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US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

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Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#161

Post by ams6110 »

foobarqux wrote: post #150
jobu wrote: post #129

Occam's Razor - Which is more likely? 1) The US government has persuaded major media outlets CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NYT, etc. to bury the interview. 2) The German media company that did the inteview is asking foreign news outlets for more money than they're willing to pay for the interview (and is protecting its copyright by having internet copies taken down).

That isn't how western government influences media in it's own country. Media know that the US government would be very unhappy about a certain story and they know that the US government is powerful and has carrots and sticks at its disposal. Who is going to poke the bear?

The press seems more than happy to engage in bear-poking as shown with the prior administration and others in the past. There must be some other explanation.

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#162

Post by foobarqux »

mbateman wrote: post #88
pavanky wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before you go witch hunting go read this. http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_bl...

This should really be the top comment. For anyone that thinks there is actually a problem here, what could the motivation or mechanism behind this "blackout" possibly be? Significant parts of the US media have been reporting pretty well on Snowden for a long time now.

If the interview casts Snowden in a positive light then the government would probably be unhappy to have it highlighted in the media.

The government uses implicit threats of retaliation as deterrence.

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#164

Post by foobarqux »

tptacek wrote: post #153

Reddit takedown of this stupid blog post: http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_bl... Of course, on the Internet, it's not Occam's Razor that controls, but Godwin's, which states that among competing hypotheses, the hypothesis with the greatest dramatic implications must be selected.

The question I ask myself is do I think that if Snowden were an enemy of an enemy (a "good" guy) of the US that this would have the same minimal media exposure?

I think "I'm terrified of being assassinated by Russian/Chinese authorities" from a major dissident asylum seeker would be getting much more play.

In any case I don't think this isolated interview is very significant in itself.

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#165

Post by tptacek »

foobarqux wrote: post #164
tptacek wrote: post #153

Reddit takedown of this stupid blog post: http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1wddfp/us_media_bl... Of course, on the Internet, it's not Occam's Razor that controls, but Godwin's, which states that among competing hypotheses, the hypothesis with the greatest dramatic implications must be selected.

The question I ask myself is do I think that if Snowden were an enemy of an enemy (a "good" guy) of the US that this would have the same minimal media exposure? I think "I'm terrified of being assassinated by Russian/Chinese authorities" from a major dissident asylum seeker would be getting much more play. In any case I don't think this isolated interview is very significant in itself.

See what I mean?

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#166

Post by foobarqux »

gamblor956 wrote: post #143
spenvo wrote: post #3

Try searching CNN for "Snowden Interview" and there is NO mention of it. Same with MSNBC's search - nothing about this interview in the results. Also, scroll down to user "Nostromo's" counter (claiming the media did cover the story) w/links and then my reply. This kind of blatant dereliction of duty in US journalism (IMHO) presages the governments' plans for controlling the (M)essage on websites. One can only assume…

Blatantly false. A 5 second search turned up the following: CNN covered the story here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/24/world/europe/russia-snowden/ . ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/german-tv-snowden... CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/snowden-nsa-conducts-industrial-... Fox News (AP): http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/01/26/german-tv-snowden-sa... . And see this link (German) for the explanation…

Clips would be fair use and it's hard to imagine that the cost is prohibitive for major US outlets.

That said I don't the interview in its entirety conforms with the style of content shown on US networks.

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#167

Post by thisiswrong »

icantthinkofone wrote: post #115
spenvo wrote: post #3

Try searching CNN for "Snowden Interview" and there is NO mention of it. Same with MSNBC's search - nothing about this interview in the results. Also, scroll down to user "Nostromo's" counter (claiming the media did cover the story) w/links and then my reply. This kind of blatant dereliction of duty in US journalism (IMHO) presages the governments' plans for controlling the (M)essage on websites. One can only assume…

I worked in the media for umpteen years in the past. Anyone who thinks the US press colluded with the government to black out anything is flat out crazy.

Sure you did. Keep on telling that to yourself buddy. Meanwhile we'll stick to reality: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#169

Post by nitrogen »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #139
pdkl95 wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" 403 Forbidden Request forbidden by administrative rules. " Found the comment by truncating the URL back to the main thread, though. Not sure why the direct URL to /cf1801o is being denied. [back on topic] Yah, the video, while not the usual "lets all copy/paste the AP or Reuters story as many places as possible", there HAVE been a bit of coverage. If we're taking about suppressed stories, I'm still amazed at the ut…

errr - how much of that linked open letter is true. It states that NSA insiders had evidence that 9/11 attackers were monitored by NSA, calling AlQueda safe houses from the US to Yemen and shared nothing about it. and this was buried / covered up. that's a hell of an accusation

I hadn't heard of this letter before the parent comment's mention of it, but the names mentioned are NSA whistleblowers who might have had the knowledge and access to substantiate whatever claims they make.

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#170

Post by foobarqux »

srl wrote: post #111

The reddit comment pavanky links to (by Natedogg213) does a pretty good job pointing out the fact that this story simply isn't true, and is really just another case of lazy "mainstream media sux" claims. I'd like to add something from the other end: Yes, it's true that this snowden interview wasn't well-reported on. It certainly wasn't blacked out, or suppressed, or whatever, but editors must not have considered it f…

Regardless of whether it is front page material in some objective sense, do you think that if this were a Chinese or Russian dissident it would have gotten more play?
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