When The Intercept launched in 2014, it promised to be a radical departure from the establishment press. Born out of the Edward Snowden leaks and funded by a tech billionaire, it presented itself as the home for aggressive investigative journalism—fearless, adversarial, and independent of corporate or state influence. For a brief time, it lived up to that ideal.
But in the years since, The Intercept has undergone a dramatic transformation. It now stands as a sobering example of what happens when an anti-establishment platform is captured by the very ideological forces it was created to challenge. Today, it is no longer the enemy of elite consensus—it is a willing participant in the progressive project. It pushes leftist orthodoxy on gender, race, policing, and speech while betraying the ideals of press freedom and intellectual dissent it once championed.
In this installment of the Hall of Shame, we will examine The Intercept’s ownership, tone, ideological leanings, scandals, and how it fares across 20 major dividing lines between Progressive and Conservative worldviews.
Ownership and Worldview
The Intercept was founded in 2014 by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Jeremy Scahill, with startup funding from eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar—a progressive billionaire who created First Look Media to bankroll independent journalism. Greenwald and Poitras gained prominence for their roles in reporting the Edward Snowden NSA surveillance leaks.
Omidyar’s financial support was presented as a bulwark against corporate media corruption. But as time passed, Omidyar’s growing ties to Democratic-aligned nonprofits and technocratic institutions began shaping the outlet’s editorial culture. Staff hires reflected a sharp leftward shift—especially on identity issues, DEI, and leftist activism.
Omidyar still supports the outlet through the First Look Institute. While it technically maintains editorial independence, critics—including Greenwald himself—have argued that it increasingly functions as an ideological filter. In 2020, Greenwald resigned, citing attempts by editors to censor his article on Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings—an act that marked the symbolic death of The Intercept’s original mission.
Typical Claims and Outlook
Tone and Editorial Voice
The Intercept speaks with the confidence of a movement, not a newsroom. It often adopts a crusading, accusatory tone toward American institutions—particularly law enforcement, the military, and conservative cultural groups. It blends classic anti-establishment rhetoric with woke progressivism, making it a strange fusion of old-school civil libertarianism and 21st-century critical theory.
While it claims to stand for transparency and press freedom, its recent output is saturated with the ideological priorities of the academic left: intersectionality, systemic racism, trans activism, and anti-Zionism.
Primary Themes and Targets
- America as systemically oppressive and corrupt
- Capitalism as exploitative
- Christianity as a cover for patriarchy and bigotry
- Israel as an apartheid regime
- Law enforcement as inherently violent and racist
- Gender as fluid and socially constructed
- Speech restrictions as justifiable in service to equity
Specific Incidents of Bias
The Greenwald Resignation (2020)
The most damning moment in The Intercept’s history came when co-founder Glenn Greenwald resigned, accusing the outlet of violating its own charter by censoring his reporting on Hunter Biden. Greenwald stated that editors were attempting to protect Joe Biden by refusing to allow publication of a thoroughly sourced article on his son’s business dealings.
Greenwald’s departure confirmed what many already suspected: The Intercept no longer prioritized transparency or accountability. It had become a partisan organ.
Pro-Palestinian Extremism
The Intercept has repeatedly taken an anti-Israel stance, publishing articles that defend Hamas-aligned narratives, accuse Israel of apartheid, and minimize or omit Israeli casualties. It has framed U.S. support for Israel as imperialist and Zionism as inherently oppressive. During the 2023–2024 Gaza conflict, it published inflammatory content that lacked context about Hamas terrorism and failed to include Jewish or Israeli perspectives.
Transgender Coverage
The outlet routinely pushes radical gender ideology, celebrating child transition, puberty blockers, and attacking any dissent as “transphobia.” It platformed activists who support hiding gender transitions from parents and denounced investigations into gender clinics as right-wing moral panic
Neo-Marxist and Ideological Influence
A. Acceptance of Progressive Academic Frameworks
The Intercept uses critical theory language fluently. Its articles treat concepts like “whiteness,” “colonialism,” “cisheteropatriarchy,” and “anti-racism” as objective truths. It promotes intersectionality as the default analytic framework and often quotes academics aligned with far-left ideology.
