What the Press Owes Edward Snowden

[JDPriestly]

I quote:

Snowden’s June 2013 leaks won the Pulitzer Prize for The Guardian of London and The Washington Post. Yet the U.S. news media have been slow to recognize—let alone applaud—his contribution, the single most effective and beneficial act of journalistic defiance in recent memory.

The New York Times report on the court’s May 7 ruling declaring the data collection illegal was especially circumspect, with Snowden’s name not even mentioned until paragraph 29. (The Guardian, on the other hand, put him in the headline.)

There would’ve been no legal challenge if not for Snowden. Nor would the House of Representatives ever have voted decisively to halt the program, since Congress wouldn’t even have known about it.

. . . .

light of its historic importance, why haven’t the media been jubilant? Where is the insistence that the media’s benefactor, Edward Snowden, be repatriated and pardoned—let alone, welcomed home and thanked?

https://www.laprogressive.com/snowden-and-nsa/?utm_source=LA%20Progressive%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=dcb5f2f908-LAP_News_17April12&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9f184a8aad-dcb5f2f908-269090969

More at the link.

Curious. The law has been changed, hopefully to eliminate the worst excesses, but not much discussion about Snowden's fate.

[malaise]

1. And not only the press

Bravo Edward Snowden!!

And THIS

Where is the insistence that the media’s benefactor, Edward Snowden, be repatriated and pardoned—let alone, welcomed home and thanked?

[Deny and Shred]

2. I only like the variety of transparency

that doesn't make me question the motives of an unaccountable all-knowing all-powerful MIC/NSA/CIA machine that is just getting started.

All this learning about the repugnant side of National Security has disturbed my TV viewing.

Can't I just call him Comrade Eddie and go back to sticking my head in the sand?

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. If you do, don't forget the cardboard boxes

and the pole dancer

[Deny and Shred]

4. Oh, that's right.

Thanks for bringing me back to reality. America's Got Talent starts soon.

I was about to consider the implications of the truths he revealed.

Thanks.

This sand makes it tough to breathe, but the view is so much rosier.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Always

[wildbilln864]

6. k & r & thanks! n/t

[Blue_Tires]

7. Because he defected to Moscow, is almost certainly helping the Russians in some capacity

and half of his leaks had nothing to do with the public interest...What's so difficult to understand about that?

Granted, if this whole thing was truly about so-called "whistleblowing", then he would have just outed the 215 part and that would have been it...Nobody's constitutional rights are being protected by telling the world our exact methods for spying on China or the Middle East, and nobody on the planet has an inherent right to not be spied on by a foreign entity, no matter how hard Team Snowden spins it...Snowden has gone *way* out of his jurisdiction and indirectly played a major role in jump-starting Cold War 2.0 and weakening FVEY in the process...Granted, my opinion might be different if he ever spoke out against Russia, China and the other usual suspects in two goddamned years...

Besides, even with a full pardon Snowden only leaves Russia when the Russians allow him to...And would he really be dumb enough to return to the U.S.? Because his life wouldn't be worth 10 cents if he did...So I hope he ponders the real possibility of spending a much longer time over there than he planned...

And for the record, "the press" owes Snowden exactly jack fucking shit with all the softball hero-worship interviews they've gifted him, in combination with Greenwald's $250 million PR/brand management campaign...

[JDPriestly]

8. When you go into Yahoo, I bet you get the weather report where you are.

I get Herndon, VA.

And when I signed up for Facebook a few months ago, I received e-mails from Facebook asking me if I was in Herndon, VA.

Look up Herndon, Va.

I am probably one of the most boring people in the world. In fact, my e-mail account on Yahoo is so boring that I only check it a few times a week. But somebody in Herndon, Va. has apparently taken interest in me.

Check out the Wikipedia page on Herndon, Va. I had never paid any attention to the name of that place or really even had known where it was until I received the e-mails from Facebook.

Check it out.

The invasions of privacy by the NSA are unacceptable and, in many, many cases, a waste of money. I am grateful to Edward Snowden for having revealed what he did.

If the world has become more dangerous because of his revelations, I certainly don't think any ordinary person has noticed it. It was so dangerous before, that anything he said or did couldn't have made it worse. That's a bunch of poppycock.

Governments and groups who would become more dangerous thanks to Snowden's revelations probably had already figured out that they were being spied upon. They may have noticed it by the events that happened around them. Cause and effect is easier to recognize when the effects are violent in your neighborhood.

But for most of us Americans, especially those of us with friends and family in other countries, the news that our electronic communications are fair game for strangers from our own government is pretty disgusting.

[Blue_Tires]

9. I'm a Virginian -- I know what's up in Herndon

and I knew what was up there long before the world ever heard of Snowden...Oh, and I've got news for those of you "with friends and family in other countries" -- They're being tracked and monitored just the same by numerous public/private entities which may or may not include the United States at any given moment...

The way you're laying it out, you almost sound like you're saying Americans are perfectly happy being monitored by anyone as long as it isn't the NSA...

[riderinthestorm]

10. K&R!!! This is excellent! Nt