Hawaii Political Info introduction: Matt Taibbi, an investigative reporter luminary, has joined First Look, a news site start-up that has been founded and bankrolled by Honolulu's Pierre Omidyar. Omidyar is the founder of eBay and Honolulu Civil Beat, and continues to play a leading role in both organizations.
Omidyar has successfully persuaded the best of the best of investigative, not to mention courageous, reporters to join him, the latest being Taibbi, who has been writing for Rolling Stone. This is highly significant, but what is one to make of Omidyar's connection to PayPal?
PayPal refused to process donations for Julian Assange's WikiLeaks. This move, along with other electronic funds processors who also refused to process payments, cut WikiLeaks off at the knees. Omidyar is the founder and chairman of eBay, which owns PayPal. He's going to forge truth in media?
Surely Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras, who have just recently started reporting for the Omidyar news organization, and Matt Taibbi have asked Omidyar about PayPal and WikiLeaks. This is a no-brainer, fundamental question. How the conversation went, we so far don't know, other than it looks like the topic didn't stop them from joining with Omidyar. This Forbes article may be a clue as to which way that conversation went.
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The New York Times
By Ravi Somaiya
February 19, 2014
Matt Taibbi, who made a name as a fierce critic of Wall Street at Rolling Stone magazine, has joined First Look Media, the latest big-name journalist to leave an established brand to enter the thriving and well-financed world of news start-ups.
Mr. Taibbi will start his own publication focusing on financial and political corruption, he said in an interview on Wednesday. First Look is financed by the eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, who is worth $8.5 billion, according to Forbes. Mr. Omidyar has pledged $250 million to the project.
“It’s obvious that we’re entering a new phase in the history of journalism,” Mr. Taibbi said. “This is clearly the future, and this was an opportunity for me to be part of helping to found something and create something that might carry us into the next generation.”
Read more . . .
Links:
PayPal shuts out WikiLeaks [CNet] Dec 4, 2010
Thank You, Rolling Stone By Matt Taibbi [Rolling Stone] Feb 20, 2014
