Twitter Seeks to Silence Journalist’s Ferguson Coverage

cjrrCharles C. Johnson is an investigative journalist with a knack for enraging progressives. His recent coverage of issues in Ferguson has made him such a gadfly that trolls in social media convinced Twitter to shut down his account – because, as Johnson put it, “Twitter apparently has a journalism problem.”

Johnson, who has worked with both the late, great Andrew Breitbart and Alan Dershowitz, is the founder and editor-in-chief of Gotnews.com, which seeks “to transform journalism by empowering everyday people, experts, and sources to break news” – very much a Breitbartian aim. A contributor to the Daily Caller and The Blaze, Johnson is also the author of Why Coolidge Matters: Leadership Lessons from America’s Most Underrated President and The Truth About the IRS Scandal. He has written for Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, American Spectator, and others.

“It’s no secret that I’ve been targeted by the Ferguson mob for publishing material that they don’t like,” Johnson wrote at Gotnews. For example, he reported that Michael Brown’s stepdad Louis Head, who incited a riot by telling protesters, “Let’s burn this b*tch down!” was a former Blood gangbanger. Johnson is also delving into information provided by Ferguson police that Brown himself had been charged with 2nd degree murder – but that was as a juvenile, so the records have been sealed. Now that Brown is dead, Johnson has sued for the release of those records. That investigation is still ongoing, Johnson told me.

Then, after the grand jury came back without an indictment for Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown, The New York Times published the home address of Wilson and his wife. It was an unconscionable and reckless act, considering the target it put on the Wilsons’ backs, but not an unexpected one from the leftist news media, which have been known to willfully endanger people on the wrong side of the leftist narrative before (e.g., the gun owners whose addresses were mapped out in Journal News).

In response, Charles Johnson called the homes of the writers responsible for the article, Julie Bosman and Campbell Robertson, to ask them about it. Bosman later tweeted that she revised the piece by removing a photo that contained specific information which should not have been made public. But it had been made public and the potential damage was done. Charles Johnson felt that turnabout is fair play, so he posted Bosman’s and Robertson’s home addresses online as well. According to Johnson, Bosman has been phoning the police incessantly complaining of harassment and requesting protection.

Afterward, Johnson was notified by Twitter that his account had been “permanently suspended” without any warning. “I didn’t violate Twitter’s terms of service,” he said. “Twitter just decided that I had. They’ve decided to make up the rules as they go and work with the mob to target journalists.”

It wasn’t the first time his Twitter account had been suspended – he had been shut down twice before: once after he published the name of the Ebola nurse Nina Pham twelve hours before the major networks did, and again after he published the address of Youngor Jallah, the daughter of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan’s fiancée and the last person to have contact with Duncan. “I have liberal trolls that follow me around and try to get me suspended,” Johnson told me in a phone conversation Friday.

Johnson urged his thousands of followers to contact Twitter and complain about the shutdown of his account – it must have worked, because that “permanent suspension” was lifted after only fifteen hours. During that time, the controversy brought him over a thousand new Twitter followers. Johnson complained that “I’ve been threatened with death threats and had my site hacked but I’ve pressed on. Twitter hasn’t suspended any of these accounts… If my account is suspended, the New York Times journalists’ accounts @campbellnyt & @juliebosman should also be suspended.”

Johnson strongly suspects there was a political motivation to the censorship. He noted that Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey “wants to run for mayor of New York City. He’s a well-known liberal Democrat. Imagine if he got power if this is how Twitter treats journalists.”

Johnson’s Twitter account is back to going strong, and he and Gotnews.com continue to investigate Ferguson-related stories, such as “Meet The Rich White Guy Who Is Running the Black Boycott of Capitalism #Ferguson” and “Overwhelmed #Ferguson Police Welcome Libertarian ‘Oath Keepers’ Militia To Protect Order.” Johnson is also pursuing his goal of taking down the biased mainstream media one journalist at a time. “I will soon be running a professional team of oppo research committed to nothing more than exposing the media frauds. We will go one by one,” he wrote in a recent tweet.

None of this is likely to win Charles C. Johnson any friends within traditional news or political circles. But as Johnson has said in a different context, “I don’t really care what the political consequences of doing the right thing is.”

