Edward Snowden To NY Times: Media ‘Abdicated’ Role Post-9/11

HUFFINGTON POST: SNOWDEN: “…After 9/11, many of the most important news outlets in America abdicated their role as a check to power — the journalistic responsibility to challenge the excesses of government — for fear of being seen as unpatriotic and punished in the market during a period of heightened nationalism. From a business perspective, this was the obvious strategy, but what benefited the institutions ended up costing the public dearly. The major outlets are still only beginning to recover from this cold period.”

He also said that journalists need to become familiar with encryption tools that will shield their sensitive investigative material from surveillance.

“I was surprised to realize that there were people in news organizations who didn’t recognize any unencrypted message sent over the Internet is being delivered to every intelligence service in the world,” he told Maas. “In the wake of this year’s disclosures, it should be clear that unencrypted journalist-source communication is unforgivably reckless.” … (more)

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