Now that Edward Snowden has come forward as the leaker of the details behind the National Security Agency’s PRISM program, people are beginning to line up in two camps; some call him a traitor, while others have declared him a hero for spilling the beans to the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald. There are other players in the mix, though, and the middle ground they’ve chosen to occupy is interesting.
Take Barton Gellman, who reported on Snowden for the Washington Post, for example. The Post, together with the Guardian, published five PowerPoint slides regarding the government’s PRISM program. However, both papers chose to withhold 36 more slides leaked to them by Snowden. That puts both papers, rather than the government, in the position of deciding what the public needs to know, and what it shouldn’t know about the government’s Internet surveillance infrastructure. Is everyone comfortable with that?
So to clarify a couple of points: Snowden didn't bolt when I refused guarantees, just quit going steady. And not because I consulted USG.
— Barton Gellman (@bartongellman) June 10, 2013
The guarantee to which Gellman refers in his tweet is Snowden’s demand that the Post publish all 41 slides within 72 hours of receipt, which the paper has not done. The Guardian also refused to publish the complete set. Why? If you saw them, you’d know, Gellman told the New York Times’ Charlie Savage.
Snowden went to @bartongellman 1st; bolted to @ggreenwald bc WP wouldnt guarantee publish all PRISM slides in 72 hrs http://t.co/HewPZpRYUa
— Charlie Savage (@charlie_savage) June 10, 2013
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@nadabakos Bart writes that WP sought the views of govt about potential harm to natsec & "decided to reproduce only four of the 41 slides."
— Charlie Savage (@charlie_savage) June 10, 2013
I want to emphasize this is not a criticism of @bartongellman & WP caution. But next time someone shows up, can anyone afford prudence?
— Charlie Savage (@charlie_savage) June 10, 2013
If you saw all the slides you wouldn't publish them. MT @charlie_savage Next time someone shows up, can anyone afford prudence?
— Barton Gellman (@bartongellman) June 10, 2013
Hang on now … how many people at the Washington Post have seen the complete set of slides? If he’s not going to tell us everything, could Gellman at least suggest a good cell phone carrier, knowing what he apparently knows?
Fascinating, @bartongellman . Can you explain what they show in broad strokes that would not jeopardize anything?
— Charlie Savage (@charlie_savage) June 10, 2013
@charlie_savage Almost got me there. But, um, no.
— Barton Gellman (@bartongellman) June 10, 2013
Before anyone rushes to declare Snowden a hero, it’s worth getting a better picture of just how he shopped around the information he hoped to leak, and where it might end up next. China? WikiLeaks? That latter doesn’t seem to think the press has done its job.
#Snowden demanded all 41 pages of #PRISM document be published but neither WaPo nor Guardian had the courage http://t.co/ziFKbdWQKJ
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 10, 2013
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