny,” Greenwald said, describing the friendly relationship between Swisher and Silicon Valley.
Greenwald pointed to a recent interview Swisher did with Silicon Valley tycoon Sam Altman, the founder and CEO of ChatGPT and a major figure in the world of Artificial Intelligence. As Greenwald noted the interview appeared to be anything but adversarial.
“He is exactly the kind of powerbroker that Kara Swisher goes around presenting herself as putting such fear into the hearts of these people because she is so tough,” Greenwald said of Altman. “And yet, here she is. The two of them are sitting together promoting her book, they’re giggling together, they’re smiling together.”
Greenwald highlighted that real, honest journalists do not usually enjoy this kind of cozy relationship with the people they cover. He contrasted Swisher with another very prominent reporter, Seymour Hersch, known for exposing the My Lai massacre and for contradicting the U.S. intelligence narrative regarding the demolition of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Greenwald pointed out that the CIA would never dream of promoting Hersch’s book because he actually does his job.
“Obviously, this would never happen,” Greenwald said. “The reason being is that Seymour Hersch has actually spent his life being a scourge for the CIA exposing their crimes, debunking their lies, exposing the secrets that they want hidden.”
Greenwald also pointed out that Swisher was praised by another major Silicon Valley figurehead, Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs and owner of The Atlantic magazine.
“Laurene Powell Jobs just kept saying what a wonderful person Kara Swisher is [and] how great her book is,” Greenwald said, referring to an interview between Swisher and Jobs. [O]bviously, Laurene Powell Jobs’ billions rests in Silicon Valley, her husband is a major part of this book, Kara Swisher heaps all kinds of praise on Apple, on whose wealth Laurene Powell Jobs’ ultimately depends.”
Greenwald continued, outlining just how bad this looks for Swisher as she markets herself as a fierce journalist. “This sounds and looks a lot more to me like an industry propaganda and spokesperson than it does an aggressive, scary thorn in the side of their power,” he said.
Swisher is also blindsided by political bias, Greenwald critiqued. “The only people she is willing to criticize are people who she perceives as being [an] adversary to her liberal ideology,” he said, noting that Twitter owner Elon Musk is the perfect example of this. He added that Swisher “used to heap immense amount of sycophantic praise” on Musk “until he bought Twitter, turned it into X, ceased censoring, began promoting an ideology she disagrees with.”
Greenwald reiterated that who Swisher chooses to criticize is highly indicative of how well she does her job. “She’s just a liberal operative, and so of course, the liberal operatives inside of Silicon Valley love her.”
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