Saturday, August 24, 2013

Buzzfeed: As the US and British governments gang up on The Guardian, the New York Times agrees to help publish more Snowden leaks on domestic spying

Update: the Guardian's official announcement of the joint effort is here.
Glen Greenwald, who broke the Snowden story, lives in Brazil because his boyfriend is a native.
Here is what Brazilians think of his reporting.



From BuzzFeed's Ben Smith:
     The London-based newspaper has been under intense British government pressure this summer, its editor, Alan Rusbridger, revealed earlier this week.
He quoted a top government official as telling him last month: “You’ve had your debate. There’s no need to write any more.” Officials then demanded that the paper physically destroy files of which it in fact had other copies in other countries — a surreal demand Rusbridger described as “one of the more bizarre moments in the Guardian’s long history.”
     The decision to publish the revelations concerning the British intelligence service jointly with the Times may give the Guardian leverage in its battle with the British government, which is trying to prevent the stories’ publication. It may also relate to the stronger protections for free speech and press freedom under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; Britain has no such protections, and its Official Secrets Act is aimed at keeping government secrets secret.
    Sources at both papers declined to discuss the motives beyond the spokeswoman’s reference to the “climate” of pressure.
     The Guardian’s Rusbridger has used the Times’s megaphone before, to spectacular effect: When the British paper’s coverage of the phone hacking scandal at News Corp. appeared to hit a dead end, a collaboration with the the Times revived it, and helped lead to criminal charges against top News Corp. executives.

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