First Look Media, which operates as a nonprofit organization under the name First Look Institute, is a research and media organization founded by eBay co-founder Pierre Omidyar in partnership with controversial left-of-center activist journalist Glenn Greenwald, perhaps best known for collaborating in the mass disclosure of classified national security documents by Edward Snowden, a former U.S. government contractor residing in Russia as of early 2019. ¹ In 2020, Greenwald resigned from First Look citing the organization’s refusal to run an article critical of Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden. ² In 2021, Laura Poitras alleged that she was fired from the organization amid a dispute over how the organization handled the exposure of a source; First Look Media denied firing Poitras, characterizing the separation as the end of an independent contractor arrangement. ³

First Look was most notable as being is the parent company of the digital magazine The Intercept, from its launch in February 2014 until it was remade into a standalone organization in 2023. The Intercept published material leaked by Snowden and engaged in “adversarial journalism” on other matters. ⁴ First Look Media has become notable for aggressively publishing leaked classified information, even beyond what was provided by Snowden. ⁵

First Look Media also launched an entertainment studio, Topic Studios, that creates podcasts and digital video productions and funds feature films. ⁶ It has a non-profit arm called First Look Media Works (FLMW), which houses the Press Freedom Defense Fund, an organization that pays legal fees for journalists as well as those accused of leaking classified documents. ⁷

Founding and Leadership

In October 2013, it was reported that Greenwald would be leaving the Guardian to create a new media organization with significant financial backing. ⁸ It was later reported that the backing came from Omidyar. ⁹

Omidyar, an eBay co-founder with a net worth estimated at $12 billion as of March 2019,¹⁰ had originally been approached as a potential purchaser of the Washington Post. He stated that in the process of considering that offer, he became interested in challenges facing modern journalists and in starting a new media organization with the same investment of $250 million that would have been required to purchase the Washington Post. He got in contact with Greenwald, who was planning to start his own media company with a similar vision, and the two decided to partner. ⁵

In addition to Omidyar and Greenwald, First Look Media involved collaboration from documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras and investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill. Poitras had previously worked with Greenwald and Snowden to create the documentary CitizenFour, defending and glamorizing Snowden’s leaks of classified national security documents. ³ Scahill is an investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker who was previously employed at The Nation. ¹¹

In 2020, Greenwald resigned from First Look citing the organization’s refusal to run an article critical of Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden at its online outlet The Intercept.¹²

In 2021, Laura Poitras alleged that she was fired from the organization amid a dispute over how the organization treated a source. Poitras alleged that First Look Media had not adequately investigated its failure to protect the identity of former National Security Agency linguist Reality Winner, who had leaked classified documents to The Intercept. First Look Media denied firing Poitras, characterizing the separation as the end of an independent contractor arrangement. ³

The Intercept

First Look Media’s flagship media outlet is The Intercept, an online news publication dedicated to what it describes as “adversarial journalism.” The publication initially served as a platform to report on the documents released by Edward Snowden, with the stated goal of expanding to report aggressively on other topics involving governments and corporations. ⁴ Gawker editor John Cook was named editor-in-chief of The Intercept in March 2014. ¹³

The publication has been involved in controversy from the beginning. Its first story was a report about NSA involvement in the U.S. targeted killing program and lethal drone strikes. The story declined to use the term “targeted killings” to refer to the U.S. drone strikes, instead calling them “assassinations.” ¹⁴ TechCrunch referred to this editorial choice as clear evidence of The Intercept’s “unabashed opposition to security hawks.” ¹⁵

Numerous articles in The Intercept have cited leaked classified documents. In August 15, 2014, the FBI launched a probe into how classified information was leaked to The Intercept for its article revealing details about a database of terrorism suspects. It raided the home of the suspected leaker. ¹⁶

