A reporter is being skewered for visiting the home of a Utah paramedic who donated $10 to the legal defense fund of Kyle Rittenhouse. The fire department where the paramedic works has launched an investigation following the report on the private citizen’s donation.
There was a data breach at GiveSendGo, the self-described “fastest-growing Christian crowdfunding site made by Christians for Christians.” One of the crowdfunding campaigns on GiveSendGo included Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot two people dead and wounded another during riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
“The breach, shared with journalists by transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets, revealed the details of some donors who had previously attempted to conceal their identities using GiveSendGo’s anonymity feature, but whose identifying details the website preserved,” the Guardian reported.
Jason Nguyen, an ABC-affiliated KTVX news station out of Salt Lake City, used the data breach to find anyone nearby who donated to the Kyle Rittenhouse defense fund. The data breach showed that a Utah paramedic donated $10 to the defense fund.
Nguyen then went to the home of the paramedic, in what he says was “to get his side of things, but those inside the home didn’t want to talk.”
KTVX-TV ran an article about the paramedic and contacted the fire department that the man works at, which said they are “conducting an investigation into this matter,” but admitted that “such a donation would be representative of personal actions” and none of the business of the fire department.
Nguyen posted a photo of the paramedic’s house with him knocking at the front door.
The internet lambasted the journalist for “stalking” a private citizen, and some commentators claimed that Nguyen was attempting to doxx the paramedic. At the time of publication, there were over 7,200 comments on Nguyen’s tweet.
Social commentator Mike Cernovich said, “Stalking is a crime.”
Radio host Jason Rantz said, “Consider a new line of work.”
Republican communicator Matt Whitlock added, “Wait showing up on a private citizens doorstep with cameras based on leaked information about private donations?! How is that appropriate?”
Data expert Justin Hart declared, “Well you’re about the worst person in the world Jason. Go bother an elected official about their terrible response to COVID or something. Why are you harassing a private citizen. Agenda much?!”
Political commentator Stephen L. Miller advised, “If you don’t like the enemy of the people label, perhaps stop acting like such.”
Sen. Ted Cruz’s national security adviser, Omri Ceren, delivered his analysis, “The transformation of newsrooms into political oppo shops – recognizably, with the infrastructure, tempo, ideological aims, tactics, and sensibility of oppo shops – is probably more of a symptom than a driver of our political moment. But as far that cluster of symptoms go, woof.”
Podcast host Lauren Chen said, “This isn’t journalism, this is stalking. Delete this, you psychopath.”
Australian conservative opinion columnist Rita Panahi said, “Well deserved ratio & exhibit 6,399 on why trust in media is at historic lows.”
New York Post op-ed editor Sohrab Ahmari proclaimed, “This is totalitarian thuggery masquerading as reporting, Jason. I’m ashmed that you and I are considered practitioners of a shared profession.”
Pete D’Abrosca stated, “Very brave work you’re doing tracking down private citizens and haranguing them about their spending habits! What would we do without you, Jason.”
John Hawkins noted, “That’s just straight harassment unsuccessfully masquerading as journalism.”
A Twitter user directed Nguyen to investigate donations to the Minnesota Freedom Fund that Vice President Kamala Harris told people to bail out rioters last summer.
One person tweeted, “This isn’t investigative journalism. This is stalking, intimidation, and harassment.”
Another person said, “This isn’t journalism. This is activism.”
One commentator wrote: “Hi Jason, you should be deeply ashamed of yourself and rethink what it means to he a journalist.”
Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald compared Nguyen harassing the paramedic to CNN doxxing an old lady for being in a pro-Trump Facebook group.
“Some journalists go to war zones. Some confront security state agencies and repressive regimes,” Greenwald wrote. “Some uncover the fraudulent schemes of Wall Street tycoons. And then some bullies abuse the profession to harass and expose private, powerless people.”
*story by The Blaze