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  • Kevin Phelps

    The ONLY escape Zombunists have, is to CENSOR/THREATEN/HARASS all opposition.

    In the Soviet Union, you had leftist FREE SPEECH, say ANYTHING you want, but there are consequences, we will try to ruin your life. Today it is called Political Correctness.

    They are CONTROL FREAKS, masquerading around with the smiling mask of liberalism to hide their ugly zommbunist nature. Thats why the V for Vendetta masks are FITTING

  • Aubryn

    I am a Chuck Johnson fan, and even more so now.

  • Bamaguje

    Ride on Mr Johnson.
    Many of us are wholeheartedly with you against leftist censorship of politically incorrect truths.
    They must not be allowed to get away with their blatant lies.

  • al_kidya

    I was never a Chuck Johnson fan when he operated ‘Little Green Footballs’ but I am now that he has made it a commitment to tell the unbiased truth in journalism. ‘And the truth will set you free!’

    • Watermelonbeast

      Charles C. Johnson above is NOT the same Charles Johnson as “Little Green Footballs.” This ads to the confusion and frustration of many of the trolls that try to take him down.

    • SoCalMike

      I don’t think it’s the same Charles Johnson but I may be mistaken.

      • Patriot077

        You are correct.

    • Jay P

      The Little Green Footballs Charles Johnson actually helped expose the Dan Rather forged document. However, at some point later on he became very interested in all things atheist.

  • Watermelonbeast

    I think it is time for Truth Revolt to start a “Truth Suppressor Hall of Shame” and create a list of journalists that actively try to suppress and distort the truth.

  • rick

    hey Chuck is Barokeback Obola gonna send the DOJ over to help you out too???? God bless you for the light of truth you shine………..

  • Pete

    Obama is faking it once again and trying to look like the great healer. He is inviting all the usual suspects from the faith community and racial agitation community. The theme will how to make things better, but really it will be about how do we gain power, make you feel guilty and therefore retain power for as long as possible.

    The new theme of the Left is “A Police Force Should Reflect the Community It Serves“.

    They want to show that they are caring and oh so smart and reasonable.

    Consider the demographics of Ferguson as given by the census via Wikipedia. Taking the dross of liberal thinking to its’ logical conclusion if you cannot balance the racial make up of a police force through natural attrition (retirements, people voluntarily leaving for other jobs) and hires, you would have to ask summarily terminate white officers. You would have to do so to maintain the all important liberal equation. Chemistry students balance chemical reactions, but liberals like Americana have a much higher calling. They balance racial equations.

    Michael Brown, Ferguson, and Why a Police Force Should Reflect the Community It Serves – HUFFPO

    Editorial: A police force should reflect its diverse community – LANCASTER, PA

    Year White% Ferguson Demographics
    1970 99
    1980 85
    1990 74
    2000 44
    2010 29

    The racial composition of Ferguson has shifted, however. In 1970, 99% of the population of Ferguson was White and 1% African American. In 1980, the proportion of White residents went down to 85%, whereas the proportion of African American rose to 14%. In 1990, residents of Ferguson who were identified in the U.S. Census as White comprised 73.8% of the total, while those identified as Black made up 25.1%. (The remainder, 1.1%, identified with other racial categories.) In the 2000 census, 44.7% were White and 52.4% were African American. In the 2010 census, 29.3% were White and 67.4% were African American.” – wiki

    • laura r

      i think there should be a black police for these communities. then a shoot will just be business as usual. no race card. they should try this for a few years.

      • Pete

        How about a thought experiment. If in 2000 44% of the police force white reflecting the city population, but 10 years later 29% of the white, what do we do?

        Fire white police officers until they only make up 29% of the police force?

        If we change standards to hire more black police officers, we could get another Ramparts (LA) scandal.

  • Pete

    “Ferguson’s mostly white police force has come under criticism since Brown’s death, with critics arguing that the department should better reflect the demographics of the mostly black community.” – Al Jazeera

    So you fire white cops to please the believers of liberal theology?