B. Hostility to Traditional Religion and Constitutionalism
Articles on Christian legal groups (like Alliance Defending Freedom) treat them as hate groups. It has framed parental rights in education as a threat to “inclusive learning” and religious liberty as a fig leaf for discrimination. It derides the Constitution as outdated and often platforms calls to radically restructure the American political system.
C. Internal DEI and Censorship Culture
According to internal reports and leaked communications, The Intercept maintains a highly ideological workplace. Several staff resignations and conflicts have occurred over DEI mandates, the privileging of identity in hiring and reporting, and a culture that punishes dissent. Its embrace of cancel culture internally reflects its editorial hostility to conservative or classical liberal thought externally.
Most Ideologically Reflective Figures
A. Glenn Greenwald (Former Co-Founder)
Once a fierce defender of press freedom and civil liberties, Greenwald departed The Intercept in 2020 after accusing his editors of suppressing reporting that could damage Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. His resignation revealed internal censorship, ideological gatekeeping, and the betrayal of the publication’s founding mission. Greenwald now writes independently, often exposing the very ideological bias The Intercept embodies.
B. Natasha Lennard – Far-Left Opinion Writer
Lennard has written extensively for The Intercept and other radical left publications. She defends Antifa violence, promotes abolition of police and prisons, and frames capitalism and Christianity as oppressive systems. In her 2020 articles, she praised riots as a legitimate political tool and referred to America as a “white supremacist project.”
C. Ryan Grim – Washington Bureau Chief
Grim is one of the most high-profile journalists at The Intercept, often appearing on progressive media shows like Breaking Points and Democracy Now!. While his reporting occasionally breaks establishment Democratic narratives, his framing almost always aligns with the progressive Left. He often soft-pedals left-wing extremism and has been accused of ignoring or downplaying radical ideology within Democratic circles.
D. Micah Lee – Technologist and Activist
Lee, a former Intercept tech specialist, publicly feuded with Greenwald and has aggressively promoted trans ideology and far-left DEI standards. He used his platform to attack critics of gender ideology as bigots and was part of the ideological enforcement wing within the organization, policing speech even within editorial ranks.
Scandals and Controversies
A. Censorship of Hunter Biden Story
In October 2020, Glenn Greenwald attempted to publish an article detailing evidence of Hunter Biden’s foreign business entanglements and their implications for Joe Biden’s campaign. The Intercept editors blocked it. Greenwald resigned, exposing their editorial process as deeply partisan. The organization that once prided itself on fighting government secrecy actively suppressed a legitimate political story to protect their preferred candidate.
B. Repeated Publishing of Anti-Israel Propaganda
The Intercept has published articles that minimize Hamas terrorism while demonizing Israel. One particularly egregious article ran the headline: “There Is No Hamas Without Israeli Occupation”—a rhetorical dodge that blamed Israeli Jews for the existence of genocidal terror groups. Critics have rightly called this victim-blaming and historically illiterate.
C. Defense of Left-Wing Political Violence
Several articles defended or excused property destruction, arson, and rioting during the 2020 BLM and Antifa riots. Writers referred to these as “uprisings” or “resistance,” and expressed concern not with violence itself, but with state efforts to prosecute perpetrators. This double standard—condemning the January 6 riot but celebrating leftist riots—exposes The Intercept’s ideological bias.
D. Internal Censorship and Cancel Culture
Numerous former employees, including editors and reporters, have spoken of a toxic internal culture in which dissent from radical identity politics was not tolerated. Younger staff accused senior editors of “insufficient sensitivity,” leading to forced resignations and editorial paralysis. As one former employee said, “the woke staffers run the place now.”
The Intercept on 20 Progressive vs. Conservative Issues
Let’s now evaluate The Intercept across 20 major ideological battle lines:
1. Election Integrity and Voter Laws
The Intercept treats voter ID laws and election security measures as voter suppression. It elevates claims of systemic racism in voting while mocking concerns about ballot harvesting, voter rolls, or mail-in fraud as conspiratorial or fascistic.
