Wednesday, June 12, 2013

This is The Age of The Leakers

Gary North explains:

Edward Snowden is now the talk of the town – and the world. His story on the NSA’s PRISM spying system has given exposure to a story that NSA expert James Bamford had exposed in 2008, but which no one in the mainstream media bothered to promote.

Snowden went to the Washington Post first, but when the Post waffled, he dropped them and went to Glenn Greenwald, a pro-civil rights lawyer who lives in Brazil and writes for The Guardian, a British newspaper/website. Greenwald wrote up the story as Snowden gave it to him, thereby scooping the world. He gets 100% credit, as does The Guardian. The Washington Post gets also-ran status.

These days, a leaker with a story can get his story out his way. There is always a journalist somewhere who will run it[...]

This has put governments on the defensive. Because the Web acknowledges no borders, a story gets picked up and sent around irrespective of where it was published[...]

This is the age of the leakers. They can get their stories out to the public by doing an end run around their nation’s fearful mainstream media.

There are no more national gatekeepers. If a newspaper reporter wants a scoop, he will have to do it the leaker’s way – otherwise, he will be an also-ran.

It’s not 1974 any more. All the President’s Men was a good yarn – for 1974. Not today. Today, Woodward and Bernstein would be scooped by a dozen offshore media outlets.

5 comments:

  1. Quote from the article to which Dr. North refers:

    "A New Yorker column by Jeffrey Toobin had the opposite view. Toobin called Snowden "a grandiose narcissist who deserves to be in prison."

    There's nothing heroic about Snowden sabotaging a program he doesn't like, Toobin wrote. How would government function if everyone who didn't like a program acted in the same way?"

    Did you miss that last sentence? Let me repeat it for you:

    "How would government function if everyone who didn't like a program acted in the same way?"

    Hmmm… What a most interesting proposition.

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  2. I don't know why you would go to WaPo when there are people like Glenn Greenwald. Glenn is articulate and has done an amazing job on tv interviews this week. I don't really know the journalist at WaPo, but I have a hard time believing they could perform anywhere near Glenn Greenwald's level! Also, I think it is especially smart to have someone from the left leading the battle.

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  3. Seatec Astronomy - No More Secrets!

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  4. Cracks in the Citadel. Instead of the USG, Academia and the media being on the same page, we have the renegade media of other countries (Russia Times, Guardian, etc) undermining.

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  5. Actually the government and corporations make it very difficult for leakers by double binding them. They must report the offense internally and for it to go anywhere the employee must identify themselves. If the employee misses this step they risk loss of job and prosecution.

    Take the two messages inserted by one company at the bottom of their e-mails:

    "CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information in this email is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential and/or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient or an authorized representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, dissemination or copying of this email and its attachments, if any, or the information contained herein is prohibited."

    "The communication contained in this executive memorandum is confidential and proprietary information and is to be used for internal purposes only. Any review, use, distribution or disclosure of this information to any person not on the distribution list is strictly prohibited and may subject the violator to administrative, civil and/or criminal liability."

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