Headline RoundupMarch 11th, 2023

Congress Questions Matt Taibbi Over Involvement In Twitter Files

Summary from the AllSides News Team

Journalist Matt Taibbi (Center bias) was questioned by Congress on Thursday about his Twitter Files reporting.

The Details: Taibbi was called as a witness by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) during a hearing for the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. The committee was formed by House Republicans to investigate the Federal Government’s role in censorship via Twitter after Taibbi’s reporting on the Twitter Files showed regular communications between Twitter executives and federal agencies.

For Context: Taibbi became engaged in tense confrontations with several Democratic representatives who questioned his standing as a “so-called journalist”, and asked for further information about when he was approached by Twitter owner Elon Musk to be involved in the project. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) accused Taibbi of being partial because he was called to be a witness by Republicans. Taibbi insisted he unearthed federal efforts to censor both left and right-wing organizations in his reporting.

How The Media Covered It: The story received little coverage from Left and Center-rated sources. Right-rated sources elevated Taibbi’s claims that Democrats were trying to bait him into revealing a source, a first amendment violation, and that Taibbi found censorship towards both the left and right. HuffPost focused more on Democrats’ questioning regarding Taibbi’s integrity as a journalist, and noted Jordan previously alleged federal agencies were unfairly targeting conservatives.

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