Headline Roundup • March 10th, 2023
Congress Questions Matt Taibbi Over Involvement In Twitter Files
Media Bias,Free Speech,Censorship,Twitter Files,2020 Election,Misinformation And Disinformation,Technology,Elon Musk,Matt Taibbi,Twitter
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.
Featured Coverage of this Story

YOUTUBE/HOUSE JUDICIARY GOP
Author and journalist Matt Taibbi fielded scathing questions by House Democrats on Thursday as he sought to defend his contributions to the so-called “Twitter Files” during a hearing for the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.
The hearing became tense at times, with the top Democrat on the panel, Del. Stacey Plaskett (U.S. Virgin Islands), repeatedly pushing back against the top Republican, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Jordan and others in his party allege federal agencies have been unfairly targeting conservatives.
In an attempt to prove that point, new Twitter CEO Elon Musk allowed a...

DREW ANGERER/GETTY IMAGES
Matt Taibbi, who published the Twitter Files late last year, defended his record of reporting at a congressional hearing on Thursday after Democratic Virgin Islands Representative Stacey Plaskett called him a "so-called" journalist.
Taibbi and fellow journalist Michael Shellenberger were present at a hearing held by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government Hearing to discuss the Twitter Files.
The files released by Taibbi and Shellenberger were based on records that revealed communications between the FBI and former Twitter executives that occurred before the social media platform was acquired by Elon Musk.

Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Representative Stacey Plaskett (D., Virgin Islands) ripped into Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger during a Thursday hearing on the Twitter Files, accusing the pair of journalists of endangering the lives of Twitter employees by exposing how the social-media platform partnered with various federal agencies to censor disfavored political views.
Plaskett, ranking member of the Select Committee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, used her allotted time during the first round of questioning to dismiss the witnesses’ concerns about the FBI and other federal agencies pressuring Twitter to take action...
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