The real story in the NSA scandal is the collapse of journalism
1–10 of 49 posts
Re: The real story in the NSA scandal is the collapse of journalism
#2Not really, no. It's not clear what's happening yet. The Washington Post has backed down somewhat, but additional information from other sources, as well as the initial document which was only partially leaked previously, is still coming out which appears to further contradict the denials.
Re: The real story in the NSA scandal is the collapse of journalism
#3I wouldn't call it the collapse of journalism. Over time the big brands will learn how to wait out the initial twitter storm and then do what journalists are supposed to do. Either that or they will become irrelevant.
Re: The real story in the NSA scandal is the collapse of journalism
#4[deleted]
Re: The real story in the NSA scandal is the collapse of journalism
#5Just saw the "Page One" documentary about the NYT and came to the same conclusion. While the NYT staff spent most of their time talking about how technology is affecting their "interests" there were only two people in the documentary who mentioned the importance of a free press for promoting justice and disseminating truth: Julian Assange and Markos Moulitsas.
So we see shots of NYT reporters checking Google News and talking about twitter. And then the most appalling bit of the film where Judith Miller justifies her behavior by trying to pass the buck to the government, as if anti-war sources (like the FAS) who were actively debunking the crap she was publishing and clamoring for attention did not actually exist.
Re: The real story in the NSA scandal is the collapse of journalism
#6Besides the usual damage caused by false allegations, the PRISM story also confuses people into thinking that the other recent NSA-related story [1] isn't true either, but it is.
[1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/confirmed-nsa-spying-m...
Re: The real story in the NSA scandal is the collapse of journalism
#7Just saw the "Page One" documentary about the NYT and came to the same conclusion. While the NYT staff spent most of their time talking about how technology is affecting their "interests" there were only two people in the documentary who mentioned the importance of a free press for promoting justice and disseminating truth: Julian Assange and Markos Moulitsas. So we see shots of NYT reporters checking Google News and…
Not sure if you really mean 'social justice' or the less controversial good-old-fashioned 'justice'.
The overreach by various government agencies has been an injustice that needs to be addressed but the issue doesn't have to be clouded by pulling in the complicated disputes about 'social justice'
Re: The real story in the NSA scandal is the collapse of journalism
#8PRISM and the Verizon scandal are two completely different fiascoes. PRISM was a supposed program that archived and collected data of American citizens in a widespread data mining project. The Verizon scandal was one where Verizon agreed to the NSA allowing tapping of phones in specific areas.
Both are equally suspicious and egregious in their own rights. What is important is the investigation of both of these programs and the final conclusion. Until that conclusion is met, I think it's best for everybody to shut up and get on with their lives.
It was bad, and I, like many others, was angry. But now is the time to wait, and be careful about which services we decide to use.
Re: The real story in the NSA scandal is the collapse of journalism
#9It has become a topic but once again, Orwell to the rescue: "the past is alterable." 1984.
How true, in this case.
But it has been the Post, not the Government, who altered it. Sad, shameful and pathetic.
Re: The real story in the NSA scandal is the collapse of journalism
#10I don't know about the collapse of journalism. What it seems to me is the collapse of credibility.
Here we have major publications publishing something and then major corporations denying it. Then the publications step back from it, but not entirely.
At the same time, this is an issue about which the parties involved may be under a legal obligation to lie. If there is a room at Facebook that does the same thing as the room at AT&T, would Facebook be allowed to tell you about it? Of course not.
So now we have media outlets contradicting each other and genuine sources legally prohibited from providing true answers, which means we'll never know what actually happened. This is what you get when you pass laws that prohibit the public from knowing the truth and wage a campaign against leakers.
So now the media looks incompetent, the corporations look like government shills and the government looks like an authoritarian nightmare -- and this even though they maybe haven't actually done anything. All because they attacked our method of finding the truth and destroyed its credibility.