Journalists angry at Musk create new platform; immediately start fighting, censoring each other

Media journalists angry at Elon Musk for promising free speech on Twitter have started their own social media platform exclusive to reporters. The New York Times, whose own journalists have begun to migrate to the new platform, glowingly describes it as a promising utopia for the elite literati. 

“Using journa.host feels a little like crossing the border to a kinder, more rule-bound, less dynamic country,” gushed the Times. “Indeed, at times, journa.host looks a lot like Twitter, just without all the non-journalists and most of the nastiness,” the Old Gray Lady added, explaining that journa.host is a part of the larger social media platform Mastodon, which has become the new destination for censorship advocates flustered by Musk’s stewardship. 

“Frequent topics on journa.host include the deficiencies of Twitter (hate-filled, attention-addled, ruled by an impulsive billionaire), the deficiencies of Mastodon (hard to use, lacking a quote-retweet function, boring), and journalists’ ambivalence about the transition.” 

But it took less than a month for these journalists to turn journa.host into another version of pre-Musk Twitter where they fight and censor each other, the Times also reported. 

Last week, news podcast The Gist host Mike Pesca posted a link to a Times article about “health concerns associated with the puberty-blocking drugs sometimes prescribed to transgender youths.” Pesca commented, “This seemed like careful, thorough reporting.” 

Another journalist, Parker Molloy, immediately accused Pesca of “anti-trans bigotry” and angrily demanded that the platform’s creator remove the post. A journa.host administrator chimed in to agree with Molloy. 

Journa.host decided to suspend Pesca, not because of the post, but because he referred to Malloy as an “activist,” which was seen as “dismissive”. 

Shortly after, Molloy herself was suspended from the platform for her posts. 

“I mostly just want to be left alone,” she posted on Mastodon. 

One of the main grudges held against Musk is his firing of half the company’s 7,500 employees, who had a reputation for communism and working few hours. Some employees on the payroll served external purposes, such as the UN Human Rights team. 

“Mr. Musk’s early run at Twitter has been chaotic, as he has slashed thousands of jobs and reinstated banned accounts,” complained the New York Times. 

However, many have pointed out that even with half the workforce gone, the platform appears to be working fine, raising questions about the efficacy of the platform’s former employees.