Let's move on to Round Two.
From the OP:
Then, on December 15, Olivia Solon, co-author of the December 9 story, did a piece tacitly
defending PornHub.
Okay I read your link. The entire page. WHERE anywhere in there is the piece "defending PornHub"? I read numerous quotes from numerous sources. I could not find any call to action or value judgment. Where is it?
Start the clock. And stand by for Buddy Holly.
Hmm... as stated here several times, I find no coincidence in the fact the base of the article is the very same response Pornhub released in an early statement. - the poor ,innocent working girl models won't get paid.
As if that is somehow what is important.
That's what happens when you
quote a subject. That's kind of why it goes "Subject said..." followed by quotation marks.
And that IS the subject of the article --- the workers.
That is an ancillary support to Pornhub.
No, it's a
quote. When you
quote somebody, you can't just make it up --- you report literally what they said. That's what "quote" MEANS.
By ignoring the REAL STORY... and instead concentrate on a statement that is good for Pornhub.. is defending. Exactly what a PR firm would do.

The quote --- ***IS*** the real story. News articles don't come to conclusions on "what's good for" one of its subjects. YOU do that, as the reader.
The FACT is that the investigation uncovered underage videos, videos depicting rape etc. THAT WAS THE STORY. Not "the poor models won't get paid".
Actually no it wasn't. That's an earlier, different story.
The FACT is that the headline and sub-headline of the NBC article in question reads thus:
>> Pornhub crackdown by credit card companies cuts off sex workers' livelihoods
Adult performers fear "war on porn" after Visa, Mastercard and Discover block use on Pornhub. <<
Which is entirely factual and non-judgmental.
THAT'S IT. That's what the story is about, nothing to do with "underage" anything. That part was already cited (and linked), in the article as background info:
>> The payment companies blocked the use of their cards on the site last week
after a New York Times investigation into Pornhub on Dec. 4 found that the site was "infested" with videos depicting child sexual abuse, rape and revenge porn. <<
But the OP's first line claims this NBC "
defended" PornHub.
To "defend" requires making an argument. The article makes no argument. It simply reports what its headline says, with quotes from applicable parties. If it were setting out to
advocate a position, it would not have contained the section above, as that would have weakened that position. The article is not about the New York Times investigation --- that's previous news. It's about the
resulting impact on sex workers. You can't just decide the subject of an article "should be" something other than it is. If what you want is the other article, then go read the other article. Not rocket surgery.
Summa y'all have clearly never worked anywhere near journalism. Whining about "waah, they didn't say what I wish they had said" doesn't make it a "defense" of anything.
And by the way this wasn't even your point anyway. I challenged the OP to defend his "defend", and he couldn't do it. You had a different challenge, which you couldn't do either.