2. Abortion and Reproductive Rights
It consistently describes abortion as a human right and attacks pro-life advocates as religious zealots. It opposes all restrictions, including bans on late-term abortions, and dehumanizes the unborn by referring to them as “fetal tissue” or “potential life.”
3. Gender Identity and Transgender Policies
The Intercept champions radical gender ideology. It promotes puberty blockers, hormone therapy for minors, and condemns all restrictions as “transphobia.” It publishes articles that use phrases like “assigned female at birth” and frames parental concerns as reactionary.
4. Race and Systemic Racism
Systemic racism is taken as fact. The Intercept supports reparations, DEI quotas, and treats colorblind legal frameworks as inherently oppressive. It heavily quotes scholars from the CRT and intersectionality camps.
5. Climate Change and Energy Policy
It pushes alarmist climate rhetoric and supports policies like the Green New Deal. It opposes fossil fuel expansion, vilifies oil companies, and celebrates the use of climate lawsuits and protests to achieve political ends.
6. Immigration and Border Security
The Intercept opposes border walls, ICE enforcement, and deportation. It calls for sanctuary policies and leniency for illegal crossings. It rarely covers crimes committed by illegal immigrants or the financial cost of illegal entry.
7. Israel and the Middle East Conflict
It is fiercely anti-Israel. Articles regularly frame the Jewish state as an apartheid regime and ignore or minimize terrorism by Hamas and Hezbollah. U.S. military aid to Israel is portrayed as a crime, and Jewish self-defense is recast as aggression.
8. Second Amendment and Gun Control
It supports full gun control and mocks the Second Amendment. It links gun ownership to white supremacy and toxic masculinity. Self-defense stories are ignored, and lawful gun owners are often portrayed as paranoid or violent.
9. LGBTQ+ Rights and Religious Liberty
LGBTQ+ rights trump religious freedom in every case. The Intercept attacks Christian legal organizations, supports mandatory inclusion policies, and frames traditional moral beliefs as hate. It promotes drag culture for children and trans ideology in schools.
10. COVID-19 Policy and Mandates
It supported lockdowns, mandates, and suppression of so-called misinformation. It dismissed natural immunity, criticized protests against mandates, and supported censorship of dissenters under the guise of public health.
11. Policing and Criminal Justice
The Intercept promotes abolitionist rhetoric, calls to defund police, and supports decriminalizing violent offenders. It treats police as inherently racist and often ignores or minimizes the suffering of victims of crime.
12. Education and Parental Rights
It defends school systems that hide gender transitions from parents, supports CRT in K–12, and treats school choice advocates as agents of racism. It portrays concerned parents as bigoted and dangerous.
13. Censorship and Big Tech
Although originally a defender of press freedom, The Intercept now supports selective censorship. It frames deplatforming and algorithm manipulation as necessary for combating “hate” or “disinformation.” It has attacked Substack, Rumble, and other free-speech platforms.
14. January 6 and Political Violence
January 6 is treated as a fascist uprising. By contrast, BLM and Antifa riots are romanticized as righteous rebellion. The Intercept condemns only right-wing violence while normalizing leftist extremism.
15. Corporate Wokeness and ESG
It supports corporate activism, ESG mandates, and woke capital. It sees corporations as useful when they push progressive messaging and attacks those that resist DEI or trans policies as retrograde.
16. Hunter Biden, Biden Family, and Political Corruption
It refused to publish criticism of Hunter Biden’s dealings, leading to Greenwald’s resignation. It downplays or ignores stories that could damage Democrats while focusing intensely on Republican scandals—real or alleged.
17. Trump and the Republican Party
Donald Trump is treated as a proto-fascist. Republican voters are often described as driven by racism, conspiracy, or white grievance. The GOP is framed as authoritarian and dangerous.
18. Affirmative Action and Racial Preferences
It celebrates race-based admissions and hiring. Colorblindness is condemned as a form of white supremacy. It attacked the Supreme Court for overturning affirmative action in college admissions.
19. International Institutions and Sovereignty
It supports global governance, international law, and treaties that reduce national sovereignty. It opposes American exceptionalism and celebrates multilateral frameworks that prioritize equity and climate goals.
