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

Tue Jun 11 09:46:02 EDT 2013

A clear sign that the USSR has it nemesis in the USA.

On 6/11/13, Riaz K Tayob <riaz.tayob at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>       [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#>,
>
>
>

-- 
Aaron Agien Nyangkwe
Journalist-OutCome Mapper
P.O.Box 5213
Douala-Cameroon
Telephone +237 73 42 71 27

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