Under pressure after Snowden-revelations
Greenwald became an international headliner when he repeatedly exposed the espionage of the American secret service (NSA) and its
British counterpart (GCHQ), using the revelations of whistleblower Edward Snowden. Greenwalt had
been under increasing pressure and intimidation, with even his boyfriend being
arrested, and has now decided to leave The Guardian.
A press release states that Omidyar has a growing interest “to preserve and strengthen the role
journalism plays in society” and he hopes that this new structure “supports
these journalists and allows them to pursue the truth in their fields”. The
American multibillionaire with Iranian roots has stressed that this new company
will not limit their work to research journalism, but is aiming for a wide audience.
Second attempt for launch in journalism
The eBay founder would be willing to invest some 200 million euro into the
project, a mere fraction of his alleged worth, which Forbes estimates to be
some 7 billion euro. At the moment, Omidyar has been preoccupied – through his
Omidyar Network – with investments, politics and philanthropy.
He was one of the possible purchasers
of American newspaper The Washington Post, but in the end Amazon founder
Jeff Bezos bought the prestigious newspaper.