    Ferguson Demographics

    Year White%
    1970 – 99
    1980 – 85
    1990 – 74
    2000 – 44
    2010 – 29

  • 12banjo

    Dear Charles:

    How did the Ferguson mob find you and know you in the first place? They’re not the sharpest knives in the drawer.

    I think you may have an enemy in the White House who runs the gangsters and mobs…his initials are JP.

    Always, always,,.follow the money. This isn’t just ideology, it’s corruption.

  • Ivan

    More like stupid liberals don’t want the truth shown. Also

    New York Times reporters Julie Bosman and Campbell Robertson
    published the address of Darren Wilson in the New York Times so here are
    their addresses.

    …It would be wrong, for example, to publish Bosman’s address at

    5620 N WAYNE AVE APT 2

    CHICAGO, IL 60660-4204

    COOK COUNTY

    It would be similarly wrong to publish the address of Robertson, too.

    1113 N DUPRE ST

    NEW ORLEANS, LA 70119-3203

    ORLEANS COUNTY

    • laura r

      let’s all write letters, we dont have to use out real names. they should have many large bags of letters.

  • ron44

    I lost my twitter account over the Ferguson lies put out by MSNBC. I had noticed awhile back that hackers had invaded twitter at the behest of Ed Schultz. He made it vary clear that it was ok to go after those against obamas agenda, calling it fairness against all of the big money supporting conservative campaigns..I have been off for one week come Tuesday..i have lost all of my followers because they remove you from them from your followers lists.

    • laura r

      i retweet johnsons tweets & many others. i havnt lost my acct- yet. i was suspended for several minutes because of stanley cohen the attorney for the jihadists. sometimes they set you up……..

  • tagalog

    I wonder why the media isn’t celebrating Chuck Johnson the way they did Julian Assange and Wikileaks.

  • cjkcjk

    It’s not too far off before people like Charles Johnson begin to inexplicably disappear or are imprisoned.
    If those words sound out there to anyone, you need to wake up because it’s just around the corner.

    • laura r

      yes after andrew b, the deaths from obamas church, lady driving near white house………charles johnson needs to be careful.

  • Del_Varner

    It’s time to dox the entire staff of the NYT.

  • sadlyso

    Way to go Mr. C, Johnson. What would America do without genuine journalist like yourself. God bless and protect you and your work.

  • mathewsjw

    you forgot to mention Johnson’s #MSSen coverage, including Cochran supporters paying 4 racist ads…

  • Mirko

    Someone needs to sick that Uber exec on her instead…

  • DavidG

    Naming the names others refuse is truly what everyone wants. It’s a perfect niche market and check out all of the Communosocialists like Melissa Perry from MSNBC as a writer for the loud proud Commie site/rag The Nation… Report them all to discoverthenetworks.org and see just about any Commie person and organization as the ” liberals/progressives ” we all know them as.

  • Tabludama

    Wow! A true journalist of integrity! Rarely see that anymore.

  • David Sherrer

    Way to go Chuck Johnson for exposing the truth and a lot of people on both sides of the argument don’t like to be called out but the truth must be at the forefront at all times!

  • Nagesha

    That’s great. Just what is needed!!

  • Johnny Panzer

    The leftist Jews that run Twitter don’t want the truth. They want a black on white race war. Take a look here at who really runs the media:

    http://incogman.net/jew-media/

  • johninohio1

    “A Police Force Should Reflect the Community It Serves”.
    Yeah. I can see what will happen if 70% of the police force in Ferguson were black. All those fine citizens who rioted and burned businesses would be leaning on the black members of the police force to be on the other side of town when drug deals, beatings, rapes and murders are happening. In order to get that level of Black participation on the force, standards would need to be dropped so low, that any black Ferguson thug getting out of prison would have a job as a cop in short order.
    And whatever happens in Ferguson after that, assuming it gets on the news, it’ll be whitey’s fault.

  • Pericles

    “According to Johnson, Bosman has been phoning the police incessantly complaining of harassment and requesting protection.”

    What comes around, goes around, b..ch! How does it feel to live in a glass house like Officer Wilson’s?

  • Pete

    “So we could have 70% black police but we all know if would be pointless and fruitless.

    All you do is claim that these police are uncle toms.”

    Spot on