First Look Media, a news organization founded by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar, on Monday launched its first web magazine, > The Intercept , which will initially focus on the disclosures of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The website will be run by former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald and documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, the ony journalists to have worked directly with Snowden, as well as Jeremy Scahill, an investigative journalist and co-author of the 2013 film Dirty Wars about US covert wars.
The first article on the site, co-authored by Greenwald and Scahill, focuses on the methods used by the US National Security Agency to identify targets for lethal drone strikes. The website also features photographs of locations used by the NSA and other top intelligence agencies that were shot by visual artist Trevor Paglen.
Despite its initial focus on government surveillance, the website’s founders plan to expand its content over time. It will focus on wider topics including government, judicial and corporate accountability; human rights violations; and social inequality, they said.
Omidyar, who became a billionaire after eBay’s initial public offering in 1998, last year decided against acquiring The Washington Post , which is now owned by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos.
Instead, he announced his intention to invest 250 million dollars in >First Look , a journalism venture to feature digital magazines based on specific topics.
First Look’s flagship general interest site is to launch this year.