In January 2015, The Intercept published a guide headlined “How to Leak to The Intercept,” including information on how to conceal behavior from law enforcement and strip metadata from documents. The guide prompted accusations that The Intercept was inviting criminality and potentially helping foreign intelligence agencies. Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare wrote that if he were a foreign intelligence operative he would “use the opportunity to drop disinformation on journalists who have shown they will believe just about anything if it’s disparaging of U.S. intelligence.” ¹⁷

The Intercept was again at the center of a high-profile NSA leak in 2017 when Reality Winner, then an NSA linguist, leaked information regarding Russian attempts to launch cyberattacks on American voting software in 2016. According to the New York Times, “The Intercept scrambled to publish a story on the report, ignoring the most basic security precautions. The lead reporter on the story sent a copy of the document, which contained a crease showing it had been printed out, to the N.S.A. media affairs office, all but identifying Ms. Winner as the leaker.” Winner was arrested shortly after the story was published and sentenced to prison. ¹⁸

Several of those involved with the publication criticized The Intercept for not protecting its source including Laura Poitras, one of the founders of the Intercept who was involved in the initial Snowden leak. Poitras later alleged that “she had been fired by First Look Media for publicly criticizing how the company reacted to its failure to protect the identity of an anonymous source who is now in prison.” ^{3 18}

In January 2023, the Intercept announced that it would spin-off from the First Look Institute and restructure as a standalone nonprofit organization while simultaneously announcing layoffs to secure the fledgling organization’s financial position. The Intercept also announced that to “ensure a smooth transition, First Look has committed to a significant multiyear gift to support our newsroom.” Further stating that “We’re grateful to eBay founder and philanthropist Pierre Omidyar who provided funding to launch The Intercept in 2014 and to First Look for its continued support.” ¹⁹

The Press Freedom Defense Fund

In May 2017, First Look Media, through its non-profit arm First Look Media Works, launched the Press Freedom Defense Fund to provide legal support for journalists, news organizations, and whistleblowers “targeted by powerful figures.” Its beneficiaries have included Reality Winner, who leaked classified information for The Intercept’s controversial report on the FBI terrorist watch list. ⁷

Grants from the fund have also been used to support challenges to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) denials, in which journalists were denied access to government information, and motions to eliminate subpoenas seeking journalistic sources. ²⁰

The Fund is led by James Risen, a former New York Times journalist who claimed to have received threats from both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations for his work. He has made statements critical of conservative media, including that it has “grown on the back” of a sense of victimization and resentment towards the press. ²¹

The fund is administratively supported by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and Reporters Committee attorneys review and evaluate applications from reporters engaged in litigation or potential litigation in the U.S. ²²

In 2017, First Look Media announced a further expansion of the fund by announcing that it would add $2 million of its own and commit to raising another $2 million in matching funds for a total of $6 million. ²³

While supporting journalists undergoing legal issues in the United States, much of the fund’s focus is on aiding journalists facing threats of death or imprisonment abroad in countries including Afghanistan, Belarus, and Russia. The group partnered with the Human Rights Foundation to create the Belarus Solidarity Fund, which raised over $1,000,000 “for the democracy movement in Belarus” in 2021. ^{24 25}

Film Production

In 2017, First Look Media launched the photo and video website Topic.com and Topic Studios. Topic creates podcasts and digital media, while also funding feature films, including Spotlight, the 2016 Academy Award-winner for Best Picture. Many of the narrative and documentary films it finances feature government wrongdoing as a principal theme. Since the departure of The Intercept from the First Look Media portfolio in 2023, Topic Studios has been the flagship project of First Look. The film, television, and podcast studio had produced over 35 film and television projects by 2024 and garnered eight Academy Award nominations and two wins, six Golden Globe nominations and one win, and nine Emmy nominations and two wins. ²⁶

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18. Smith, Ben. “The Intercept Promised to Reveal Everything. Then Its Own Scandal Hit.” September 13, 2020. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/13/business/media/the-intercept-source-reality-winner.html
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