Glenn Greenwald leaving the Guardian in pursuit of something new

image credit: Gage Skidmore/Flickr

Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who has been at the forefront of leaking NSA surveillance information provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, has decided to leave his post at the Guardian newspaper to pursue what he has describes as a “once-in-a-career dream journalistic opportunity.”

The news of Greenwald’s departure from the British newpaper was broken by Ben Smith of Buzzfeed Tuesday evening.

Greenwald released a statement, saying:

My partnership with the Guardian has been extremely fruitful and fulfilling: I have high regard for the editors and journalists with whom I worked and am incredibly proud of what we achieved.

The decision to leave was not an easy one, but I was presented with a once-in-a-career dream journalistic opportunity that no journalist could possibly decline.

Because this news leaked before we were prepared to announce it, I’m not yet able to provide any details of this momentous new venture, but it will be unveiled very shortly.

Though the specifics of the former Guardian journalist’s new venture are still in the dark, Greenwald told Buzzfeed that the operation will be “a very well-funded … very substantial new media outlet.”

“My role, aside from reporting and writing for it, is to create the entire journalism unit from the ground up by recruiting the journalists and editors who share the same journalistic ethos and shaping the whole thing — but especially the political journalism part — in the image of the journalism I respect most,” Greenwald said in a interview with Buzzfeed.

“When people hear what it is, there is almost no journalist who would say no to it,” he said.

Whatever the new venture may be, its certainty safe to say that Greenwald will continue his hard hitting investigative work and continue to be a threat to those lurking in the shadows of government secrecy.

Paul Lawrance writes for Eyes Open Report where this first appeared.