20. Culture War Issues
It supports drag shows for children, the redefinition of marriage and gender, and the criminalization of traditional moral opposition to LGBTQ+ ideology. It treats concern for family values as bigotry.
Conclusion
The Intercept began with promise. It claimed to be a watchdog—one that would hold the powerful to account, protect civil liberties, and expose corruption regardless of political affiliation. But over the past decade, it has forfeited that mission. In place of skeptical inquiry, it now offers ideological conformity. In place of independent reporting, it echoes the catechism of the activist Left.
It still wears the trappings of investigative journalism, but its stories are filtered through a lens of progressive moral dogma. It is more interested in attacking the cultural enemies of the Left—Christians, conservatives, constitutionalists, Israel, and traditional family advocates—than in challenging actual centers of power. In this sense, it has become just another cog in the progressive media-industrial complex.
What makes The Intercept especially insidious is its pretense of being anti-establishment. This creates a false sense of credibility for readers who believe they are getting the “real story” from courageous reporters. But in reality, the outlet:
- Suppresses stories that could hurt progressive causes (e.g., Hunter Biden)
- Promotes ideological extremism under the guise of investigative journalism
- Elevates activists as sources while minimizing factual nuance
- Uses critical theory jargon to frame America as irredeemably oppressive
- Rejects religious liberty, natural rights, and moral absolutes as “tools of domination”
It functions more as an ideological project than a news organization. It produces articles that resemble activist pamphlets with footnotes—seeking not to inform but to shape readers into adherents of a revolutionary worldview.
Perhaps the most tragic part of The Intercept’s fall is the betrayal of its founding principles. It was created to be a place where journalists could speak the truth regardless of political convenience. But as Glenn Greenwald’s departure shows, truth is no longer welcome if it challenges progressive narratives.
This descent mirrors a broader trend in media: legacy and independent outlets alike are increasingly captured by Neo-Marxist ideology and DEI bureaucracy. The irony is glaring: a platform launched to protect whistleblowers and safeguard press freedom now suppresses dissent, enforces language orthodoxy, and censors its own writers.
The Intercept belongs in the Hall of Shame for the following reasons:
- It censors inconvenient facts when they hurt Democrats or progressivism
- It betrays press freedom by participating in Big Tech’s censorship ecosystem
- It promotes ideological extremism under the cover of civil rights
- It undermines religion, family, and national sovereignty, portraying them as threats
- It praises violence and civil unrest when it serves the Left
- It distorts language to frame morality as oppression and truth as “misinformation”
This outlet is not a watchdog. It is not brave. It is not independent.
It is the mask worn by an ideology hostile to truth, tradition, and liberty.
The Intercept’s fall is a cautionary tale for all who care about journalism. A free press is not simply a tool for the marginalized to air grievances—it is a pillar of civil society, rooted in the pursuit of truth. When media platforms become ideological weapons, they cease to serve the people and start serving the revolution.
For Christians, constitutionalists, and all defenders of objective truth, The Intercept stands as a monument to what happens when moral clarity is abandoned for fashionable radicalism.
Let the reader beware.
S.D.G.,
Robert Sparkman
rob@christiannewsjunkie.com
RELATED CONTENT
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I recommend these Youtube channels and commentators for good content on politics and news from a Christian and/or conservative worldview: Albert Mohler, Allie Beth Stuckey, Bill O’Reilly, CBN News, Hugh Hewitt, John Anderson Media (Australia), Nick Freitas, Ruthless Podcast (language warning), Scott Jennings, The Hot Zone with Chuck Holton, Vince Dao, and Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Albert Mohler’s channel on Youtube has a daily episode called The Briefing with Albert Mohler that I highly recommend. Allie Beth Stuckey’s channel is top-notch, too.
For livestreaming of political protests and riots by conservative commentators, check out Nate Friedman, Cam Higby, James Klug, and Nick Shirley. I don’t agree with the perspectives of all these commentators and the language of protesters is often obscene. Most news outlets will not cover these illegal assemblies, though, because it doesn’t promote their narrative.
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