[governance] (Tangential) US surveillance leak: more to come, says Greenwald

[Riaz K Tayob]

      [haha the WashPo asks the govt before it publishes info... Eat
      your heart our China... the US runs a tight ship... its ideology
      that allows a 'scoop' to be second guessed by the state... - no
      aristocracy but boy does the mainstream media know their place! ]



      International <http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/> »
      World <http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/>

NEW YORK, June 11, 2013


  US surveillance leak: more to come, says Greenwald

Glenn Greenwald, a reporter for 'The Guardian' newspaper, speaks to 
media at a hotel in Hong Kong on Monday.

AP Glenn Greenwald, a reporter for 'The Guardian' newspaper, speaks to 
media at a hotel in Hong Kong on Monday.

The man who claimed to leak state secrets on U.S. government 
eavesdropping sought to break the story through a columnist for a 
U.K.-based publication who has made no secret of his distaste for 
intrusions on privacy.

Edward Snowden brought his information to Glenn Greenwald of /The 
Guardian/ instead of to the /Washington Post/, with which he had briefly 
corresponded. The case illustrates the passion an opinion-driven 
journalist can bring to a breaking news story; at the same time it 
raises questions about fairness.

Mr. Greenwald, author of three books in which he argues the government 
has trampled on personal rights in the name of protecting national 
security, wrote the original stories exposing the extent of the 
government's data collection. Over the weekend, he identified 
intelligence contractor Snowden as his source at the latter's request, 
and said more stories are coming.

"What we disclosed was of great public interest, of great importance in 
a democracy, that the U.S. government is building this massive spying 
apparatus aimed at its own population," Mr. Greenwald said on Monday on 
/MSNBC/'s "Morning Joe."

Mr. Greenwald also told The Associated Press that he's been contacted by 
"countless people" over the last 24 hours offering to create legal 
defence funds for Mr. Snowden.

The topic is personal for Mr. Greenwald (46). The former constitutional 
and civil rights lawyer, educated at the New York University Law School, 
began the "Unclaimed Territory" blog in 2005 and wrote "How Would a 
Patriot Act?" a year later. The book criticized the Bush administration 
for its use of executive power.

Mr. Greenwald, now based in Brazil, wrote a regular column for /Salon/ 
for five years until joining /The Guardian/ last year.

Elaborating on the surveillance programme, he wrote, one programme 
collects hundreds of millions of U.S. phone records. The second 
programme takes in audio, email and other electronic activities 
primarily by non-U.S. nationals who use providers such as Microsoft and 
Apple. Mr. Greenwald described the collection of phone records on Monday 
as "rampant abuse and it needs sunlight. That's why this person came 
forward and that's why we published our stories.

On "Morning Joe," he snapped that co-host Mika Brzezinski was using 
"Obama talking points" when she challenged him with a question.

"The wall of secrecy behind which they operate is impenetrable and it is 
a real menace to democracy," said Mr. Greenwald, who won a 2010 Online 
Journalism Association award for his coverage of Bradley Manning, who is 
charged with giving classified documents to WikiLeaks.

Mr. Snowden, however, had not just gone to Mr. Greenwald with his 
information. Barton Gellman of /The Washington Post/ wrote on Sunday 
that Mr. Snowden had contacted him about the story. He said Mr. Snowden 
had asked that the /Post/ to publish within 72 hours the full contents 
of a presentation he had made about the collection of electronic 
activity from the Silicon Valley companies.

Mr. Gellman said the /Post/ would not make any guarantees and sought the 
government's views about whether the information would harm national 
security. The /Post/ eventually agreed to publish a small sample of what 
Mr. Snowden was offering, but Mr. Snowden backed away, writing that "I 
regret that we weren't able to keep this project unilateral," Mr. 
Gellman wrote.

Mr. Greenwald's clear point of view doesn't necessarily weaken the 
story, said Jay Rosen, journalism professor at New York University and 
author of the /Press Think/ blog.

"In many ways it strengthens it," he said. Mr. Greenwald has a clear 
stance on privacy and national security, but they aren't partisan; he's 
criticized Democratic President Barack Obama and his Republican 
predecessor, George W. Bush. Journalists with strong viewpoints, is a 
tradition with a long history in the U.S., Mr. Rosen said.

"The fact that sources now may choose (outlets) on the basis of 
commitment is a fact and journalists whose professional stance is no 
commitment may find themselves at a disadvantage," he said.

Mr. Greenwald's known feelings on the issue "does leave a little opening 
for critics," said Ellen Shearer, head of the national security 
journalism initiative at Northwestern University. There's always a risk 
that such passion can work against a journalist; some people would worry 
that facts contradictory to a predisposed belief could be overlooked.

To this point, Mr. Shearer said there's been little pushback on the 
facts, with the debate primarily about whether the information should be 
published.

Intelligence officials are investigating the leak and its impact on its 
programs. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper called the 
revelation of the intelligence-gathering programmes reckless and said it 
has done "huge, grave damage."

/The Guardian/ took care not to publish material that may help other 
countries improve their eavesdropping or could put the lives of covert 
agents at risk, Mr. Greenwald said.

"We've published these things they marked 'top secret' that don't 
actually harm national security but conceal what they've done from the 
public," he said.

Keywords: Glenn Greenwald 
<http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/us-surveillance-leak-more-to-come-says-greenwald/article4803716.ece#>, 
US surveillance leak 
<http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/us-surveillance-leak-more-to-come-says-greenwald/article4803716.ece#>, 
Edward Snowden 
<http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/us-surveillance-leak-more-to-come-says-greenwald/article4803716.ece#>, 
right to privacy 
<http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/us-surveillance-leak-more-to-come-says-greenwald/article4803716.ece#>, 
U.S. electronic snooping 
<http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/us-surveillance-leak-more-to-come-says-greenwald/article4803716.ece#>, 
US NSA programme 
<http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/us-surveillance-leak-more-to-come-says-greenwald/article4803716.ece#>, 

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