US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview • Hacker News Board

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#101

Post by fnordfnordfnord » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 2:30 PM UTC

zokier wrote: post #62

vidarh wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is historically important material produced by a wholly owned subsidiary of a license-funded public broadcaster for a license-funded public broadcasting group. Of anything to complain about "lax copyright policies" and "becoming a treasure trove of pirated material" over, this would seem a particularly bad choice.

I sadly realize that this is a bad place to complain. But honestly I've encountered a significant amount of works of dubious copyright status (or clearly blatant copyright infringement) in the past months (and years), and this case kinda broke the proverbial camels back. I probably should pick up blogging so that I could discuss these kinds of issues in a more neutral context, but so far HN feels more natural outlet…

Why this case in particular?

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#102

Post by nocoment » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 2:32 PM UTC

sentenza wrote: post #99

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...

I was surprised to hear there was a blackout. The reddit commentary shows that it was picked up, albeit with lackluster coverage. One important thing is still missing, though: Where is a link to the video that has a chance of persisting for some time? After all, this is a document of a certain historical significance, so it should be accessible. Maybe I'm to meta-cynical, but the reason for that link not existing mig…

> zeeed 3 hours ago | link

> the full interview is here: https://archive.org/details/snowden_interview_en

Very good quality and on archive.org.

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#103

Post by gdy » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 2:35 PM UTC

bad_alloc wrote: post #27

_stephan wrote: post #12

In addition, the video has been taken down almost immediately every time it’s posted on YouTube. AFAIK, the German company that produced the interview didn't sell the international rights to the German broadcaster, which is also why the original video is geolocked to Germany. So I'd guess it's this company that's behind the YouTube takedowns.

I found these videos that can be viewed in Germany: 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GlYh58cxKY (Interview with German translation) 2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x38jkFlPeg (Interview in English) Do they work for anybody else?

Not in Russia

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#104

Post by avar » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 2:40 PM UTC

rtpg wrote: post #93

greenyoda wrote: post #29

I highly recommend watching this interview, in which Snowden clearly explains his motives for doing what he did and describes the scope of the data collection carried out by the NSA and its allied foreign intelligence agencies. While I've followed this story quite extensively, this is first time I've actually watched an interview with Snowden, and I was very impressed with his intelligence, thoughtfulness, depth of k…

I was really disappointed at the interview. I feel like the interviewer really just spent their time throwing softballs for Snowden, instead of asking him at least some real questions (why leak things that were obviously within the domain of par-for-the-course intelligence collection? Comments on the faux outrage by Brazil, Germany, and company? Why not hit harder at intelligence services of other countries, despite…

It's quite clear from the interview that he doesn't want to put himself into the position of revealing information himself, rather to funnel it all through journalistic sources.

Furthermore it would compromise his position that his main motivation was to inform his own citizenry if he starts commenting explicitly on foreign intelligence agencies.

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#105

Post by gdy » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 2:40 PM UTC

DelightfulScone wrote: post #4

Well that is interesting. I typically jump to Google News in response to such accusations to show a thread of stories on the subject 'being blacked out.' In this case.. Shows some search results: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&authuser=0... Clicking on the '73 news sources' link results in blank thread: https://news.google.com/news?ncl=dePJixL6H8f9VzMIt-2rs1GZLI9...

I see 5 too (Russia)

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#106

Post by srl » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 2:50 PM UTC

atlantic wrote: post #97

mbateman wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The media discussion so far has centered around personal issues. Is Snowden a traitor, did he give secrets away to China/Russia, should he be assassinated, how is his girlfriend feeling, what did his father say, does he have a new job, etc. This interview puts the focus back where it should be: have intelligence agencies broken the law, have they taken justice into their own hands, have they been deceiving the execut…

No, this simply isn't true. Watch the front page of any daily newspaper - a large percentage of the articles are about new revelations or stories on the politics of a reform bill, and I have not seen a single one (in the last 4 months or so, when my memory is fresh) talking about Snowden personally.

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#107

Post by moocowduckquack » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 2:56 PM UTC

k-mcgrady wrote: post #36

Complete made up speculation. I'm in the UK, read & watch the news everyday, and didn't know this interview was happening. It's also the first time I've seen it mentioned online. It wasn't promoted properly. Re: YouTube takedowns - wouldn't it be the producer of the programme taking those videos down? You make it sound like the USG is removing videos from YouTube.

I'm in the UK, read & watch the news everyday, and didn't know this interview was happening. It's also the first time I've seen it mentioned online. It wasn't promoted properly.

It's news, not a brand of cereal. In theory journalists are supposed to occaisionally go and get stuff, otherwise they may as well fire them all and just get a photocopier and put marketing press releases through it. (In some papers I suspect this has already happened.)

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#108

Post by srl » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 2:57 PM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #51

l33tbro wrote: post #47

It's not news because no one cares. You guys all live in a bubble where you think this is the most important issue in the world right now. Maybe it is. But, honestly, no one cares.

Then why has it been all over the news? Why has the President of the United States discussed it publicly on multiple occasions? People obviously do care.

And the media has been reporting on that, because that's what matters. It's out of Snowden's hands now, which is why front-page news stories tend to focus less on him and more on actual policy details, and the politics of a reform bill.

The media won't report on a Snowden interview, because as bad a state as U.S journalism is in, they haven't yet stooped so low to confuse celebrity-stalking with actual journalism, and they know to keep them separate.

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#109

Post by daanlo » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 2:59 PM UTC

With regards to the video not appearing on youtube and many other places. The recording TV station that holds the rights to the interview (ARD /NRD) purposefully blocked international visitors from seeing the video through geo blocking, as they only hold distribution rights in Germany. I assume they would also force youtube to remove the video if it is uploaded to protect their copyright.

The details as to why and how are explained in the second half of this article (unfortunately in German): http://m.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/medien/edward-snowden-un...

In short it is a copyright fck-up on behalf of the German TV channel that made a mistake when transferring the copyright from its subsidiary to itself. The international distribution right is now stuck somewhere in Nirvana in between the companies, which is why they aren't able to give/sell the video to other international TV stations like CNN, for them to show it.

At least this is my legal understanding of the situation. You can use a proxy like zenmate and see the video here: http://m.ardmediathek.de/Edward-Snowden-interview-in-english...

Re: US Media Blacks Out Snowden Interview

#110

Post by coldtea » Sun, Feb 02, 2014, 3:06 PM UTC

pavanky wrote: post #78

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…

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

Yeah, read it. Brief mentions, parts taken out of the context?

That's supposed to NOT be a blackout?

This is one of the most discussed persons in America, a "national hero" to some, a "threat" to others, and they don't care to show the full interview itself?

They sure know how to milk other topics 24/7, with repeat showing, panels discussing them, etc...